Steam engine?

[old rowley]

Hi Linda,

your dad may have been in the Durham's but that looks very much like a fusilier badge to me.

old rowley

[Lindyloowho]

I had wondered about a gun, but thought better of it?

"A trunnion is a cylindrical protrusion used as a mounting point.

In steam engines, they are supporting gudgeon pins on either side of an oscillating steam cylinder. They are usually tubular and convey steam."

Could be either one?

A Northumberland Fusilier badge - mmmm?  Maybe I'm wrong.  As I said I know very little about dad's early years - I am actually waiting for his army file to arrive.  Might help me a lot.

Linda

[stockman fred]

I vote for a gun- I found a picture in a book of a 60 pounder field gun and the pivot and wooden wheels look very similar. There's a photo of one if you look at "60 pounder" on Wikipaedia (can't do natty links yet )although the one in the book is a bit clearer.
Fred

[meles]

Here's Fred's link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60_pounder

meles

[Lindyloowho]

Thank you for all the suggestions etc.  So if it was a gun, it could be WW I or II.  I was just hoping to connect it somehow to family.

Linda

[harribobs]

Stick to WW1 

[Lindyloowho]

Thank you!  I feel very out of my depth here!

[oldjim]

The cap badge is not RE (Sappers).  I'm ex RE

[scrimnet]

The badge is either Royal Welch Fusiliers, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Royal Munster Fusiliers, or as has already been suggested, Northumberland Fusiliers.

The jacket he is wearing is a standard issue khaki drill fatigue jacket, worn to protect the uniform, or in warmer climes, on its own.

Traction engines were used to pull he big guns in WW1, and it's from these that tanks were developed.

I don't think it is the 60 lb'er that has been suggested, the bits on the side and top are quite different.

Also of note is that he is not wearing puttees.

I would have expected to see part of a funnel if it was an engine, and the piston type bits do look like a large artillery piece. Bu of course one cannot rule out an engine due to the weedy looking wheels which would have been a bit forlorn in supporting a huge gun

Now, why was an infantryman pictured with such an item??? We can't see his collars to see if there is a Labour bn badge there, so was he just on fatigues, just passing and thought it a good photo op, or what???

I must say that there are plenty of pics of me in/with bits of kit that I really shouldn't be with, so any descendants of mine will have a hard time working out what I've been up to!! One of the best ones is full scarlets....with a UN beret!!! And of course the requisite helicopters, tanks, and  captured kit!!!