No4 MK1 T

[Roger Payne]

It could be a different foundry, but the castings marked with the GF do not look any different to me to those made by Rose Brothers that do not bear the GF. However, I have never made any proper study of them, but they appear to be 'run of the mill' RB products. I suppose it could be that RB provided the tools, including molds, for a subcontractor, or perhaps a subcontractor did some of the machining of the castings. And sometimes, manufacturer's add certain markings to only a specific percentage of what they make. I've sometimes mused (what a sad life I lead!) why Rose didn't mark their castings with their officially allocated factory code, in the same way that Dalgleish were allocated N92; presumably RB would have been allocated a code starting with M followed by a number as Gainsborough lies in the north east corner of the Midlands. Yet they didn't, they seem to have marked a few brackets with the roundel containing R B G single digit number, or more commonly JG or KD. Again, it's only speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if the latter two aren't the initials of two of the inspectors working at the factory.

Someone will probably turn up some documents next week confirming beyond any doubt that GF means Gujarat Forces......