Fire Engines Photos

Pete, you made my day (the machine I have been dying to see since I started following this site)! Yes this is my old Dennis, you can just make me out sat in the OIC seat as I was too young to drive it, (my father had all the fun). I shall try to scan a couple of the photos that I have of it and upload them.
I originally purchased it believing it to be an F44 and was quite perplexed when I saw a photo of it's sister machine TOO 927E which looked quite different (more rounded front, with the significantly smaller Dennis emblem). It was only when I was kindly sent a photo of it after the accident in 1969 which explained everything! It must have been rebuilt to the later specification of F38's that arrived in Essex around that time (which shared that F44 look below the windscreen).
The modifications by Schering Agrochemicals, Saffron Walden, Essex included the removal of the trunnion bar and head fittings for the escape. A T shaped tank was then fitted in the exposed chassis.
After a tip off at a rally (still indebted to them) I obtained one of the last escapes (a 50ft metal Merryweather) to have been in use in main land Britain direct from Hertfordshire (see photo 4804) when they came off the run, also lucky enough to get with it the escape fittings (there was literally only a centimetre difference between chassis widths, between a 1960's machine & that of a 1980's!). This enabled it to be re-configured back to it's original specification (albeit, would have originally carried a wooden Bayley escape).
The design of these Essex F38's was such that they can be very quickly converted from Pump Escape to Pump, by the removal of the escape and a further fitting dropped in to pre-fixed post slots to carry a 35ft Bayley.
A "rolling road restoration" (so as never to miss the rally season), myself and my father gradually restored it (always grateful to those that helped along the way).
By the way it had the Rolls Royce B61 engine (which had only covered circa 20K started without fail and ran impeccably) & a 5 speed crash gear box.
Very, very, very sadly I had to sell this machine when I went away to University and was no longer around to maintain it.
It was sold to a fellow enthusiast and I lost track of it, however I recently found a photo of it on FLICKR which I believe showed it at the Dover Transport Museum where it appeared to be in the midst of some major restoration.

Added by John D on 13 February 2009.

Pete and John, thank you for sharing the photo and very interesting information on a great looking appliance.

Added by Paul Warnock on 13 February 2009.

Hello John, I'm glade your please with the picture I sent in of your old
1967 Dennis F38/Dennis taken back all those years ago at Southampton.
I would love to see if you've actually got a shot of her fully dressed
with a wheeled escape on her back.See what you can find......Pete.

Added by Pete Matten on 13 February 2009.

Wow Pete and John, what a smashing picture and story, thanks to you both! Dennis heaven!

Added by John Stott on 13 February 2009.

John, I'm only too pleased to please.And lets be honest about it, this was a
lovely looking appliance(Sorry-'Dennis')for its period."The roaring 60's".


Added by Pete Matten on 13 February 2009.

Pete, I am in the process of collating some photos that I think will help to show the story of TOO 928E, however before they can be uploaded I have got to try as far as possible to check that I have the appropriate permissions. Apologies for any delay, please bear with me, I trust that they will be worth waiting for.
As an aside, I remembered that the dual role capability of these machines had a clever design feature (along side the adaptable gantry fittings) in that there was an outlet at the rear of the appliance that enabled the capacity of the tank to be dropped straight from (I think) 300 gallons (when running as a pump) to 150 gallons (when running as a PE) to compensate for the extra weight of the Bayley ladder.
Studying the above photo further, this was prior to the machine receiving it's re-spray and it's pleasing to see how well it came up with a bit of T-Cut, especially when the front was in two different shades of red!

Added by John Draysey on 17 February 2009.

Thanks Pete, ahh! hook ladders and wheel escapes carried on proper machines! And a fire service that wasnt ruled by " elf and safety"!

Added by John Stott on 19 February 2009.

John D, I have just found the photo you mention on Flickr which shows the appliance apparently having no bodywork left behind the cab - major restoration indeed! The photo is said to have been taken in 2002, I wonder if the work was ever completed?

Added by Chris Wood on 08 March 2009.

I recently came across another photo of TOO 928E on flickr, this time taken in July 2009. There really is nothing of the body left behind the cab and so in answer to my own question above, not yet!

Added by Chris Wood on 04 September 2010.

Hi Chris, yes I think there are a couple of pictures on FLICKR of T00 928E showing it stripped (perhaps being restored). I keep meaning to go to the Dover Transport Museum to view it, but to be honest it would break my heart to see it in that condition. Whilst it was by no means perfect, the timber frame was structurally sound and I wonder why this scale of works became necessary. Perhaps it was due to the inevitable rot that occurs when an ash framed vehicle is left standing outside. Fingers crossed the restoration does get completed.

Added by John D on 06 September 2010.

Hi all, in reference to the above comment, the scale of work became necessary due to being outside for too long in all weathers with tarpaulins getting ripped to pieces in the wind, while being continually told, "we'll get it inside soon". It did finally get inside but not long after that the museum got relocated and she ended up outside again, fortunately not for long this time. I knew by now that the nearside rear side had become rather slack so the first thing was to take the skin off and see what was going on, turns out the main spar had rotted through and the only thing to do was start dismantling at the top and work downwards. One curiosity was a 1971 penny secure under the dividing partition of the nearside suction tunnel, that's going back when the time comes with another for whatever that year may be. Ramble over, it's slower progress than I would like but it will get done one day, if the weather would just warm up a bit and stay warm I could get on with the red oxide again.

Added by David Fenton on 05 March 2011.

Thanks David for your information and best of luck with it.

Added by Chris Wood on 05 March 2011.

Hi Dave, great to hear that the Dennis is in the care of someone with the determination to see her restored again. I tried to e-mail but think your address link may not be working through here. I have some pictures that I can send you if you are interested. If so drop me an e-mail direct.

Added by John D on 17 March 2011.

Hi John, I have dropped you an email, looks like a typo on my part for the email address, hopefully whoever does the admin can tweak it for me from aom to aol.com

Added by David Fenton on 18 March 2011.

Some comments seem to suggest this appliance was withdrawn in 1984 with all the fittings to carry an escape so would I be right in assuming that Essex were still using escapes as late as 1984?

Added by George A'court on 29 August 2013.

I can remember this appliance at Ingatestone fire station back in the 70s but was as a water tender then.

Added by Brian Banks on 21 September 2020.

Added by Petros on 16 December 2025.

here is the Dover museum shot of this Dennis referred to above

www.flickr.com/photos/rw3-497alh/7397045798/in/photolist-cgDN1o



Added by Petros on 16 December 2025.

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