h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: FV4005 - A88057290
Author: Bluebottle - U43530

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Looks like your trips to the Tank Museum were very educational - great photos

I'm not sure of the timeline, so I think I'm missing something in the Development section, sorry - there was a new generation of tanks every year from 1939 to 1940? Ah, there was a new generation 1939-44 everywhere except in Britain?

I can't visualise a tank on a railway - the width of the railway is the factor that limits the turret ring diameter? The factor limits the width of the tank itself as well?

Excellent setting of FV4005 into its context Excellent concluding paragraph, too - that was an impressive restoration project

Thanks for the read-through, I've tweaked the Development section so hopefully it is clearer that it was 1940-44 where Britain lagged behind. I would say 'other nations' though rather than everywhere, as British tanks were superior to those in countries such as Australia, Japan, Canada and Italy etc, but certainly lagged behind Germany, the USA and USSR.

Tanks were transported by rail on metal flatbed waggons, they would go up onto the waggon either by ramp or possibly by crane (particularly if in a port) - an image I found for example is:
http://media.gettyimages.com/id/3062099/photo/churchill-tanks.jpg?s=2048x2048&w=gi&k=20&c=BsDwjZsfTVOYa6ec37ewzfyEwJbDlafQG1wLdkzY0KQ=
When transporting a tank by rail there are some things you can do with larger vehicles, so with the German Tiger I for example, (to quote the Tank Museum website):
"The Tiger I was 3,547mm wide and this posed a problem for its strategic mobility. The most efficient way to move tanks long distances during the 1940s was by train, but the Tiger, with its operational tracks, was too wide. The Berne loading gauge governed the maximum size of objects that could be transported by rail across Continental Europe. If cargo was larger it might not fit under bridges and could hit trackside objects or passing trains. The maximum permitted width was 3,150mm.
"...For rail transport [the tank's] tracks were removed, as were the 8 outermost road wheels on each side. The tank’s side skirts also had to be removed, and part of the front and rear track guard was folded in on a hinge."

So while the Germans might take off their tanks' tracks, design side skirts etc to be detached and re-attached once the tank has reached its destination, you can't, though, change the turret ring width, that's fixed.

The restoration project raised its needed money instantly and that was an incredible success. Since then, perhaps overly buoyed by their success, at Tankfest in May 2024 the Tank Museum announced they wanted to raise �50,000 to restore their American M47 - nicknamed 'the most boring tank in the world' - and since May they have raised just over �27,600

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