Fire Engines Photos

What a real classic ET.This appliance dates from 1963 and is an AEC Mercury/Merryweather Emergency Tender.It remained in service until 1985.
Great picture Colin, thanks for sharing it with us.Pete.

Added by Pete Matten on 07 October 2011.

I don`t think this was still in service in 1985 as McDonald Road had a Y reg Dodge 50 / Mountain range ET, and before that they had a dodge walk thru van as the ET which probably replaced this vehicle.

Added by D. cruickshank on 08 October 2011.

I think the out of service date 0f 1985 has been quoted from the Fire Brigade Handbook - Special Appliances Vol. 1, i've noticed before that some of the data may differ from that of other sources.

Added by Michael G on 09 October 2011.

Not sure when it came out of service but I started running as Oi/c in 1966, and it was still in service when I left the station in 1972. Doing the inventory on this ET took ages, it was like and Aladin's cave!
I remember the Dodge walk - through van that was supposed to replace this ET. It looked like it was delivering loaves of bread.


Added by Colin McFarlane Foster on 10 October 2011.

Colin, is my memory wandering or am I correct in thinking that one of our much respected, then Firemaster Frank Rushbrook's proud statements about the ET was that when new she carried a 1000 pieces of equipment .. or was it perhaps just a 100 ? A 1000 seems an awful lot but she did double-up then as the CU and I suppose 'Paper A4 x 100 sheets, Message Pads x 50, Pencils x 50' etc etc etc would soon add up ! Whatever the fugure, I recall from my spell at Mc Road in the mid 70's she was still well loaded then.

Added by Keith Richardson on 10 October 2011.

Keith she did indeed carry over 1, 000 pieces of kit, but you're getting on towards how it was counted, e.g. the Radiac kit (one box) held 20 Dosimeters, 2 chargers and a pile of 'Radiation' guides. The'Joiners' kit, (another box, held every tool you could want to do something to chunks of wood. So it went on, the transverse walk-through held not only the generator but also searchlights and cluster lights with appropriate tripods. I have a picture somewhere of the ET with most of it's kit on display, should I publish it on this site for you?

Added by Colin McFarlane Foster on 11 October 2011.

Some of the 'younger' visitors to this site could well find your offer very useful if they haven't thumbed through photos in the old MoF Part 2. It would certainly give them an appreciation of the kit carried on traditional ETs of the 60's and 70's and the South Eastern one in particular. Happy days ... thanks Colin.

Added by Keith Richardson on 12 October 2011.

Following the details provided by other contributors, I should have added this is an AEC / Merryweather ET, and like some others built directly onto a new TL chassis.

Added by Colin McFarlane Foster on 18 November 2011.

The E.T. referred to was in fact a class 'B' Emergency tender, if you recall the class 'A' was the smaller of the E'T's. Colin the o.i.c, on our red watch of ZF60,
was in fact the drivers, namely Jock Foster, Alec Duff and Davey Hall, (killed in service). We sat in the nearside passenger seat and hoped the driver knew the way to Grangemouth refinery. We activated the road clearance systems, which included sirens and electronic two tone horns. New in the day.


Added by Archie Hill on 07 January 2013.

Hi Archie, that's some well ken't faces you've listed there! The 'road clearance system' originally had 4 tone horns (when brand new and based at Lauriston) but due to represenations from the Police these were paired off to produce 2 tones from double hooter units.

Added by Colin Foster on 07 January 2013.

Hi Colin,
I thought six zero had the same two tone electric horns as ZF10 P.E They were very fast in operation and were like the French horns on emergency vehicles of the sixties. Memories fade with time eh!,


Added by Archie Hill on 12 March 2013.

Hello again Archie, the original 4 Bosch flat horns went through a 4 note / tone cycle, twice for every press of the floor button. Within the 4 notes the sequence rose in pitch as each note sounded. The Police objected, (as two tone horns were fairly new too), and so the workshops wallahs paired them off to produce that peculiar continental two tone sound. ZF60 ran with those for the rest of her career.

Added by Colin Foster on 12 March 2013.

A second Police objection came when the ET had alteranting flat flashing lights were fitted to the black radiator grille. The Police insisted they could be mistaken for traffic turning signals, and insisted they flash in unison. So another pairing job to make them flash together.

Added by Colin Foster on 12 March 2013.

Hi Colin,
When you talk of additional flashing grille lights etc, I was probably a police traffic officer by that time,


Added by Archie Hill on 12 March 2013.

That you were Archie, on the other side of the 'ye cannae dae that' fence!

Added by Colin Foster on 13 March 2013.

Colin: I am interested to know what level of manning was the norm on this rig?

I believe London usually ran with seven crew on their A type ETs around this time, but smaller towns with B types often ran with three or four, and when I lived in Cambridge they often turned out their Bedford RL ET with only a driver.

Was there any kind of standard, or was it just whatever and whoever could be made available?

Added by Rob Johnson on 04 March 2018.

Rob I have taken too long to answer your query. In the 60s the ET ran with 2 Firemen (driver and an Oi/c). Later this was changed to driver + Leading Fireman as Oi/c

Added by Colin M Foster on 24 October 2020.

Thanks Colin No problem

Added by Rob Johnson on 26 October 2020.

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