Fire Engines Photos

I think this a great appliance, I'm a bit of an Emergency Tender / Rescue Tender man. I have seen this vehicle on lots of occasions, and may some photos I will have to have a look.

Added by Paul Warnock on 31 December 2007.

The classic Holmes Wrecker, with the twin booms; you could run one wire out to a strong point, such as a big tree and winch the casualty out, with the other wire.
Do you know, I think they have pretty well vanished from the roads of North America... in favour of tilt-bed Ramp Trucks, hydraulic single booms; and massive low-level hydraulic lifts for towing the big trucks.
Outside of junk-yards, the last Holmes Wrecker that I can remember, was
Canadian Armed Forces, at HMC Dock-yard in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Thanks for this photo of a real beauty.
Regards,


Added by Pat_R-B on 25 April 2008.

Pat, as with America the Holmes is little used here now. It is still however a very flexible crane capable of doing most of all what the modern day replacement can do.

You probably know that the winch drums are directly driven from the PTO through a gearbox. Some of the Holmes's now being used have replaced the mechanical drive with hydraulic motors to give variable speed operation with a smother take up.

Added by Barry on 25 April 2008.

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