The preconnected first attack hose line is not something we saw very often back then on British fire appliances, but I always thought it was a good idea - and of course it was very common in both North America and quite a few other countries too. Mounting the pump and a heavy crash bar at the front helped to keep the front end from being too light, which was often a problem with these tandem axle conversions - as there was a tendency to overload the added-on trailing axle. Without any compensating weight on the steering axle, things could get very squirrely quite quickly!
Added by Rob Johnson on 03 August 2022.