Carrier damage to pavement?

[Jim Burrill]

Thanks Everyone! That's the kind of supporting info I am looking for.

If anyone else has more to add, please!! Do!!!

This will be for next year's Battle of New Oxford, PA event.

Next year, they have arranged to do a para drop near the town so they are styling it as Holland and Market Garden, so that year, the British reenactment community will get point for the public battle into town.

Amazingly, the town officials let us run a scripted battle in the four blocks around their town square, with a 15 mile convoy into town on country lanes from the National Park site of Eisenhower's Farm, outside of Gettysberg PA.

If anyone wants to come down for that event and fall in with us solo, or as a unit, please get in touch. If you want to bring a vehicle, there are some compensations for that (won't pay for transport from Ontario and back sadly, but camping at Ike's Farm is free and we have a number of 160 pound tents we can set up for those sleeping on site.

My personal agenda woul;d be to wheedle every Commonwealth vehicle in North AMerica to come to this and flat show up the Yanks and their jeeps and CCkWs!

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Jim

One thing to check in planning the event, the community paving schedule, don't laugh I've encountered this problem of friesh asphalt and military vehicle.

When I was a kid living in Washington, DC the city repaved South Capital Street just before Arm Forices Day, you guess it the Army drove a colum of M60 Tanks down the street the pavement came of the road in ribbons behide the tracks. As a kid it was great fun to watch, after the colum had passed the road was a wreck. Next day I got to watch the Corps of Engineer show up strip the road of all the new asphalt and repave the road.

The other time the paving of highways has gotten into a military vehicle event is that the timing for repaving the highways around our Weare Rally always seem to coencied and if you drive a 3-ton CMP and particularly if you make sharp turns leaves imprints of the tread. No body has ever complained.

Cheers Phil

[Rob Beale]

Here in New Zealand, we are allowed to run our vehicles on public roads.
Our roads are either administered by the national roading authority, or by the local district councils. (I worked for one of the latter in Roading)

The only restrictions I have ever heard of was a limitation of 27 degrees celcius! The other one was about covering railway tracks when crossing so as not to affect the signal system!

Our experience is similar to those above. On chip sealed or Hotmix / Tarmacadam / Asphaltic Concrete surfaces, the carrier tracks scuff the oxidised surface off the exposed stone, leaving light grey track marks down the road, which soon disappear once rubber tyred traffic drives over them.

I have found it is rare for the tracks to dislodge sealing chip, as it should be embedded 2/3 of its height in bitumen binder. Multi axle truck and trailer units have a worse effect on roads when turning through tight radii such as roundabouts.

I have found the bigger issue is loss of traction on tight turns on smooth surfaces like hotmix or concrete, particularly with less experienced drivers.

Others have mentioned having an observer in every carrier, and a tail end charlie behind to ensure following drivers don't get mesmerised by the sight of the tracks turning and run up the rear! (Most of us don't have indicators or brake light fitted so rely on hand signals).

Rob

[charlie fitton]

...and an en-route recovery plan - who would tow whom, tow ropes and cables ready? practice hook-ups..

[Lynn Eades]

I'd just like to state (because he didn't) that Rob was employed as a roading engineer.