Fire Engines Photos

These strange looking DENNIS appliance is a MILES bodyed appliance, they did quite a few all with the same front.

Added by Dave Price on 26 February 2010.

yes Dave and surprisingly there are quite a few surviving

Added by Barrie Green on 26 February 2010.

Northumberland bought these Dennis F8/Miles for retained stations. The first being HNL403 at Haltwistle in 1954. Fitted with a Rolls Royce B80 petrol engine and body similar to Northumberlands Commer appliances,they were very long lived. This one was based at Amble and was still on the run in 1980. Denbighshire & Montgomeryshire in Wales also bought a small number. Northumberland bought 10 such machines

Added by Gary Simpson on 26 February 2010.

This is my F8 and has been in my family since 1989 when I bought it from a scrapyard in Holmfirth in West Yorkshire if you look at picture 2305 you will see some of its history. I must correct you though Gary, LTY 352 served all of her life at Seahouses just up the coast from Amble from 1957 until 1983 although it is rumoured that for a very short time after leaving Seahouses she was placed on Holy Island as the first motorised appliance there - the islands causeway is cut off by the tide twice a day ! _ if anyone can confirm this - ideally with pictures I would appreciate it !

Added by Rick Loudon on 26 February 2010.

Gary, I'm sure its a 'misprit' but they had the B60 engine and not B80

Added by Rick Loudon on 26 February 2010.

They started life as Type A water tenders towing a trailer pump. Later converted to carry 2 Coventry Climax UFMP pumps at the rear, 1 plumbed in semi- permanently with "plug in" electric start the other normal mount. Apparently @ 70mph the TrP only touches the road every 10 yrds??!!

Added by Neal Glover on 27 February 2010.

Yes it was a misprint Rick.

Added by Gary Simpson on 28 February 2010.

We can look at picture 459 and picture 2291 of Dennis F8 [Dennis body]; and yet so vastly different-looking from this Dennis F8 [Miles body] ......must have kept 'The Opposition' truly confused !

Added by Pat Rivers-Bowerman on 01 March 2010.

Sorry Gary, but D&M only had two Dennis F8's, one with Dennis bodywork at Wrexham that being JCA 571 and one with Miles bodywork, that being LUN 354 at Llangollen. LUN 354 ended her days at BICC on the Wrexham Industrial estate. One more F8 in the area was LUN 67 at British Celanese which I believe is now in Rick Loudon's capable hands.

Added by Andrew Middleton on 27 April 2010.

Thanks for the compliment Andrew - I do indeed have the former British Celanese F8 (standard body but roller lockers) it is actually LUN 671 and has been re engined.

Added by Rick Loudon on 27 April 2010.

Oops typing error. Sorry Rick.


Added by Andrew Middleton on 28 April 2010.

We have LUN 354 in our 50's museum in Denbigh.
I would love to hear more about these trims so I can tell people that visit.

Added by Paul Jefferson on 10 September 2011.

The original F8 was limited to a 300 gallon tank (some had a smaller 200 gallon), so did not qualify as a JDCC water tender. Did the Miles aluminium body allow their version of the F8 to carry a full 400 gallons?

Added by Rob Johnson on 11 October 2016.

The Northumberland F8's..all 10 of them were 'A type Water tenders'..400 gallon tank but a pump driven by its own engine instead of the road engine via a PTO

Added by Rick Loudon on 12 October 2016.

These were a brilliant design, but I often wondered why they were built without front cab doors. The F8 chassis which was used had the front axle far enough back in the frame for it to have plenty of room for a set of forward positioned front doors with a low step height - but the Miles design suppressed these.

The same was true of the many Miles appliances on Commer chassis, which also was designed from the onset with forward positioned front doors!

I can only imagine that this approach was a cost-cutting measure, as the original Miles design was created for Bedford chassis, which had the axle further forward so that the front doors were on top of the front wheels instead of ahead of them...

Ironically, a few Bedfords were actually built with front doors, but these do not seem to have been an option on the Dennis or Commer chassis - where they would have made even more sense!

Added by Rob Johnson on 14 December 2018.

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