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1944 Bedford QL - Fire Tender (GYR 786)
The military designation for this vehicle was:
Truck, 3 Ton, 4x4, Fire Tender (Bedford QL).
During its military service (in WW2) it was fitted with special body, a 200 gallon water tank and a PTO driven pump along with tilt framework and cover, it also towed a trailer pump.
This somewhat rare QL variant was seen at the Great Dorset Steam Fair, Wiltshire, England in September 1998.
From its London registration and the photograph on the front bumper its looks as if it went into civvy street.
Maybe a viewer can provide more information on its post war history.
The military designation for this vehicle was:
Truck, 3 Ton, 4x4, Fire Tender (Bedford QL).
During its military service (in WW2) it was fitted with special body, a 200 gallon water tank and a PTO driven pump along with tilt framework and cover, it also towed a trailer pump.
This somewhat rare QL variant was seen at the Great Dorset Steam Fair, Wiltshire, England in September 1998.
From its London registration and the photograph on the front bumper its looks as if it went into civvy street.
Maybe a viewer can provide more information on its post war history.
Dundee Fire Brigade had one of those in the 1940's. I do have a B/W photo side view of it with canvas tilt and towing a Gwynne trailer pump out side the old Station 02 northern Station Strathmore Avenue Dundee. This machine was written off in a roll over accident.
I'm afraid I can't upload it on this site as the photo was taken plus 3 others with own camera from the city archive's and I had to sign a copyright form.
Added by Grant Melville on 12 January 2014.
I'm afraid I can't upload it on this site as the photo was taken plus 3 others with own camera from the city archive's and I had to sign a copyright form.
Added by Grant Melville on 12 January 2014.
One of a batch either built for or diverted to the Home Office for the National Fire Service. All Home Office vehicles were London registered. Post war these served with several brigades, Cheshire, Lancashire and Essex all having examples. Probably the only 4x4 WrTs around. This example served with Lancs at Morecambe, sold out of service it was shortened and converted to a breakdown truck in Milnthorpe Westmorland still in its 1948 Lancs livery, less crests. Preserved in the 80s It now resides at Farmer Parrs (a tourist attraction) in Fleetwood. Ones also served at Hornby in Lancs and Hoylake in Ches.
Added by Neal Glover on 12 January 2014.
Added by Neal Glover on 12 January 2014.
This was stationed at Morecambe with Lancashire County Fire Brigade.
Added by Skippy on 13 January 2014.
Added by Skippy on 13 January 2014.
Was it military? From the look of the registration it may have been ex NFS. Quite a number of these QL's were issued across the country, Lancashire county had a few after the war also Liverpool fire brigade had one, I have seen pictures of the Liverpool one in books and you are right they pulled a trailer pump, It was at All Saints Road by the Airport.I know someone who rode this appliance says they were that slow a man on a bike could pass them.
Added by Dave Price on 13 January 2014.
Added by Dave Price on 13 January 2014.
Just looked it up. The Liverpool one was BEDFORD QS registration GYR 782 and was ex Army Fire Service, Carried a 200 gallon water tank and pulled a trailer pump. It was issued in 1944 and disposed of in 1953.
Added by Dave Price on 13 January 2014.
Added by Dave Price on 13 January 2014.
All,
Thank you for your comments on my post.
The vehicle is exactly the same design as the QL that was used by the armed forces. It is detailed as such on page 199 of The Observers Fighting Vehicle Directory of WW2, which was what I based my description on.
The recognition features are the shape of the body over the rear wheels and the drop down body flap just behind the drivers door.
Like most NFS appliances it has a London registration and I acknowledge that the Home Office bought bought a batch of them for the NFS.
Is it possible that some of the NFS QL's were ex-military ?.
I ask this because there were was many ex-military vehicles surplus after the war and it is possible that a batch were transferred to the NFS who then registered them along with the production batch.
I am no expert on ex NFS vehicles, or for that matter fire appliances in general, and have been pleased that my post has generated a number of informative comments.
Maybe a viewer can provide information on how many QL's the NFS operated and whether some of them were in fact ex-military rather than specifically built for the Home Office.
Regards,
Steve
Added by Steve Prosser on 13 January 2014.
Thank you for your comments on my post.
The vehicle is exactly the same design as the QL that was used by the armed forces. It is detailed as such on page 199 of The Observers Fighting Vehicle Directory of WW2, which was what I based my description on.
The recognition features are the shape of the body over the rear wheels and the drop down body flap just behind the drivers door.
Like most NFS appliances it has a London registration and I acknowledge that the Home Office bought bought a batch of them for the NFS.
Is it possible that some of the NFS QL's were ex-military ?.
I ask this because there were was many ex-military vehicles surplus after the war and it is possible that a batch were transferred to the NFS who then registered them along with the production batch.
I am no expert on ex NFS vehicles, or for that matter fire appliances in general, and have been pleased that my post has generated a number of informative comments.
Maybe a viewer can provide information on how many QL's the NFS operated and whether some of them were in fact ex-military rather than specifically built for the Home Office.
Regards,
Steve
Added by Steve Prosser on 13 January 2014.
Worcester City & County Fire Brigade inherited a QL from the NFS. It was stationed at Malvern (where it's 4x4 drive train would have been useful on the hills), but it was disposed of fairly quickly as it was considered to be unstable and unsafe (perhaps in line with Grant's post re. Dundee's roll over incident?).
Added by Mel Turbutt on 13 January 2014.
Added by Mel Turbutt on 13 January 2014.
They were not the only 4x4 Wrts at the time. There was also a batch of Fordson WOT6 Wrts adapted for fire service use as water tenders. Northumberland, Somerset and Norfolk had them. Some were rebuilt post war as limousine Wrts.
Ron
Added by Ronald Henderson on 13 January 2014.
Ron
Added by Ronald Henderson on 13 January 2014.
It was an Army Fire Service design. I don't know how the NFS came to have them maybe there were more produced than the AFS needed or maybe The NFS needed a 4x4 WrT and this was the only available design. The NFS certainly acquired ex military vehicles that were surplus ie the Fordsons for the overseas columns. I think the AFS ones carried a demounted Coverntry Climax FSM TrP(s) Lancs carried a Sigmund TrP(s) and towed a TrP(l).
Added by Neal Glover on 13 January 2014.
Added by Neal Glover on 13 January 2014.
AS the war in Europe came to an end a further contract for these Bedford QL tenders which were not needed for the army was diverted to the NFS. When built they had a Coventry Climax FSM3 Lt Pump which was plumbed to the tank. This pump was changed by some local authorities post NFS . From my notes I would suggest there were approx 175 of these . In addition a batch of surplus QL tippers were tranfered to the NFS and were converted to recovery vehicles by mounting a Harvey Frost crane, the tippers were an ideal base for a recovery vehicle as they were winch equipped. Finally a number of Bedford QL and Fordson WOT6 4x4 GS trucks were converted in NFS & HO workshops to MDUs of various designs- with many of the WOT6s coming from the Admiralty.
TED
Added by Ted Angus on 14 January 2014.
TED
Added by Ted Angus on 14 January 2014.
All,
Again many thanks for commenting on my post.
Since my original post I have carried out some research using a well know search engine, using the wording " Bedford QL Fire tender ".
I found images of another QL Fire Tender (GYR 762) and also a QL Breakdown Lorry (GYR 417) used after the war by Essex Fire Brigade. The caption with the image of GYR 417 states that the chassis was ex military.
I understand that Essex also built a number of Water Tenders on ex Army QL chassis's.
I have also discovered that there were at least 289 military QL Fire Tenders with the wartime numbers in the range L5863231 to L5863520 bought on Contract No S7178 Catalogue No 221.
Some of these stayed in Army service and received new registration marks beginning with 99 RG ??, this mark is shown on an image I also found during my search.
I also found another image of a wartime Army Fire Service QL identified as L5295052 which may have been an earlier QL chassis that was converted for fire fighting duties.
Clearly the history and origin of Bedford QL's used by the NFS and various county brigades is somewhat complex, with a mixture of ex-military Fire Tenders, new build vehicles and ex-military chassis's being utilised in various roles.
Regards,
Steve
Added by Steve Prosser on 14 January 2014.
Again many thanks for commenting on my post.
Since my original post I have carried out some research using a well know search engine, using the wording " Bedford QL Fire tender ".
I found images of another QL Fire Tender (GYR 762) and also a QL Breakdown Lorry (GYR 417) used after the war by Essex Fire Brigade. The caption with the image of GYR 417 states that the chassis was ex military.
I understand that Essex also built a number of Water Tenders on ex Army QL chassis's.
I have also discovered that there were at least 289 military QL Fire Tenders with the wartime numbers in the range L5863231 to L5863520 bought on Contract No S7178 Catalogue No 221.
Some of these stayed in Army service and received new registration marks beginning with 99 RG ??, this mark is shown on an image I also found during my search.
I also found another image of a wartime Army Fire Service QL identified as L5295052 which may have been an earlier QL chassis that was converted for fire fighting duties.
Clearly the history and origin of Bedford QL's used by the NFS and various county brigades is somewhat complex, with a mixture of ex-military Fire Tenders, new build vehicles and ex-military chassis's being utilised in various roles.
Regards,
Steve
Added by Steve Prosser on 14 January 2014.
Steve, there were a total of 1003 of these delivered to the Army, The first deliveries were in 1943; The prototype was contract S2941 reg No L5204998, followed by contract S3441 reg L5294819 to L5295117. contract S4878 Reg L5458288 to L5458437 and finally contract S7178 reg L5863231 to L5863783.
TED
Added by Ted Angus on 14 January 2014.
TED
Added by Ted Angus on 14 January 2014.
Ted,
Many thanks for your very informative replies.
With more than 1000 in Army service it is no surprise that a quantity were diverted to the NFS at the end of hostilities.
Regards,
Steve
Added by Steve Prosser on 14 January 2014.
Many thanks for your very informative replies.
With more than 1000 in Army service it is no surprise that a quantity were diverted to the NFS at the end of hostilities.
Regards,
Steve
Added by Steve Prosser on 14 January 2014.
An interesting parallel is the history of the several hundreds of US Army GMC 2.5 ton 6X6 trucks which were left behind after the end of the war in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Large numbers were converted into brush and forest fire fighting pump tankers, mostly by a wide variety of small local and regional builders. Typically, they gained 3, 000 liter tanks and a small portable 500 LPM pump. Some had locally-built crew cabs, others added a bench behind the standard cab, and still others had open driving compartments like an overgrown Jeep. The tanks could be round, elliptical or rectangular, and some trucks retained the original front mounted winches. A few were also used as wreckers too, instead of tankers.
Although they varied in specification and appearance, they had one thing in common. They were durable! Many lasted well into the 1970s before being replaced by more modern European units...
Added by Rob Johnson on 19 July 2017.
Large numbers were converted into brush and forest fire fighting pump tankers, mostly by a wide variety of small local and regional builders. Typically, they gained 3, 000 liter tanks and a small portable 500 LPM pump. Some had locally-built crew cabs, others added a bench behind the standard cab, and still others had open driving compartments like an overgrown Jeep. The tanks could be round, elliptical or rectangular, and some trucks retained the original front mounted winches. A few were also used as wreckers too, instead of tankers.
Although they varied in specification and appearance, they had one thing in common. They were durable! Many lasted well into the 1970s before being replaced by more modern European units...
Added by Rob Johnson on 19 July 2017.
GYR Reg was issued from Aug 44 to Jan 52 according to a book on the subject.
Added by Neal Glover on 20 July 2017.
Added by Neal Glover on 20 July 2017.
Bedford
Added by Ronald Henderson on 12 January 2014.