Fire Engines Photos

Thanks, Roger, for this one.

What a hilarious movie "Go To Blazes" was; and its "star", the Leyland Fire Engine.....

Regards, from Canada,
Pat_R-B

Added by Pat Rivers-Bowerman on 23 August 2010.

On the subject of Go to Blazes, where was the fire station our rouges were watching the escape drills at?

Added by Andrew Middleton on 24 August 2010.

The escape drills were taking place at the then (1961) new fire station in Whippendell Road, Watford.

Added by Roger Middleton, Herts Fire Museum Curator on 25 August 2010.

Thank you for that Roger. What happened to it?

Added by Andrew Middleton on 25 August 2010.

Andrew, the fire station moved to a new site in Lower High Street, Watford, in November 2009. The old station has been demolished, flats and apartments are to built on the site.

Added by Roger Middleton, Herts Fire Museum Curator on 29 August 2010.

This is very interesting to me, in 1961 I was a 19 year old Fireman at Whippendell Road. The first fire that I remember attending was British Moulded Hose. As for 'Go To Blazes' I remember being in the back of 'The Barnet's' Leyland Comet, driven by Gerry Brooker, while he tore out of the Rutts (Bushey) and cut as close as he could to the Wolseley 680 police car crossing his path. The camera man was a a complete nutter. He was standing in the middle of the road as both vehicles barely missed him. Those were the days!

Added by Richard Baker on 12 April 2011.

Has anyone heard anything of the 1932 FK, JH2804 that appeared in the movie?

Added by Richard Yokley on 28 February 2014.

As far a I know once the filming was completed, JH2804 went to the fire station in the sky.

Added by Roger Middleton, Curator, Herts Fire Brigade Museum on 21 March 2014.

Sorry to hear that.

Added by Richard Yokley on 05 April 2014.

This old girl was the first fire appliance I did ride, to my first ever shout, in 1963, drove many times operational. The unique suction hose with instantaneous couplings enabled this old timer to perform the annual deep lift test to maximum head when all other (modern) pumps could not: including Commer W80 (stable mate).
She may well have done sixty mph on acceptance but I can confirm that she also achieved a steady 50mph from St.Albans through Denham when I took her to Pinewood Film Studios to take part in the Norman Wisdom film "The Early Bird". And yes it took both feet to depress the brake pedal. She had central accelerator, twin magneto, adv/ret AND BRICK AND STRING BRAKES.
On a shout, first man up and dressed got to rattle the bell. That 50ft wheeled ladder was a heavy lump and we tried to avoid morning drill sessions with it if our heavyweight crew member George was not present.

Added by James Corley on 16 February 2016.

Is this a Lioness or Tigress ? Being told Lioness chassis production ended in 1934.

Added by Craigw on 01 March 2016.

Welwyn Garden City also had a 1938 Leyland Pump Escape, which I remember seeing on the run several times in the early 1950s. The old station was in Bridge Road next to The Cherry Tree pub. I have a 1938 photograph of it from a book. The only visible difference I can see is that the WGC one had two rows of cab seats, though some of the crew still used to stand on the running board and hang on. Can anyone give any info on the different type name/number with the two rows of seats? I lived in WGC but went to school in St Albans, so remember seeing their pump escape on shouts as well.

Added by Douglas Cockbain on 20 January 2018.

This is DJH523 Leyland FT3a.





Added by Petros on 11 May 2023.

Tigress JH2804 can be seen here in the film

www.imcdb.org/v785668.html

Added by Petros on 11 May 2023.

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