Fire Engines Photos

The Ford A series was meant to compete with European mid sized trucks built by companies like Mercedes and Iveco-OM.

Although widespread in many European countries, this type of truck was not very popular in the UK, and was rarely used for fire appliances, except by some factory and industrial brigades.

This makes this capture a quite rare photo - although a few brigades had A series emergency tenders and other specials, I believe the number of light pumps was very limited.

The A series was too heavy, had a limited payload, a narrow cab (inherited from the Transit) and was underpowered. Not a great basis for any fire appliance!

Added by Rob Johnson on 13 September 2019.

Also heard that the diesels were poor starters.
One of Ford's few failures in the sales race.
The similar sized Dodge 50 Series was a sales success being very popular with local authorities.

Added by CraigW on 20 September 2019.

see it in service here




Added by Petros on 08 November 2023.

I was told once you got them moving they were not great at stopping either!

Added by Neal Glover on 09 November 2023.

Neal:- Quite right!One of the many unfortunate design errors - accompanied by Ford’s frantic efforts to save costs - was to carryover the brakes with only minor changes from the 3.5 ton Transit. To be fair, this was probably okay for an urban delivery truck - even though it was quite a bit heavier - but not so clever when it came to a fire tender on a shout!

Added by Rob Johnson on 09 November 2023.

I wonder why Cleveland bought a compact appliance for the Marine Station? AFAIK they never had one before or since.


Added by CraigW on 10 November 2023.

Do I hear birdsong again? Cheap, cheap, cheap!

Added by Rob Johnson on 11 November 2023.

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