THE SCIENC
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7 SALVAGE
Methods Used by R.E.M.E. in Recovering Civilian Vehicles in Accidents Provide Valuable Information for Operators By Ashley Taylor,
A.M.I.R.T.E. SOME time ago a Member of Parliament was asking questions in the House of Commons about work alleged to have been performed for private interests by troops under training. But, as the questioner discovered, the Army take a broad view of the matter. They even keep an eye out for the difficult jobs that can be tackled with military equipment and are unlikely to make any overwhelming appeal to the civilian contractor. It is all good practical training of the kind that cannot be created artificially.
On the transport side, some unusual recovery jobs are performed. One was the result of vrailway accident of sorts, the honours of the successful rescue being shared by Scammeil, Albion and Diamond-T road vehicles. The incident in question took place in Scunthorpe, a growing steel town in north Lincolnshire, in the autumn of 1953.
The area is served by three R.E.M.E. territorial units (25 and 26 Light Recovery Sections and I Railhead Evacuation Section) which, at the time, had an overall strength of two officers ana 60 men. Their Permanent Staff Officer is also responsible for four Heavy Recovery sections in the West Riding and, together, these seven units form the Midland Group of the 8th Army Recovery Cy., with headquarters at Carlisle. On one of his visits to the Scunthorpe sections, the P.S.O. was informed that a few days before a locomotive pulling a slag train failed to stop at the end of its track and fell over the 100-ft. embankment focming the slag heap.
Examination of the scene revealed to the officer that some excellent recovery training could be accomplished if permission could be obtained to do it. He contacted the TA. officer in command of 1 Railhead Evacuation Section—in private life an electrical engineer employed with the owners of the locomotive, train, and slag bank, the Appleby Frodingham Steel Co., Ltd.—and a series of conferences were held between the P.S.O. and representatives of the company.
al6 The company's problem was that they did not possess a crane which would lift more than 10 tons, and that required tracks on which to run. The Army's offer of specialized recovery equipment and personnel was therefore accepted with alacrity, and arrangements for week-end exercises followed.
The T.A. units were to be responsible for lifting the four slag ladies and cars and the locomotive, whilst the company were to extend the existing track to the bottom of the slag heap and to attach stays to each end of the locomotive so that a pull could be exerted without damage to the boiler or cab. Furthermore, the company were also to build a temporary road bridge over a large water main which was
buried close to the surface. across the direct way of access to the site. The equipment initially provided by the Army consisted of a heavy gun tractor, two Diamond-Ts and a Scarnmeli with six-wheel drive. All were equipped with jacks, hand winches, spikes and ground anchors.
Although weighing only 12 tons; the first ladle car took a combined pull of approximately 90 tons before it moved. The gun tractor was used with a 5: 1 winch, a Diamond-T serving as its anchor. The Scammell, on top of the bank, took a 2: 1 pull on the buffer highest in the air. Haulage up a 45-degree slope is not an abnormal problem in recovery, but none of the personnel concerned had experienced before the difficulties in overcoming the initial hold of solidified lava or its equivalent.
The ladles had been full of molten slag on their journey to the tip, and this had spilled during the accident, half-burying several of the ladles and cars. Men with pick-axes chopped at the crust around the equipment, but nevertheless a huge initial pull was required before they shifted. The difficulty was accentuated by the fact that the ladles had only two small rings at their bases by which a pull could be attached, and particular care had to be taken to ensure that these were not subjected to any side thrust. Steadying tackle was in constant use while the cars and ladles Were being moved.
Two of the cars and a ladle were cleared during the Saturday and Sunday. A nucleus of permanent staff, assisted by T.A. volunteers, moved the rest by Tuesday night.
Whilst this had been going on, the site-owners had ' been extending their track to a point where a branch could be laid to the bottom of the bank, and had also been constructing two stays which were bolted to the front and rear buffer plates of the locomotive.
The -Territorial units assembled on the following Friday with two -heavy gun tractors, three Scammells, five Diamond-Ts and s.Nro Albion gun tractors_ The first stage entailed the laying out of the vehicles and the location of a 30-ton Class VI Cromwell Tank which was to act as an anchor for the two Scammells. The Tank was pushed over the edge of the bank farthest from, but in line with, the centre line of the centre axle of the locomotive, and the two Scammells were lined up with the front and rear buffer plates (the point of application of pull).
Although some difficulty was experienced in placing their skid pans, as they were on top of the slag bank, they were eventually anchored firmly to the Tank, which had been deliberately pulled into the side of the bank as an additional safeguard. The Scammells, each with a 2: 1 reduction pull, were responsible in tandem for pulling the loco. on to its wheels. Steadying tackle for the loco. was provided by two Diamond-Ts, each with a 2: 1 reduction, and anchored to a Diamond-T beside it. The four Diamond Ts were also attached to earth anchors put down in the shape of a Y in front, and at varying distances from, the vehicles. The tackle was fixed to the stays bolted to the buffer plates of the locomotive.
Anchoring the locomotive to its position on the 50-degree slope of the bank required two D8s, side-byside and IO ft. apart on top of the bank and about 60 ft. from the edge, with a 6: 1 compound pull down and snatch blocks attached by wire hawsers to the rear buffer plate.
Track Anchors Specially Made
The D8 gun tractors were dug in, and track anchors manufactured to sketches provided by R.E.M.E. were placed at the rear of each track and the D8s run back on them. The two Ds were then anchored to the two ballasted Albion gun tractors, each weighing 18 tons, which were, in turn, anchored to a steel rail driven into the ground. After some levelling had been done by a civilian contractor, a rail track was provided to the front end of the locomotive.
Operations commenced early on Sunday morning with the connection of tackle: Each group of vehicles was in charge of a Territorial officer and one Permanent Staff Instructor, overall responsibility being in the hands of the P.5.0,, who stood in a position visible to all groups.
The winch ropes were tautened on the steadying and winching vehicles, a last check was made of the tackle, and the D8s were directed to winch in together, ensuring that the locomotive could not move down the slope when placed on its wheels, and causing the last crust around it to break. Winching was, of course, stopped directly the loco. moved. A rail was lashed to its off-side wheels, the Scammeils were directed to winch in while the Diamond-Ts slowing paid out on their winches. The locomotive came up and over slowly but surely and dropped on to its 'wheels.
Back on its Side
It was then clear that the front buffer plate would foul the slope in front, and the Army personnel had to put the loco. back on its side. This was accomplished with smooth precision by merely reversing the direction of turn of the Scammell and chocking the inside of the near-side wheels to ensure that they did not move away from the direction of pull.
After the slope had been levelled to the first rail, the loco. was again brought on to its wheels. The Scammell and Diamond-T pulls were then eased off so as riot to interfere with movement down the bank, but were left attached to provide lateral control.
Winching out on the D8 gun tractors now began, and the loco. was slowly eased down the bank. Its roll resistance, and the frictional resistance of the tackle on the top of the bank, eventually proved too much and a 3: I pull was connected to the front. With this vehicle winching in and the D8s winching out, assisted from time to time by flank machines taking a pull to align it correctly with the track, the locomotive was safely lodged on to the first set of rails.
This job, the records of which were extracted for me by Northern Command H.Q., was an outstanding example of the major enterprises RE. ME. are called upon to tackle, so combining training with work of practical value to the civilian in difficulties.
More closely related to the day-to-day activities
likely to arise in war-time are rescues such as those carried out when wide areas of the countryside are flooded. With the aid of other documents in the files at Northern Command H.Q., I traced what happened when gales struck Britain early in 1953.
One evening, the members of 25 and 26. Light Recovery Sections and 1 Railhead Evacuation Section, R.E.M.E. (T.A.), were holding a social function at Scunthorpe. Suddenly the telephone rang. All men able to drive Matadors were to report to Lincoln as soon as possible: the sea was breaking through on the Lincolnshire coast.
With a minimum of delay, a sergeant and two corporals left with an Austin 3-ton breakdown gantry, a Ford 3-ton four-wheel-drive vehicle and an Austin 3-tonner. Early the following morning they left Lincoln for the Alford and Flood Relitf H.Q., where they set to work immediately. One corporal took over a Scammell six-wheel-drive vehicle and the other, with the Ford four-wheel-drive outfit, was allocated to carry sandbags, a job involving considerable cross-country work in flooded areas. Forewarned of possible trouble, the driver begged from a nearby school 2 lb. of Plasticine, with which he waterproofed the ignition system.
During the ensuing fortnight, the Austin gantry rescued more than 30 civilian vehicles, as well as a number of military lorries. After an accident on the Alford-Ulceby road involving four civilian vehicles, resources were pooled in order to complete the recovery within the hour required by the Police. The gantry's task in this operation was the removal of an ex-W.D. Foden with a Euclid body weighing 13 tons.
Busy Scammell
Some two dozen major jobs, mainly concerning civilian vehicles, were completed by the Scammell during this period. Typical was the rescue of another Foden with Euclid body, laden with 14 tons of slag, which had skidded off the road into a ditch. Recovery was effected by attaching a 3 : 1 . pull to the rear of the Foden and anchoring the Scammell to a tree. A civilian recovery lorry helped by moving into a ploughed field abeam of the Foden, to which its winch rope was attached, preventing it from heeling over when pulled out.
One night the crew of the Scammell observed a lighted vehicle off the road near Alford. Closer observation revealed a fully loaded 32-seat single-deck bus with its front end buried in the ditch. All the interior lights were on, and the passengers had resigned themselves to sleeping in the bus all night rather than face the blizzard raging outside. A 2: 1 pull at the rear of the chassis brought the bus back on to the road.
On another occasion, a Foden 10-tonner, loaded with slag, was recovered from a recently filled-in ditch in which it had sunk 3 ft. This operation was complicated by a "drain," about 5 ft. wide and very deep, which blocked one side.
Various indirect pulls were attempted with some success, and the job was eventually completed by attaching a Treweila winch to one side of the chassis, pulling it up in the air, placing skidding under the wheels, dropping it back on to the skidding, and repeating the operation on the opposite side.
The many jobs tackled taxed the equipment to its limit, and the corporal in charge of the &anima reported that the jib, the lift of which was quoted as 4 tons in the " in " position, frequently and easily raised loaded vehicles up to 10 tons in weight. He also praised the Scammell's adhesion, and its cab-heating devices.