Transit Chest

[peregrinvs]

Well I think that pretty much clears it up. Thanks for the excellent pictures Kevin.

Cheers,
Mark

[Kev G]

Insides when they were empty



They cost quite allot to fill though

UK filling list LoC B4515




ATB Kevin

[tankhunter]

well done Kevin, that's spot on! Mine is the upper one with black stenciling, in my collection.
Mike.

[Brit plumber]

Mark,
The spares Batt box is NOTHING like the Bren transit chest. Either size wise, or internals. I have an example of the Batt spares box in my collection. But believe it or not, it is for the 7.62mm LMG series!
Two lift out trays inside.
It is identical to the wartime variant, but is semi gloss green with black stenciled writing. obviously new manufacture & dated with late postwar date. as almost 85 percent of LMG & Bren componants are similar. (After all, they ARE converted Brens!) I suppose it is logical that the Batt Armrs spares box design was copied!
The Bren chest is MUCH longer & heavier, & TOTALY different in internal fittings. IF you do come down this weekend, I can show you the two boxes in the flesh, so to speak!
Mike.

Forgetting size I think they look similar in construction, I should've checked the pics I have as I thought they used the same fastners but I see they don't. The fastners shown in Kevs pics look identical to those found on some Bren gun boxs I've owned (I think I still have one) but they may be Aussie repaired boxes.

[tankhunter]

And the follow up to the bren transit chest is: Mark & I now know, they WILL fit transversly into the boot of a Ford Mondeo!...................

[Peter Laidler]

Do Tankie and Son, ever remember these boxes being used? I seem to remember one was in use as a general range box and another being used to keep all of our cleaning stuff, like boot polish and a couple of shoe/boot brushes and a tin of brasso etc etc plus some other odds and sods, like some compo rations for anyone that had to stay until some ungodly hour. But as for keeping Bren spares, well the spares just went up on the shelves in the spares cupboard like all the other stuff!

We also had another thing that you could screw legs to and a vice and all sorts of things that were stashed inside, that was meant to be an Armourers bench. Full of all sorts of bits and pieces but as we had an ancient old c.1945 Bedford QL lorry, 77YC16 then another RL, 16EL61 - I wonder where they are now - as the workshop for exercises, these box thinggies didn't get a lot of use it's fair to say!

[tankhunter]

Peter, As far as I was concerned when I served. These boxes were only held in unit stores away from normal issue items. You never saw them until an entire Regt was completey posted to another Location/ country. They were the responsibility of the Regt & did NOT come under the Armourers jurisdiction. Also, they would have been held at R.A.O.C Stores Depots such as Donnington for example. Where the weapons would have been done in Preservitive grease & held in one of the Large Hangers in the Small Arms Section. You MUST have seen the stilliages there, piled up with SLRS in the green plastic wrappers. All in Mint condition! The LMGs would have been stacked against a wall & roughly 10 high.(In boxes) You are also familiar with the conversion of these chests for the No:4 (T) Rifle, as you mention them in your EXCELLENT Book on the subject. I have not seen a converted box myself. As i believe they were mostly replaced Postwar with the MUCH lighter purpose made versions for that particular rifle. The Box, Battalion, Spares, was utilised by Us Armourers wherever we could lay our hands on them. Although designed for The Bren spares originaly. We used them for ANY smallarms spares we could get in them until the advent of the marvelous Thomas bins. Of which I have four & use regularly with my Armourers display at shows. The Bren Spares boxes were well made & very usefull for giving one to each Armourer for each Rifle Company he was responsible for on Excercises. That way, & selection of spares was kept in each box for every weapon held in that unit. You are familiar with what goes wrong generally with each type of weapon as your expirience grows with unit usage. So it was convinient to have one of these to chuck in the back of a Landrover to drive out to a particular company & do the repair where possible. The larger items were held by the Tiffy at the main Rear Echelon location & could be sent up by Rover if needed. Or, the weapon bought back, repair effected where poss & then returned to the Rifle company when completed. They have disapeared over the years as all sorts of metal & plastic types of tranist containers have become available. And spares storage only limited by the Genius & Imagination of the Armourer as to how he can put fitments & small boxes inside these!

[peregrinvs]

And the follow up to the bren transit chest is: Mark & I now know, they WILL fit transversly into the boot of a Ford Mondeo!...................

Perhaps Ford were keeping their options open for future defence contracts?

Many thanks for a nice smooth transaction. I've given the chest a gentle clean and now face the painful dilemma of which of my two MkI Brens - 1940 Enfield or 1943 Lithgow - gets to live in it?

Cheers,

Mark

[Kev G]

........and now face the painful dilemma of which of my two MkI Brens - 1940 Enfield or 1943 Lithgow - gets to live in it?

Cheers,

Mark

Where the chest was made should sort that out ......if it's Canadian you will have to flip a coin

[Kev G]

Forgetting size I think they look similar in construction, I should've checked the pics I have as I thought they used the same fastners but I see they don't. The fastners shown in Kevs pics look identical to those found on some Bren gun boxs I've owned (I think I still have one) but they may be Aussie repaired boxes.

Like this BP ?