Fire Engines Photos

This great photo illustrates that the Braidwood body style was by no means limited to the UK, even if some countries largely abandoned the design a few years earlier in the thirties. With its right hand drive, shiny fire bell and overhead ladder gantry this could have been taken for a contemporary British pump. The main difference, apart from the doors on the driver’s compartment, was the universal feature of hose reels with pre-connected hose lines. At the rear, a monster two man cart for 75mm hose and two side mounted detachable smaller reels for 52mm attack hoses.

Added by Rob Johnson on 18 November 2025.

Solid tyres were retained by quite a few fire services in many places long after pneumatics were commonly fitted to most other commercial vehicles. Well into the forties there were still a lot of horse drawn carts in daily use, and cast off horseshoe nails were a frequent cause of punctures. While a punctured tyre was an inconvenience for most motorists, it was a potential disaster for a fire engine, resulting in a significantly delayed response. As this problem faded over the years, a lot of brigades changed their solid tyred trucks to pneumatics, but some - like this example - never bothered to.

Added by Rob Johnson on 21 November 2025.

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