Fire Engines Photos

David, great series of photos, thanks. I was not aware New Zealand had the "gut-buster" ladder, can you tell me anything about their history and use in NZ, thanks. I sure Johnno will be interested too, ,

Added by Pav on 06 June 2013.

I like the look of this appliance, I think its the unusual bodywork.

Added by Paul Warnock on 06 June 2013.

Ladder looks like a Lacon 13.5 m ladder which is somewhat less heavy than the merryweather/angus gutbuster

Added by J Hanson on 06 June 2013.

The ladder looks more like the later 13.5 lacon rather than the earlier lacon 464 or merryweather which were the gutbusters og thier days , it doesnt look deep enough , the gutbusters were a very deep , almost 2 feet when lying flat on the ground , these were based on an irish design and later lightenend and modified for ease of use for british brigades after complaints about their wieght and unwieldiness and are now recognised as a very good all round ladder for rescue and ingress at hieght being stable and strong but reasonably light and easy to use

Added by Alan on 06 June 2013.

Is it not just a standard Angus Sacol 464???

Added by Gearóid Blake on 07 June 2013.

Its a Mk1 464 ladder, Angus Sacol/ Lacon the Mk2 was built solely by AS, it struggled in gantries on numerous Dennis etc due to slightly different measurements. Definitely not a Merryweather.

Added by Gary Simpson on 07 June 2013.

looks like the later 135 to me, it was available from the early seventies and was much lighter than the 464, lacon or merryweather , saying that they are all very similar in design and it is hard to tell the differences from a distant photo , but the wheels and props are identical to the later 135

Added by Ronnie Mac on 08 June 2013.

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