Fire Engines Photos

I took a whole century for Merryweather to go from being a technology leader in designing and manufacturing fire pumpers to becoming essentially a marginal player in the field. Two reasons I can think of, but there were probably additional ones. First, after Dennis and others introduced centrifugal pumps after 1908 the firm stuck with piston pumps, even delivering some as late as 1954!

Second, after WWII, in 1950, the firm decided to limit their fire appliance offerings to diesel powered chassis only. Although enthusiastically adopted by urban brigades like London and Middlesex, as well as some other cities, they completely missed the much larger market supplying county brigades, These all wanted petrol powered units, which drivers and their mechanics understood better - and which were less expensive than diesels. It was only in the seventies that county brigades switched in large numbers to diesels, by which time the firm had spent two decades ignoring them….

Added by Rob Johnson on 03 January 2025.

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