Fire Engines Photos

Bob:

What a beautiful little rig !

Must rank amongst the first of fully-enclosed-body Pumpers, in the UK; if not in the world. And chrome-work - to save the guys polishing brass all the time.... big leap ahead for the crews.

She looks so like a little bus, or an ambulance - great piece of coach-work.

The versions with rear-mount-pumps - would they have had side-doors for the extra crew, I wonder ?

Thanks, for delivering the photo.

Regards, from Canada,
Pat_R-B



Added by Pat Rivers-Bowerman on 06 November 2008.

Hey Bob, thanks for sharing this very interesting picture with us.
What a lovely looking appliance, can't say I've seen this around.
Thanks for including the registrations, most interesting.Pete.

Added by Pete Matten on 06 November 2008.

Hi Pat from Canada,
You asked about the rear doors when pump is rear-mounted; I have only one picture of this type of machine, from around the Lake District of England, with all brass fittings, and the doors are at the rear but cut around the pumpt controls; I do not have this one on cd yet, only in slide form. I've seen photos of several of this body style, so maybe others are in the hands of enthusiasts and might answer more questions seeing it is a most unique design. I have a black and white print from Merryweather of a Dennis circa 1930 plus a couple of Merryweather-Albions, but I think these along with the classic Dennis of the old London CC Fire Brigade were built as Emergency/Rescue units---a good research project for someone to determine when and how many were built on the three primary chassis, Leyland, Albion, and Dennis.

Added by Bob Graham on 08 November 2008.

The first enclosed pumps in the UK were both Dennis, supplied in 1930 to Darlington and Edinburgh. The first US enclosed pump was a 1935 Mack, but Paris had enclosed Delahaye pumps as early as 1928 - with seats for a twelve man crew!

Added by Rob Johnson on 22 May 2012.

Bob, The Edinburgh limousine was a Merryweather supplied in 1931.
Pariss first limousine was a 1923 Somua at the time referred to as a "Super Pumper"



Added by Ian Scott on 22 May 2012.

Lancaster Police FB had a Merryweather/Albion/Hatfield limousine pump delivered in 1934, said to be one the Dinky "Streamlined Fire Engine" was based on.

Added by Neal Glover on 23 May 2012.

Enclosed fire pumps were also appearing in both Portugal and the Netherlands in the 1920s.

Added by Rob Johnson on 30 April 2018.

Central Area Fire Brigade, Scotland, had one in the early 50s

Added by John Myles on 17 July 2021.

Here it is rallied - is it still around?

www.flickr.com/photos/29485695@N02/5236173648/in/photolist-HjKWPL-8YGL11-27nywih-az1sQF-2oJSSWy

Added by Petros on 22 June 2023.

It is still around, recently changed hands, and is being recommissioned at the moment, so hopefully it will be out and about at some point this season.

Added by on 28 June 2023.

I recently learned that Paris bought a fleet of fully enclosed pumpers as early as 1921, although their famous PS first responder light pumper remained an open cab design well into the early 1960s. This was explained to me as the thinking was that the five or six crew of the PS had to get aboard their truck quickly and then get to work quickly on arrival, so an open design was more appropriate -while the fourteen riders on the heavy pump could afford to take their time! BTW fourteen is not a misprint. As late as 1980, BSPP had eleven riders on a FPT pumper….

Added by Rob Johnson on 21 September 2025.

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