Army Auxiliary Workshops were discussed a while back and with mine having a re-build plate from 1948 stating that a Class 1 re-bulid was carried-out at workshop B198, I thought I'd ask a WO2 REME friend if he could do some digging at work. Here's the reply from the REME museum:
I wish very much that I could help you on this one but it raises again a problem which has beset researchers for decades. Wksp B198 was the code reference to one of many workshops of the Ministry of Supply which, during WW 2 and for some years thereafter took the repair overload from REME UK static workshops. When the system first started pre the formation of REME these Army Auxiliary Workshops were mostly established in the larger car dealers’ garages which had extensive engineering expertise and machinery but with the demise of private motoring and no sales of new cars had very little else to do. By the end of WW 2 there were dozens of these workshops and they were all given a simple code number which could fit on a vehicle data plate to record an overhaul. By then most had a REME officer in charge of the civilian staff despite still being under MoS control. These references have been cropping up in enquiries over the last 20+ years that I have been in the Museum but I have never been able to find a decode list. By the 1950s very few of these workshops still existed and those that did were small engineering firms under long term contract to the MoS. The Ministry later became the Ministry of Technology and in 1964 all its elements which were connected with the Army in any way were taken over by the War Office and mostly came under REME. A year later the War Office itself became part of the new MOD. I still do not know if a decode list of the AAWs exists anywhere and many people from the Military Vehicle Trust and other similar organisations have been after this information for ages. One of two of the establishments have been identified but by sheer chance. If I do ever discover the magical decode list I will ensure it is widely publicized. Sorry I cannot be more helpful. Sincerely, Brian Baxter, Tech Historian
It's a bit of a bugger, but still a historical fact that shall remain with my bike. It was worth a go...
lee i went to the national achives at kew spent the day there even with some small help from people there did'nt find anything re these auxiliary workshop numbers
