Fire Engines Photos

What a sad sight, I remember putting that appliance on the run back in 1978. It was the very first "R" to go on the run at Whiston Fire Station Merseyside.It had its first shout at 03.30 the following morning to Presct Grammer School, first message back as we pulled up Make Pumps FIVE, school well alight.I also drove this on many a shout. a picture of it turning out is on the delta64 site.

Added by Dave Price on 24 January 2010.

Interesting picture, was the photo taken in 2010? or earlier? I thought I saw a similar machine on Ebay fairly recently (but may be wrong). Also did it have the pump missing, as I vaguely re-call one of these park on the back roads of a country lane in Surrey. A friend brought it to my attention and I went to have a look at it (sadly no photos), but that was coming up 10 years back, shortly after it was moved from that location.

Added by John D on 24 January 2010.

Hi - Yes the pump was missing, I think this had sat in a wood in Surrey for some time, before being taken to the location shown in the photo, which was taken in December 2009. Not much left of the interior, and generally in very poor condition.

Added by Mike G on 24 January 2010.

I think that this was the one on e-bay from memory, supposedly dumped in a hedge for so many years and left.

After use by Merseyside, was sold to a company called Flame Vehicles of Windsor.

Hopefully now it may be in preservation?

Added by Chris on 25 January 2010.

I remember the ebay listing you refer to Chris - 'in a Surrey hedge for approximately 20 years; engine, gearbox, brakes and tyres ok; slight rot in timber' or words to that effect but I have the registration recorded as NHF 284S. It was listed and sold in August. Maybe I wrote down the wrong number as it would be quite a coincidence to have two Merseyside Dennis' in Surrey hedges!
DVLA check not much help as both registrations ceased to be licenced in 1995.

Added by Chris Wood on 25 January 2010.

If my memory serves me right the first of the "R" we had was NHF285S at Newton-Le-Willows so not sure what 284S was registered to.

Added by Dave Price on 26 January 2010.

I am pretty confident this is the same machine I saw all those years back, having no pump and 'disappearing' I was convinced it must have got scrapped so great to see it survived the torch! Whilst it was missing a pump, I seem to re-call it did at least have a couple of helmets in the cab!

If anyone has been lurking around the woods of Surrey looking for fire appliances over the years, I would really like to know what happened to an old Dennis F44 and a Karrier that used to be parked in a field/wooded area adjacent to the B3000 near Guildford Crematorium (on the road to Compton). They used to be moved around and featured in sporadic auctions, failing to sell until one day they disappeared...where did they go?

Added by John D on 26 January 2010.

Hi Chris,

I could be wrong, I have now spent the evening trolling through my document files, in case I had saved the picture from e-bay to verify which one it was.

Five vehicles passed to Flame Vehicles of Windsor, they were NHF284/285/286/287/289S all ex Merseyside DENNIS R133 models, perhaps then after all of this time 2 survive?

All the more interesting, is there anybody else in the area that can furnish any more info?



Added by Chris on 26 January 2010.

Thanks for that information Chris, I feel a bit better now I know that it could have been '284' on ebay as I had recorded. Sounds like Surrey hedges and woods could have been a real hot spot for fire engine enthusiasts!

Added by Chris Wood on 27 January 2010.

Whether or not this was on Ebay previously - It certainly is now!

Added by Mike G on 28 February 2010.

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