During the great drought of 1976 taken in the village of Cynwyd near Corwen N Wales during a large fire on Cynwyd mountain. The village was the rendevous point.
Another Commer QX/Buttons bodywork WrT. Allocated to Rhyl in 1962 to replace ODM 714, Dennis F25/Dennis WrT which became reserve. Replaced itself in 1972 when Rhyl recieved a Bedford TK/HCB-Angus WrE BDM949J. reallocated to Prestatyn who had a Karrier 21A"Gamecock"/Carmichael WrT SDM 826 which went to Flint to replace the ex Hawarden Leyland FK4/Leyland PE BDM 308. This left Flint with SDM 826, Dennis F7/Dennis GDM 507, Leyland FK4/Leyland PE BDM 308 and an AFS EP. SDM391, the simonitor arrived in 1973 and thus sent BDM 308 into the reserve fleet prior to Tommy Hollis of Garden City procuring the appliance for preservation.
No Peter, it's a QX21A Commer. VACS Commers have the TS3 (Tilling Stevens) engines with one headlight similar to UDM286G and the VACS with Leyland engine have twin headlights similar to the Kent K2 Commer/HCB WrT's. Hope this helps.
I have just been visiting other favourite places of mine on the internet and I thought of you when I saw a photo of SDM 826 on the CCMV site. You have taught us a lot about Flintshire machines recently and so the 'DM' registration stood out even though the caption said 'ex-Courtaulds'. I see you mention SDM 826 above so I thought this was a good place to mention it. The photo was only added in November.
Its not often that we see a Commer QX water tender, where the bodybuilder has utilized the full factory cab, instead of just the cowl.
Although not as elegant as the Whitson or Carmichael units, for example, this does seem to work - and was presumably easier to build and therefore a less expensive solution. I can't help wondering though if it was missing side windows in the rear doors?
Added by Andy Middleton on 21 November 2009.