TOG 1's electric transmission and difficult trials

TOG 1 retained a long, narrow shape suited to the trench-crossing assumptions behind the project. Its initial layout included unsprung tracks, side sponsons, and a French 75 mm hull gun of the type used in the Char B. A Paxman-Ricardo V12 diesel was uprated from 450 to 600 horsepower and drove two generators supplying two electric motors. The system promised smooth acceleration and variable steering, but its weight and bulk contributed to a vehicle of 63.5 tonnes. Railway loading limits constrained the hull's width and made the long vehicle difficult to steer. The completed vehicle used a Matilda turret and omitted the side sponsons, leaving some of the proposed eight crew without their intended weapons to operate. Trials reached about 8.5 mph and demonstrated trench crossing, but the electric motors burned out, possibly because steering placed too much strain on them. TOG 1A then tried hydraulic transmission. Delays while oil refilled the fluid couplings made steering uncertain, and that arrangement was also abandoned.