Fire Engines Photos

Petros - one of a very small number, maybe the only one, with a new generation ladder. It was introduced at a time when Merryweather desperately tried to stave off two major challenges.

First, the Snorkel craze was still happening, and Snorkels were replacing turntable ladders in a lot of British fire brigades.

Second, both Metz and Magirus had much more modern ladders than Merryweather, who had not done much to develop their own product in the nearly sixteen years since it had been introduced.

As it turned out, their new ladder did not prove to be competitive and as I understand it very few were ever sold...

Added by Rob Johnson on 30 May 2018.

Rob I think this is much too early for the XRL ladder. I think this is an old style. See picture 23398 for an XRL at an exhibition in the mid 80s not mid 70s. There various XRLs on this site. picture 25982 for example.

Added by Petros on 01 June 2018.

Petros:

One XRL was sold to Tokyo in 1985, but I am assuming it was mounted on a Japanese chassis, as it is unlikely TFD would have purchased a British chassis.

They did however buy several Magirus ladders on Iveco chassis, some of which are still in service.

Added by Rob Johnson on 05 June 2018.

There were only ever a handful of ERF TLs. Most had Metz ladders, so the one above is an anomaly.

HOT100L Hampshire
GYM268N London
OYT509R London
UVP98S W Midlands
CNM455T Bedfordshire - Merryweather ladder but his was a rechassis from 769FMJ an AEC
PAJ576R N Yorkshire

I do not think the ERF Merryweather at Interfire was ever sold to a UK municipal brigade. Maybe exported?

Added by Petros on 19 July 2025.

A bit surprising, considering how popular this low profile chassis was when it came to the Snorkel craze of the late seventies and eighties. The cab layout, with the engine between the rear seats to enable a low cab roof, was copied from the prevalent US design, introduced by American La France in 1947 and almost universal until the nineties. It was copied in turn by Dennis with their F125, although this was also a very limited production variant. One neat feature of the engine location behind the front seats was that it reduced the extreme noise level of the Perkins V8 510 engine a bit for the driver and OIC. Dennis even went so far as to wall off the engine and rear seats from the front of the cab for this reason, but I think this might have been a post production modification!



Added by Rob Johnson on 21 July 2025.

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