Fire Engines Photos

This Ford'D'series/Simon SS263 Hydraulic Platform(reg YPA 829T)along with
another(reg YPA 830T)were actually delivered in 1979 and not 1978.A third
Ford/Simon SS263 HP was delivered in 1980 having the reg-KPF 814V.
All Surrey's three HP's were replaced in 1992 with Bronto Skylifts ALP's.

Added by Pete Matten on 12 January 2009.

Brings back a lot of memories, thanks Pete. Not wishing to be pedantic, but I think that the Denniss may be an RS and the other an SS.
Always thought that the Surrey fitting of a beacon front and rear (as per the RS's/Shelvokes of the time) never looked quite right.
A great scene with the back drop of a real fire station, may not be around much longer as I believe the site has been long tipped for re-development and Surrey F&RS secured Government funds this year to enable them to rebuild some of the stations that are no longer considered fit for purpose.

Added by John D on 12 January 2009.

these 2 end up in Ireland one in sligo the other in Drogheda this one is still on the run. the old D series ford s will have to be shot to stop it going

Added by John O,donoghue on 12 January 2009.

happy days 2 dennis app the workhorses of many uk fire services and a good old simon snorkle. no straps stopping people climbing on the back of the hp no ladder gantres on the dennis's health and safety would go mad now.a good line up of what english fire services use to have 2 app and a hp thank you pete for the pic reminds me of ward end station and central in birmingham.

Added by TG on 12 January 2009.

I owned the vehicle that preceeded the HP i was told that the HP was fine if you called the fire in about an hour before it actually started! and stability issues caused them not to be favoured by the Drivers!
The heavy springing of the earlier TL's was i am told a godsend and enabled fast cornering if you could stop them!
A nice line up of vehicles

Added by Jason Lester on 13 January 2009.

Thanks all for your comments.I struck it lucky on this photo shoot, my son and I
were passing the station and the 2 pumps were outside and when I stopped to take
some pictures the lads asked if I wanted the HP out, what could I say but yes.
Its a pity that the rescue unit wasn't on station during my stop, that would have
made a really classic station line up photograph.


Added by Pete Matten on 13 January 2009.

I served at Guildford on the blue and green watch and drove all three appliances in this photo. Loved this station

Added by Daniel on 17 October 2014.

The D1617 chassis was not a custom low profile chassis like the ERF or Dennis Delta, so it was relatively top heavy when mounted with an 85 foot Snorkel. (Dodges and Shelvokes suffered from the same problem)

As a result, it was not as stable when encountering roundabouts and tight corners, and - like all aerials - it was a lot slower than contemporary pump appliances. These all had the same or even more powerful engines but were much lighter and shorter, with a lower center of gravity. So they accelerated and cornered more quickly.

Inevitably, the reason some brigades bought D series Snorkels was that they were a lot less expensive than an ERF!

Added by Rob Johnson on 04 December 2019.

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