The ghost of Long Branch to reappear ...

wheaty said:
Keep Sept 29 of this year open and try and get to the display. See a running Sherman and a display of arms that will make you weak at the knees.
Check out the link.
http://smallarms.ca/
http://smallarms.ca/
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I believe Bart, is the Sherman up at the airport here in Oshawa - They do a running demonstration of a different tank on the first Saturday of the month, every month during the summer, ~ looks like Bart is up this Saturday!! & July 14th is new... they haven't done that before...

http://www.ontrmuseum.ca/

They also have a small museum and a fairly decent display of small arms. $5 admission, demonstrations run on the hour I think.

TANK DAY!!

-sean
 
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wheaty said:
Back to the top with a time change:
Opening hour is now 10am and NOT 8am.
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Better to be early than late!

I just finished reading the Service Pubs pamphlet on the Sherman Tank in Postwar Service. It seems the Ontario Regiment ("Ont R's") were the last regiment to operate the Sherman. Not by official design or overt approval, but skullduggery and unofficial support from GM in Oshawa.
 
cantom said:
Smellie- please tell me you have high speed? PM me your email.
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High speed? Ha ha ha ha. The old guy has a tuckered out squirrel running on a treadmill tied to an old bicycle dynamo just to light up his reading lamp.

Speaking of Smellie: Hey, why weren't you at the milsurp shoot in Virden on Sunday? For the first time ever my team did not come in second place.
 
Pretty good show overall.

One thing for sure, everyone that attended, went home with a smile.

I would like to thank all those who put on the show, well done.

It’s a shame that the remains of Longbranch are either destroyed or beyond historical repair.

When you think out loud though, it’s only the Milsurp Community that cares for sure.

Allot of the history has been lost over the years.

I was fortunate enough to have been going there for the last 27 years or so.

A fellow GunNutz and I gave ourselves the Royal Tour about 19 years ago when Canada Post Corporation
was using the buildings and grounds.

We found allot of treasure back then.

Sadley, my buddy has became a HarleyNutz now.
I'm going to have to give him a kick in the berries to straighten his act out.

HarleyNutz or GunNutz, he's a buddie for life.

Once a GunNutz, always a GunNutz.

Hey, Markus, I'm talking about you here.

Mr. Clark’s website has some colour pictures from back then listed as, before demolition, pics not mine .

w ww.pbase.com/mrclark/long_branch_factory

That unknown photographer is me.

I have many more pictures, but going through the years will take some time to dig them up.

I was also passed down a verbal history of the place back then by a former employee who was either a draftsman or engineer.

Too many years have passed, I can’t remember his name, but I do remember my tour with him vividly.

He gave me a 3 hour walking tour of the place and "YES" including the tunnels.

I noticed allot of information from the visit on Saturday was already lost or miscued.

People must remember that Small Arms days where allot different than Canadian Arsenal days.

My information that came to me was from Small Arms days. (War Time)

Too long of a story to type down here now.

I am still dealing with my Father’s passing on September 16th 2012 at the grand old age of 88.

He was a WW2 Canadian Merchant Seaman.

We gave him a full military style burial including a piper and had a Seaman from the H.M.C.S. Star playing Last Post.

There was not a dry eye anywhere.

RIP peace, you have earned it!

S.S. Dartmouth Park and S.S. Point Pleasent Park

DadPPP02102012_0000.jpg
 
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Cigar man- Sorry about your dad.

Would love to hear your stories and see your pics some time when you're up to it.



cigar_man said:
Pretty good show overall.

One thing for sure, everyone that attended, went home with a smile.

I would like to thank all those who put on the show, well done.

It’s a shame that the remains of Longbranch are either destroyed or beyond historical repair.

When you think out loud though, it’s only the Milsurp Community that cares for sure.

Allot of the history has been lost over the years.

I was fortunate enough to have been going there for the last 27 years or so.

A fellow GunNutz and I gave ourselves the Royal Tour about 19 years ago when Canada Post Corporation
was using the buildings and grounds.

We found allot of treasure back then.

Mr. Clark’s website has some colour pictures from back then with unknown photographer listed.

That unknown photographer is me.

I have many more pictures, but going through the years will take some time to dig them up.

I was also passed down a verbal history of the place back then by a former employee who was either a draftsman or engineer.

Too many years have passed, I can’t remember his name, but I do remember my tour with him vividly.


He gave me a 3 hour walking tour of the place.

I noticed allot of information from the visit on Saturday was already lost or miscued.

People must remember that Small Arms days where allot different than Canadian Arsenal days.

My information that came to me was from Small Arms days. (War Time)

Too long of a story to type down here now.

I am still dealing with my Father’s passing on September 16th 2012.

He was a WW2 Canadian Merchant Seaman.
Click to expand...
 
I would love to see an Arial photo of Small Arms days.

The only pictures that I have seen are like Cantom's above, Canadian Arsenal days.

I was told the grounds where heavily modified from war time.

The buildings that remain where used for drafting and engineering with a small area used for a metal shop experimentation.

In War time, I was told this area was kept separate from the factory.
Two separate security entrances with only a tunnel joining them.

In the back parking lot ( behind the buildings that were used for the show) you can see the remains of flooring of an area that was used for testing.

Anyone that is up for an adventure to the area,
please be careful,
there is allot of junk (scrap, not from the factory) buried by vines and on a warm day, wasp's n hornet’s nests everywhere.

On a side note, a buddy of mine showed up on Saturday with a small piece of embroidered cloth.

He got talking to an older WW2 Veteran from the show who knew exactly what that piece of cloth was.

Turns out to be embroidered with crossed rifles and LongBranch 1941 to 45 printed in the corner.

The old Vet said that it was a lense cleaning cloth that was issued with the Sniper Rifles.

That is something that you don't see every day.

Oh and yepper, I used to own and all matching mint condition LongBranch Sniper.

Sadly, I sold it off many moons ago. (a FOOL, was I)

It is about the only rifle that I have ever regretted selling.
 
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Oh man I can't believe I missed it! I hope they make it annual. It seems like there is a bit of genuine interest in society right now. The star just ran an article on the "bomb girls" in Ajax Ontario. - http://honourajaxbombgirls.ca/

Cigar man, my sincere condolences. By the sounds of it he was sent off in the most respectful, appropriate way possible. If at some point you would be willing to share your stories those of us here will ensure that they aren't forgotten.
 
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