Anyone know anything about tanks?

[Sark79]

Today while I was traveling home, I passed through a little village called Newmilns. It is about 7 miles East of Killie.

Coming along the road on the opposite side were three tanks.  Newmilns is a really twisty village with a fairly heavy traffic flow.  They weren't large Battle-tanks, but instead smaller tanks about the length of a mini bus ( probably slightly larger than this and much, much heavier.  I just can't think of a size comparison right now  ).

I was always under the impression that tanks were difficult things to maneuver. They also had their caterpillar tracks on and not a road set-up.  Along that road they would be forced to stop and start constantly for a good few miles.

Are tanks allowed on a duel carriageway?  Anytime I have seen them in the past they have been on the back of a transporter truck and not actually driving.  That road eventually leads to the A74.  In between Newmilns and the A74 there is about 14 miles of nothing.  I can't work out where they would actually be traveling to.  My thinking is that there is perhaps a show of some kind on over the weekend . They may have been travelling today to avoid the weekend traffic.

Are they difficult things to drive?   Is it normal to transport them in this way?

[ACE2M]

sorry to take you thread off track sark but the story does involve a tank.

 Driving along one day darn sarf near my dads with a good friend and his girlfriend and i was in the back.
 It was a hot day and it was a very leisurely drive and all were very relaxed when we rounded a corner on a country lane and had to stop to allow a tractor coming the other way enough room to pass.
We had stopped by a track entrance and the driver looked to the left and splurted 'woah look at that', we all looked over and his girlfriend very seriously said 'What? that blackbird'.
 She had complately failed to notice that the aforementioned blackbird was sat on the end of a 2m long gun barrel pointed straight at us and that was attached to a fucking enormous tank.
 This was about 5 years ago and we still haven't tired of taking the piss about it.

[Sark79]

 

[doubleup]

Today while I was traveling home, I passed through a little village called Newmilns. It is about 7 miles East of Killie.

Coming along the road on the opposite side were three tanks.  Newmilns is a really twisty village with a fairly heavy traffic flow.  They weren't large Battle-tanks, but instead smaller tanks about the length of a mini bus ( probably slightly larger than this and much, much heavier.  I just can't think of a size comparison right now  ).

I was always under the impression that tanks were difficult things to maneuver. They also had their caterpillar tracks on and not a road set-up.  Along that road they would be forced to stop and start constantly for a good few miles.

Are tanks allowed on a duel carriageway?  Anytime I have seen them in the past they have been on the back of a transporter truck and not actually driving.  That road eventually leads to the A74.  In between Newmilns and the A74 there is about 14 miles of nothing.  I can't work out where they would actually be traveling to.  My thinking is that there is perhaps a show of some kind on over the weekend . They may have been travelling today to avoid the weekend traffic.

Are they difficult things to drive?   Is it normal to transport them in this way?

Just got home and there was loads of military trucks on the A80 and a tank in a layby - looks like we've decided to invade somewhere.  Are we allowed to invade England or are there treaties and suchlike?

[mikkyT]

Tanks are indeed road legal. Anyone who past there test before 1997(I think) has a licence to drive one. Cat G or F, tracked vehicles.

[madasahatstand]

sark

are you sure it was a tank? could it have been a hummer?



[attachment deleted by admin]

[Sark79]

    No mad, they were definitely tanks.   They had  big gun thingys at the front and they looked very menacing.

I think they were just youngsters, they had probably just signed up for the army and they were in the early stages of their military careers.  The older bigger tanks have yet to teach them that tanks shouldn't drive through busy villages.  Little rascals that they are. I hope they get sent to bed tonight without their bedtime story( WW2 story about their Grandfather tanks fighting the nasty German tanks )  and without a pint of diesel. 

[madasahatstand]

sark

i only ask because the first time i saw a hummer i thought it was a tank. i wouldnt mind one but they cost more than my flat
mad

[the bus]

Tank humms.

[Sark79]

No these were definitely Baby tanks .  They probably took the wrong turn and the older Battle-Tanks are back at base thinking of a suitable punishment.  Probably something like they aren't allowed to drive over old cars for a month.


Have you seen the stretch hummer limo, mad?   They are strange looking things.

[mikkyT]

sark

i only ask because the first time i saw a hummer i thought it was a tank. i wouldnt mind one but they cost more than my flat
mad

No offense, but you are female. Any self respecting guy, no matter how gay he claims to be, can tell the difference between a hummer and a tank as it is part of the indoctrination process of growing up as a boy, whilst playing army in the school playground etc.

[Sark79]

lol.  Hey mikky, I am as straight as they come.  I will even tell you the history of the hummer to prove it if you want 

[mikkyT]

lol.  Hey mikky, I am as straight as they come.  I will even tell you the history of the hummer to prove it if you want 

Sorry that came out wrong, I wasnt inferring you where gay lol... just, even gay guys can tell teh difference hehe

[tikay]

The GWR used to have "Tanks" (or, more correctly "Pannier Tanks")  0-6-0 configuration, they used them for shunting, & light passenger duties. They ran the same backwards or forwards - except the driver had to face the other way - and what set a "Tank" apart from a regular Loco was the absence of a seperate Tender. Tenders, it may surprise you to know, are not full of coal, though it looks that way, as the coal is piled on top. But they are, in effect, a water reservoir.

The "Pannier" appendage came from the water tanks which were mounted alongside the boiler.

I drove 6101 (GWR) several times in Acton Marshalling Yard, &, once, at Old Oak Common Depot. Happy days.

Thank you, guys, for asking about this.

I have loads more stories like that, just say the word.

[Ironside]

more than likely APC's not tanks, tanks are legally able to travel on motorways but for long distance travelling they go on the back of a tank transport for cost and maintance reasons