Fire Engines Photos

So glad this unique appliance is preserved and apparently in relatively good shape. After leaving service it was moved around quite a bit and not always cared for as it deserved. I can’t help thinking that if a three section thirty foot ladder had been carried instead of a 35 foot two piece, all of the extensive bodywork modifications could have been avoided and the ladder carried on the roof of the rear portion of the body.

This would have meant the four door five/six seat cab could have been retained, with a larger but still removable fiberglass cap to keep the rain out. But it is what it is, decidedly odd but still safe and sound!

Added by Rob Johnson on 30 March 2022.

This was my photo, I forgot to fill in name box. The Dennis is sandwiched between a Green Goddess and a NFS Heavy Pump which are in very good order so hopefully it will be fully restored. I wonder how many fires it actually attended at the docks under the low bridge, specially compared to the number of normal fires it must have attended! Still it has give a machine of great interest. The Sunderland Air Museum is now officially called the North East Land Sea and Air Museum. Right on the A19 Nissan junction it is well worth a visit and a bargain IMHO at £6.50 entry with discount for seniors! Their website has a good list and photos of exhibits.

Added by CraigW on 31 March 2022.

When I visited the Middlesbrough station in the mid sixties they had a Dennis F12 PE, an F7 DP, a Leyland Comet MP, a Leyland TL and an old Leyland pump which had been converted to a lighting unit - as well as this famous F12 PWT. I was told the two other Dennis appliances were the busiest, and both had had their original water tanks increased to 200 and 250 gallons respectively to improve their autonomy when first aid hose reels were in use - which in those days was most of the time.

The low profile F12 was third due at high risk alarms, or the lead pump on a second turnout, while the unloved Comet was usually the last pump to turn out.This may have changed - and we do have at least one contributor on this site who worked this station around the same time - but this is what the then third officer explained. We did not discuss how often the low profile unit’s roof came off, but I was told one crew member stayed with it to “look after it”, so the remaining crew was down to only three! Personally, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to steal it, so that precaution seemed a bit unnecessary…. The roof was actually an afterthought, crafted after the FBU complained about riders having to sit in the rain. It was originally red, then for some reason repainted black.

Added by Rob Johnson on 01 April 2022.

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