Fire Engines Photos

This Ford (PDF923G) Passed to Avon FB in 1974. Served at A5 Patchway and C1 Weston Super Mare. My records show it was preserved by a Mr Guise. Its a Ford D600 with "low Cost" HCB Angus bodywork.

Added by Gary Simpson on 30 March 2010.

Hello,

Very nice 'on the job' pictures if I may say so.

Do I gather that there is no 'through connection' between the Driver/OIC in the front and the crew in the rear of the Ford? If so it cannot have been very pleasant for the crew in the rear, plus how would the OIC communicate with them to tell them to don BA sets etc prior to arrival at the scene?

Also is the Ford a Pump Escape or a Pump/Pump ladder?. I cannot tell what sort of ladder it carried from the photos.

Thank you

Peter

Added by Peter on 30 March 2010.

The Ford is a water tender,the Commer is a pump escape,sorry i don't know about crew communication
but i think there is a window or open hatch between the 2 cabs.
For low cost,read cheap.

Added by Bristol Bob on 30 March 2010.

There is a Langley Models whitemetal kit of a Gloucestershire FB Ford H.C.B Angus like the one in this picture.

Added by George A'court on 01 April 2010.

Hello George,my picture 117 on the models site shows the Langley model.

Added by Bristol Bob on 02 April 2010.

I had already seen the picture of the model you made Bristol Bob but thank you anyway. I nearly bought a Langlay Kit myself but felt that my model brigade didn't really need a Ford. The Langley kits are usually quite accurate.

Added by George A'court on 02 April 2010.

I worked for Ford Truck Division when these were delivered to Gloucestershire. The design was intended to enable the users to take full advantage of the fact that the D series came with a tilt cab, which was an innovation when it was introduced in the UK in 1966. Although I personally think the resulting body design was ugly, it was practical and cheap to build. The rear crew seat could easily accommodate four, as it was much wider than the front truck cab, and it had a lot of headroom. I remember eleven of us going off for a pub lunch in Essex in one of the first of these appliances ( a shake-down test of sorts), and it was at least as comfortable as riding in any of the buses they had in those days. The rear centre cab window was removed, to create a way for the officer to communicate with the crew in the back, with a fat rubber seal around it to hopefully keep the rain out. Later D series fire appliances with integral crew cabs were often criticised that they were difficult - if not dangerous - to tilt, and most of them suffered from being narrow and lacking in headroom, too. Good enough for four short blokes, but you can't legislate for that!

Added by Rob Johnson. on 27 April 2010.

see also




Added by Petros on 06 March 2023.

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