Fire Engines Photos

These early LR pumps used the standard factory PTO offering, intended for agricultural implements. This was a rear mounted PTO, which explains the low slung off center pump location...

A better solution, adopted not much later, was a crankshaft-driven front mounted pump. This was more practical, as the low mounted rear pump was not ideal on an off-road vehicle. It was also usually a higher capacity pump, including the 500 gpm Coventry Climax lightweight version.

There is no knowing when fire brigades started to overload Land Rovers, but it seems that it was very common, and continued for decades!

Added by Rob Johnson on 14 June 2020.

Hi Rob, first pump was a Pegson with flooded impeller (water ring primer) and speed increasing intermediate gearbox followed by Godiva. Recon overloaded from the first one!

Added by Peter McCombie on 18 June 2020.

Hi Peter - do you happen to know what capacity the original Pegson pump was? I do wonder how many of these original L4Ps survived; I have only ever seen two photos of them...

Added by Rob Johnson on 19 June 2020.

Coincidentally on Ebay there is a guy selling reprinted brochures for this machine.The pump is 150gpm and there is 40gal first aid tank on board.

Added by CraigW on 19 June 2020.

Hi Rob, I recon 200 to 250 gpm ( comparing it to the Godiva FWMP) but big enough for the 80" Landie! Maybe somebody with the right info will correct me (please)...quite a few around but not many of the very first model. Would have been my dream machine (sorry Dennis / Barrie).

Added by Peter McCombie on 19 June 2020.

The great thing about a front mounted pump was that there was very little power loss from the transmission, as the pump drive shaft was for all practical purposes glued to the crankshaft as soon as the clutch was engaged.

So even a relatively modest engine could power a biggish pump - which made front mounted pumps very popular in many countries in the days when standard trucks did not have an awful lot of power to spare.

In Britain Land Rovers, Austin Gypsies and the old NFS escape carriers with their Barton pumps were just about the only front mounted pumps, but they were very common in loads of Northern European countries as well as in the US.

There are dozens of examples on this site as well as on websites specializing in historic American and European fire pumpers.




Added by Rob Johnson on 19 June 2020.

see also a PGK here



Added by Petros on 07 January 2025.

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