Fire Engines Photos

This turnout includes a trio of fairly uncommon units - the full forward control four door Mecury, the Haydon?Firemaster and the Morris ICU. Even Dennis Metz mechanical ladders from the early 1950s were not all that common, because many brigades did not replace their TLS until the 1960s and 1970s.

All of these three types were used in very small numbers by a limited number of fire brigades.

Added by Rob Johnson on 24 April 2020.

I remember now the Firemaster had Cocker bodywork. brain cells diminishing daily!

Added by Rob Johnson on 24 April 2020.

Yes, the Mercury was Hayden I think. I always thought that Glasgow was ahead of most UK brigades in terms of innovative appliances. Another example was the Scoosher which only now, 50 years later, a few brigades are buying in the new form called Stinger.

Added by Richard Aston on 28 April 2020.

Yes, Richard, they often had some very interesting kit.

I remember seeing one of their Magirus appliances at the 1966 Commercial Motor show. I think these four WTE appliances were the first German fire appliance chassis imported into the UK, although of course numerous brigades had been buying both Magirus and Metz turntable ladders on British chassis since the 1930s.

A main reason was their 150BHP V6 diesel engine, at a time when Glasgow had already switched to diesel power, as it was beefier than the 130 BHP AEC AV470 and had the same output as their - by then - discontinued Leyland Firemasters.

Ironically, the same motor show also exhibited the very first ERF dual purpose appliance. This was built for Newcastle and Gateshead, and was powered by the brand new Perkins V8 170 BHP diesel engine!

This, and its successors, were subsequently installed in a wide variety of British appliance chassis from Dennis, Dodge, ERF, Ford and Shelvoke...

By the way, Merryweather also built pump-escape appliances on full forward control four door Mercury chassis cabs for London. I think these followed a batch of similarly configured TLs, as LFB did not like the more common cab design which had a two door cab with central sliding doors.

Added by Rob Johnson on 28 April 2020.

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