CFR Request Thread

[Ed Storey]

Originally Posted by Alex Sandor Csank

Thanks! Looking at the end of the data, it appears that the six you have listed may all have been 'Mk2B' models. That in itself is interesting! Wishing there was more information about our Canadian TRWs available.

Rev high!
Alex

While the DND vehicle lists are helpful in determining how many vehicles of a particular type were in use and their CFR range; I have encountered some errors with respect to the recorded vehicle type. Cross checking with the documents in my collection; I came up with a 1959 dated Data Summary which records the vehicle as a TRW, a 1956 Ordnance Parts Identification List for a TRW Mk2B and a 1955 User Handbook for a TRW. All three documents are Canadian although the User Handbook is a British publication. I think the answer might lie within the 1960 Ordnance Catalogue for Vehicles and Tracked Equipment which records the Canadian Army at the time using the Triumph Model TRW - 1950, Triumph Model TR5 - 1953 and the Triumph TRW Mk2B - 1956-1957. All of these Motorcycles were classed part of the Standard Commercial Pattern.

[rob love]

Interesting...I have a TRW that has a very early 1950 frame but the motor serial is from the mid/late 50s. I think my frame number is somewhere around the 14th or 17th TRW made. I assumed it was a replacement frame from the UK or elswhere, but your information, Ed, makes me wonder.

[Alex Sandor Csank]

While I don't have any sort of complete data about the TRW 500s delivered to Canada and used by the Canadian Army and RCAF, I DO know that they were used at several bases across Canada by both the Army (MP, Provost, Signal Corps) and the RCAF. The C.A.R. numbers for which I have found photos are all stenciled in white paint on both sides of the fuel tanks, and the ones I have been able to find have all been 56-XXXXX through 57-XXXXX. There is some, but not lots, of information in the "Only TRW" Facebook Group, some manuals and other data on the "Triumph Pre-Unit" Facebook Group, and at various British bike websites.

Here's the best information about the serial numbers. These are based on the engine numbers, but all TRWs left the factory with matching engine and frame numbers. Obviously, if an engine failure occured, a different engine would be fitted:

Mine is #26232NA (1957). It is a matching numbers TRW 500, (apparently) built on the 25th of September 1956. According to Triumph records, TRW 26232NA was dispatched to the Canadian Army on the 19th of January 1957 with gearbox number 85822, which also matches the number on my bike.

TRW Military 500cc Side-Valve Twins
YEAR (batch production total) Engine Numbers
1950 (58) / 14401N-14459N
1951 (unable to calculate. #s do not make sense) / 6044NA - 14320NA
1952 (837) 22001NA - 22838NA
1953 (434) 22839NA - 23273NA
1954 (48) 23274NA - 23322NA
1955 (274) 23323NA - 23597NA
1956 (1879) 23598NA - 25447NA
1957 (1679) 25448NA - 27127MA
1958 (47) 27128NA - 27175NA
1959 (170) 27176NA - 27346NA
1960 (298) 27347NA - 27645NA
1961 (539) 27646NA - 28185NA
1962 (278) 28186NA - 28464NA
1963 (641) 28465NA - 28827NA
1964 (777) 28828NA - 29605NA

Total: 7959 (Unable to calculate the numbers for 1951). The current data published in a couple of places states that a total of 15939 TRW 500s were built between 1950 and 1964. That would mean that the production run for 1951 would have to be 7980, which is pretty unlikely because Triumph just did not have the production capacity to produce that many in one year in 1951.

I'll post tis in the Post War Motorcycle THread as well.

I hope that helps.

Rev high,
Alex