Fire Engines Photos

I have never seen or heard of any other ETs on this chassis, with the Jennings/ERF cab (or more accurately, 75% of it!)

Was this a totally unique unit, or were there other similar appliances from ERF during this era?

Also - is the grey paint original, or is this a primer coat applied later on? It surely does nothing to enhance the truck's appearance.

Added by Rob Johnson on 10 December 2012.

Have a look at picture 29894 on this site. It is not unique. What you call primer was the white paint characteristic of Rochdale FB livery.

Added by Peter Williams on 10 December 2012.

There were two of them. Sunderland Fire Brigade had an identical model 'VGR265L' delivered in 1972 after Rochdales CFO got the CFO's job at Sunderland. The grey bits were actually white and there was a red and white chequered band on the roof front.

Added by Ron Henderson on 11 December 2012.

Rob the paint is white. I don't know what happened during the upload of the image but the original is not this flat. If you would like to see the original email me.

Added by Steve Sparkes on 11 December 2012.

The 'Grey Paint is actually a dirty white - Rochdale Fire Brigade had this scheme (White Lower cab and red bodywork) on appliances in the seventies - having seen photos at the time I have to disagree Rob - I think its a stunning livery ! and hope it will be restored in this style ?

Added by Rick Loudon on 11 December 2012.

Thanks to all for the information.

I was a bit puzzled by the "dirty white", but Steve has explained it very well. It is a matter of taste; I really liked Newcastle's dark red livery, but I personally prefer the Sunderland ERF ET with its solid fire engine red paintwork.

Now I live in the US, where we have every color of the rainbow - and then some - on our fire trucks. If you look up North American firefighting videos on Youtube, you will see an astonishing array of color schemes at some large suburban fires, which are often attended by numerous units from different fire departments.

By the way, the Sunderland ERF's predecessor was a Bedford S Alfred Miles diesel ET, which the station officer at the central fire station once told me was "faster than riding a bike, but not by much". The other newer appliances at the time were AEC/Merryweather diesels, sharing the appliance rooms with older Dennis F12s,

I join you in hoping this unusual appliance will be fully restored to its original condition - I think it is so important to preserve examples of vehicles which were "one-off" or very limited production like this one.

Added by Rob Johnson on 11 December 2012.

Please add your comments about this picture using the form below.

Comments

Your Name

Your email address - this will be shown on the page and will allow the system to notify you of further comments added to this picture.