801 MT COY ASC
August 1917 to October 1917
Hay making continued until the end of August 1917 along with the regular work of supplying the Yeomanry and other units such as the Inniskillin Fusiliers. Vehicle repairs continued and the unit helped the 74th and 91st Anti Aircraft Sections replace some of their 30 cwt lorries with 3 tonners. The company also took over the maintenance of a Karrier lorry belonging to the 40th Casualty Clearing Station.
The light railway tractor, now known as “Hustler”, is demonstrated to Lieutenant Colonel Briggs the XVI Corps Commanding Officer. He must have been suitably impressed, as shortly afterward a man is taken on strength to help with the construction of the locomotives and the company begin building more tractors. By the end of September, they have built seven tractors and delivered them to K70, where a new light railway has been built to supply the main front line along the western edge of the Struma valley.
Image - 'Crewe Tractor' a light railway locomotive based on a Ford chassis similar to the tractors built by the 801st
As if that wasn’t enough to keep them busy, the company began supplying the Greeks, who had recently come into the war, they moved camp to K70 and sent a lorry to help evacuate refugees from Salonika during the great fire. One more notable event in the autumn of 1917, the first man went on leave to the UK; nearly twelve months after the company had first arrived in Salonika.