Welcome to the
Bailey Bridge Training Model Web Page
"A day without a bridge is like a day without sunshine" Think Defence
The Bassett-Lowke 1/6th scale training model of the Bailey Bridge,
as made for the Royal Engineers.
This web page is a simple introduction to the 1/6th scale model Bailey Bridge Sets manufactured by Messrs Bassett-Lowke of Northampton, under contract to the British Ministry of Supply, as a training aide for the Royal Engineers.
These model sets, which initially were designed as an exact replica of the WWII British Army’s Divisional Bailey Bridge equipment, were made for use by the Schools of Military Engineering and the various training establishments of the Royal Engineers. The idea behind the training aids was to reduce the time needed to train Officers and NCO's in the principles of Bailey Bridge construction before letting them loose on the 'big stuff'.
Prior to the introduction of these models the only way to familiarise the men with the new bridging equipment was in Bridge training camps which were both difficult and costly to organise, and absorbed a lot of manpower which was urgently needed elsewhere. The use of models as training aids was not a new innovation for WWII but had always been a cornerstone of Royal Engineer practice & training throughout its history. Indeed the 1942 edition of Regulations for the Equipment of the Army, Part I, General Regulations lists Model Sets for S.B.G. (Small Box Girder); F.B.E. (Folding Boat Equipment) and Pontoon Equipment;, with both Inglis Bridge Model Sets and Bailey Bridge Model Sets listed but, not yet available.
The model Pontoon Equipment was available pre-War and the IWM (Imperial War Museum) holds a few photographs showing some exhibits from an Army Exhibition; which was held at the Science Museum in November 1939. From this, and other photographs in the series, we can estimate that both the models for the Pontoon Equipment, and the Inglis Bridge, were approximately 1/6th scale, that is to say 2 inches to 1 foot. The F.B.E. Model set was closer to 1/10th scale (1.2 inches to the foot). We can only presume that the S.B.G model was also 1/10th scale, to make it compatible with the F.B.E Model sets.
The 1/6th scale Pontoon Set was later upgraded, with re-designed parts, to make it more compatible with the 1/6th Scale Bailey Bridge Model set when it became available. The IWM catalogue numbers for the relevant photographs are: ARMY TRAINING 13/26 and H 20745.
The various Model Bailey Bridge Sets were manufactured between 1944 and 1957 and are mostly constructed from a semi-hardwood, with brass fittings at various stress points, and includes various other brassware accessories, such as panel pins and sway braces etc. The first 70 sets of the Basic Type A; set were ordered towards the end of 1943 but the models were not actually delivered to the RE until late in 1945. Thereafter the Directorate of Engineers Equipment continued to order more, as the need arose, between 1944 and the late 1950's when the Royal Engineers began to replace Bailey Bridging equipment with Heavy Girder Bridge, and later supplemented with Medium Girder Bridge. It should be noted that Bassett-Lowke also made 1/6th scale training aids for the HGB and, in the mid - late 1960’s after Bassett-Lowke had ceased trading, a firm called Miltra made training aids, in 1/12th scale, for the MGB.
Following on from the Basic Type A;set, for the Bailey bridge, (which was designed to replicate the 80 ft Divisional Bridging equipment), Bassett-Lowke were then tasked, in 1947, with manufacturing a Type B;SWBB (Standard Widened Bailey Bridge) Conversion Set. This was followed-up with a Type C BB and SWBB Pontoon Set and a Type D Crib Set.
In total there were seven different sets made and these ranged from the Basic Bailey Bridge Sets, with a SWBB conversion element, and labelled A- D. These initial four sets were followed, in 1951, with the manufacture of Model Sets for EWBB (Extra Wide Bailey Bridge) Conversion sets labelled Type E - G. The Type E was, much like the Type B set, a basic EWBB Conversion set. This was followed by the Type F set, which was the EWBB Pontoon Set and came in four very large crates; The EWBB conversion set was completed with the addition of the Type G EWBB Crib Set.
In addition to the official EWBB Conversion Sets there were also at least two unofficial EWBB conversions sets made by Bassett-Lowke. It would seem that initially Bassett-Lowke, who were receiving enquiries from overseas customers for EWBB conversion sets, were frustrated by the prolonged absence of any official guidance from the Ministry of Supply on just what these new conversions sets should contain. Lacking any formal guidance, Bassett-Lowke formulated their own unofficial sets of EWBB models and based the contents on what they considered to be the most likely specifications.
The existence of these sets has only recently become known to us and we are still trying to track down a full schedule of contents for them. However, what is apparent is that offerings of these sets was short-lived, possibly from 1952 - 1957. Confusingly these unofficial sets share a somewhat similar designation to the official sets in that they are labelled Sets G & H. Bassett-Lowke skipped E & F, possibly because they suspected the Ministry of Supply might bring out some sets of their own, which of course they did eventually do and this is where some confusion reigned in the 1950's, and again today when trying to resolve these inconsistencies. The Unofficial G Set was designed as a standard EWBB Conversion set (contents for this set was based on some ad-hoc model EWBB parts the Ministry of Supply had previously ordered), whilst the Unofficial H Set was designed as an EWBB Crib set, and made to Bassett-Lowke's own specification. The absence of an unofficial EWBB Pontoon set would seem to indicate that Bassett-Lowke presumed that the existing Pontoon Set, Type C, would work perfectly well with the EWBB sets. This of course was wrong as the Type C Pontoon Set was predicated on basic Bailey and SWBB, which meant that some parts, especially those parts for Class 70 bridge construction, would not work with EWBB. In fact a certain amount of confusion about the essential differences between SWBB and EWBB can be detected in some of the official histories, and communciations of Bassett-Lowke.
When the Ministry of Supply finally published official schedules of contents for the EWBB model sets, in 1955, they were unaware of Bassett-Lowke's unofficial sets and, following on from the original A - D sets, they designated three new, official, EWBB sets as E - G, with the Type G set being the official EWBB Crib Set. For a while there was a communications black-spot between Bassett-Lowke and the MoS; Bassett-Lowke remained unaware of the newly specified schedules and continued to offer their own unofficial EWBB sets labelled G & H, and advertising these sets in their own catalogues. This caused quite a bit of confusion (especially with overseas customers such as Royal Australian Engineers and the Royal New Zealand Engineers) when Bassett-Lowke's unofficial sets failed to tally (both in nomenclature and contents) with the official schedules that had been published in ACI's (Army Council Instructions) and in the relevant Vocabulary of Royal Engineer Stores. Eventually this problem was sorted out and Bassett-Lowke withdrew their own unofficial sets and sold only those sets officially sanctioned by the Ministry of Supply.
We would very much like to track down the relevant documentation for these various 'unofficial' EWBB sets and we are especially keen to have sight of a specific Bassett-Lowke publication called The Bailey Bridge Model Set Catalogue which was in circulation circa 1955, and supplied to various customers such as the Royal Australian Engineers and the Royal New Zealand Engineers. At present we have not yet turned up a copy of this catalogue but the search continues. Obviously, if you have a copy of this catalogue we would very much like to have sight of its contents. Whilst we would, eventually, like to obtain a copy of this document for our own archives we are happy to accept photocopies or images of the pages of this catalogue.
We are also keen to obtain sight of the relevant VAOS, which will hopefully provide a full schedule of the sets. The VAOS we need to see is Vocabulary of Army ordnance stores, section E2 : bridging equipment, 1945 which includes amendment no. 1 dated 1947, no. 2 dated 1949, no. 3 dated 1949 and no. 4 dated 1950.
Sometime after 1950 the VAOS was replaced with the Royal Engineers Vocabulary of Stores. This was split into seven significant parts and REVoS ,Group 4, Section 5, Sub-Section 4: Bridging would seem to be the section that contains the information we require. This subsection was possibly published circa 1955 and carried the War Office Registry code WO 6386. Alternatively, it is possible that Section V: Special Warlike Stores may be the publication that contains some information on the models. If you have copies of either of these particular REVoS publications then we would dearly like to have sight of any relevant information from them.
Like all British Army equipment during this period these model sets came with their own CES (Complete Equipment Schedule) booklets. Again, we would very much like to see any and all copies of CES documentation related to these wonderful Engineering Models. We are especially keen to obtain sight of the CES for the Type F Set, EWBB Pontoon.
Over the years we have acquired an extensive collection of the model Bailey bridge sets and we are always interested to know of the existence, and location, of other sets. So, if you have one of these sets, or just the parts of one of these model sets, then please do let us know via the contact us link at the bottom of this page. We are always in the market for specific loose items to help complete sets that we retain but we also maintain a list of people who would like to obtain the Basic Type A set, so if you have one you wish to move on then please do let us know and we shall endeavour to put you in touch with one of these prospective buyers.
We are very keen to talk with the descedants of Percy F. Claydon who was Works Manager at Bassett-Lowke during the time these models were manufactured. If anyone knows Mr Claydon's direct descendants and can put us in touch with them it could very well help us enormously with our research.
If you have any information that you feel will enhance our research and understanding of these great British engineering models, or simply know where any of these models are located, then please do contact us as we are always keen to hear from anyone who can increase our knowledge of these wonderful models.
A word to the wise, there is a school of thought that might suggest these models are worth 1,000’s of pounds. Sadly that is not the case, these models are very little known about by traditional Bassett-Lowke collectors and because of their very large size do not fit well with Bassett-Lowke’s traditional scale models. Indeed some of the official Bassett-Lowke official histories actually disparages these models as not terribly sophisticated, which is another reason why very few traditional Bassett-Lowke collectors are interested in acquiring them. In light of this the Bassett-Lowke marque brings very little value to these model sets. Also their very large size means that they not only require a very large storage space but also a very large build space. A single tri-partite 1/6th scale model Pontoon, when fully assembled, is 10 ft. long. Whilst an 80 ft. divisional bridge set, at 1/6th scale, measures out at well over 13 feet long. So, for a pontoon bridge you do require a 10ft x 15ft - 20ft space just for the build area, and that doesn't include space for the builder to move around in. A simple Bailey bridge, without Pontoons, takes up a build space of 15ft x 4ft wide. Simply put, these model need to be built on the ground, in an empty garage or better still an old Scout/Drill hall, which is what they were designed for. Trying to build one in the domestic living room could, in all likelihood, lead to the initiation of divorce proceedings.
Finally, finding copies of these models is becoming harder as the years go by, folks who own these models do tend to hold on to them and they rarely come up for sale. However, a UK company, involved in the RC model tank business (http:\\www.armortek.co.uk), did once offer for sale a Bailey Bridge engineering kit. It was not as detailed as the original Bassett-Lowke model, nor as big a set; and whilst there were some issues of fidelity to original design specs it was fairly representative of a hybrid SWBB / M2 Bailey bridge (the M2 being a US post-war design that differed in some notable ways from the original British Bailey bridge design and the British SWBB design.
Contact Bailey Bridge Models
If you don't much care for Twitter, and who can blame you, then you can send me an email on info at baileybridgemodel dot co dot uk.