Fire Engines Photos

Cracking photo again Andy, I have a soft spot for the Bedford TK's. We had 2 brand new Bedford TK's, with HCB bodywork on our station when I joined the fire service. thanks for sharing.

Added by Paul Warnock on 21 February 2011.

Any body know about a Bedford TK Reg No BDV 191L.

Added by Steve Toney on 21 February 2011.

Great to see this fire engine again! I used to work at HCB Angus at the time she was built, as a sheet metal worker. I remember doing jobs on these Bedfords, skinning doors, making the vents between the two front doors, ladder gantries, panelling the pump bays, making and fitting 'A'frames for towing hitches etc... great days, great memories.

Added by Pete Hatcher on 20 January 2012.

There's a slim possibility that this machine is still around. According to DVLA it was taxed until July 2007. Does anyone know if it's still around?

Added by Matt Ireland on 21 January 2012.

Hi Mat, I joind HCB in 1972 as a coppersmith and worked along side my brother Pete, a sheetmetal worker mainly on rear ends. We had a great time working on these units and our time there was a pure education. sad that is no more. I moved on in 1982.

Added by Gordon A R Hatcher on 06 February 2012.

Hi, I joined HCB in 1977 and served a 4 year apprenticeship. I remember Pete and Gordon Hatcher. I played for the firms football team that Gordon managed. Great times. Left in 84 . When applying for other jobs if you said you worked at HCB you had a good chance of getting the job.

Added by William Goulding on 23 August 2014.

I'm doing some research into the Worcester City and County Fire Brigade and this appliance, TFK 264M, and sister TFK 265M, were ordered in 1973 on HCB-Angus numbers 5344.1 & 2. They were delivered in July 1974 to Hereford and Worcester. As Matt said in 2012, taxed until 2/2007 with last V5 issued in 10/2006 so it must have had further use somewhere.

Added by Simon Rowley on 30 November 2022.

The TK was an excellent chassis for fire appliances and when I was at Ford selling D series to fire brigades it was our toughest competitor. Brigades were often happy to switch from other brands to Ford, but those with long histories of buying Bedford were much harder work! In the early years, from 1966 to around 1970 we had the advantage that our turbo diesel six and the Perkins V8 both offered more horsepower than the available Bedford diesels - this was a time when a lot of brigades were turning to diesel, although our first sales (to Gloucestershire) were all petrol engined.

Does anyone know what engines these TKs had in 1973? I believe Bedford solved their lack of a powerful enough diesel by offering the AEC AV470 engine in their fire appliance chassis, but I don’t remember when.

Added by Rob Johnson on 30 November 2022.

Now that would be interesting - an AEC engine in a Bedford, not heard of that before. Are there any examples or was it a proposed solution that never got off the ground? I've heard of petrol alternatives (Jag and Rolls engines along with the Janspeed conversion) but never an AEC diesel

Added by on 02 December 2022.

I have found a 1979 TK with AEC 505 engine which was in service in Malta, but I believe the 470 was offered earlier.

Added by Rob Johnson on 02 December 2022.

According to Wikepedia, Bedford trucks had not only AEC, but Leyland, Gardner, Perkins and Detroit Diesel engines in various models at different times in addition to their own.

Added by Rob Johnson on 03 December 2022.

Interesting to read the comments on the fitting of non-Bedford engines into Bedford chassisied appliances. It appears Bedford may have been quite open to the marrying up of other engines to their chassis, on more than just chassis intended for fire appliance builds. I have a contact who has an ex-London Ambulance Service Bedford CF chassisied emergency ambulance, and that is fitted with a more powerful Holden engine. It could of course be a retro fit but I have been told some of the LAS CF emergency fleet were fitted with Holden units.

Added by Keith Richardson on 08 December 2022.

Keith Ford SVO also built an ambulance chassis with the Essex three litre petrol V6 for some buyers. I once drove a demonstrator and it certainly had some extra get up and go! This was the same engine as was installed in the Zodiac, Granada and Capri GXL coupe.

Reverting back to fire appliances, my home town Darlington was also the location of the Cummins Diesel engine factory, so the local fire brigade bought both ERF and Dennis units with Cummins engines instead of the standard Perkins.




Added by Rob Johnson on 09 December 2022.

Thanks Rob, all noted. Happy days, when customers got what they wanted!!

Added by Keith Richardson on 10 December 2022.

Thanks! Customization is still rampant here in America, where most fire trucks are custom built - with every last detail specified by the fire company or department. Back in this time Dodge also used AEC, Leyland and Perkins diesels in their truck chassis in the UK, and all three engine manufacturers offered customized engines to numerous truck, bus and boat builders. Even the London Dennis F101 dual purpose appliances had a very unusual monster 13 liter Rolls Royce diesel boat engine, although they switched to AEC and Perkins soon afterwards.

Back to Ford: the SVO Transit V6 was also bought by some factory fire brigades as a light pumper with a. 350 gpm Coventry Climax pump, although I don’t think any municipal or county brigades had them…

Added by Rob Johnson on 10 December 2022.

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