Royal Navy GWR Crocodile gun mount number
CROC 1 at Rosyth 26th February 1993.
At first glace this wagon looks to be a typical Great Western Railway
Crocodile bogie well wagon with Dean Churchward brake handles at each
end. But the round hole in its floor and the four rectangular holes in
the solebar make it different to others. The wagon was built this way so
that it could be used as a gun mount for anti-aircraft defence purposes.
The hole in the floor of the well was to accommodate the bottom of the
gun post and the ring of small holes around it were for bolts securing
the gun's circular base to the wagon.
To stabilise the wagon while the gun was being fired, outrigger girders
were pushed into the rectangular holes in the solebar and were packed
with wooden blocks at the outer ends.
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The wagon's side lettering was as follows:
CROC No1
PSTO N
INTERNAL USE ONLY
TARE 29.90
MAX LOAD 30.4 81 |
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GWR Crocodile gun mount wagon number 41976
with the gun mount girders stowed in their transit position.
One end of Royal Navy GWR Crocodile gun mount
SNSO No.608 at Chatham 31st March 1985.
Another view of Royal Navy GWR Crocodile gun mount number
CROC 1 at Rosyth 26th February 1993.
The circular hole and ring of securing bolt
holes that once held the gun. Rosyth 26th February 1993.
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The following dimensions were taken from a wagon of this type at MoD Shoeburyness:
Number ARMY 82698
Width 96 inches
Support apertures in solebar 10 inches wide and 12 inches tall
Bogie wheelbase 5 feet 6 inches |
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The rectangular stabilisation holes in the
solebar are partly obscured in this view of Royal Navy GWR Crocodile gun mount
SNSO No.608 at Chatham 31st March 1985.
GWR Crocodile gun mount wagon number 41977
with the gun mount girders extended to form the operating platform.
The
wagon label holder of Royal Navy GWR Crocodile gun mount
SNSO No.608 at Chatham 31st March 1985.
Royal Navy GWR Crocodile gun mount
SNSO No.608 at Chatham 31st March 1985.
GWR Crocodile gun mount wagon with the gun
fitted. This wagon was built in 1916 to diagram C22 and was converted to
a gun mount in 1915, returned to the GWR in August 1921 and re-converted
to a gun mount in 1940. This First World War photograph shows a GWR
wagon in the number range 41976 to 41978.
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The Second World War files of the Railway
Executive Committee (REC) show that on 9th August 1940 the GWR
despatched 35-ton Crocodile G bogie well wagons number 41953 and 41954
from Swindon to Portsmouth to be fitted with 6 inch guns. |
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Another view of the circular hole and ring
of securing bolt holes that once held the gun. Rosyth 26th February 1993.
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