Fire Engines Photos

I find it a bit surprising that as late as 1960 the brigade was still buying a dual purpose with a rear mounted pump. Was this because it had a larger than standard water tank, which precluded the more common midships mounted pump location? Or did they need the extra locker space? I remember Middlesborough had an F12 with a 200 gallon tank and an F7 with 250 gallons, but both were still mid mount dual purpose appliances.

This has a blue beacon. Although Darlington's Leyland Firemaster TTL had one of the first OEM blue beacon light installations when delivered in July 1960, this Dennis may not have been far behind. Like many pump appliances in the early days of blue beacons, this one came with a single beacon...I am not familiar with the F26. Was this the chassis with the Dodge petrol engine, the Rolls six cylinder or the straight eight?

Added by Rob Johnson on 25 March 2021.

Hi Rob, B80/81 straight eight. See also TSA 980 on this site. Quite quick up to 45 mph. 7 mpg.

Added by Peter McCombie on 26 March 2021.

A fire engine from the London area with an air siren? And there's me thinking no brigade in the (Greater) London area ever fitted air sirens. Was this a one-off?

Added by on 26 March 2021.

Peter: We had an F12 in Darlington, where I grew up. It had the B80 160 BHP Rolls engine. I recall a couple of comments from a brigade driver who took it down to London to pick up a new Merryweather steel escape, after the old wooden Bayley was determined to be no longer safe. One was that he only had the accelerator half way down at 60 mph.

But - he also mentioned stopping every five minutes to refill the petrol tank! No wonder Rolls Royce cars of that era were only for the VERY rich....

Added by Rob Johnson on 27 March 2021.

I used to drive this machine. I joined West Ham as a Fireman but became a driver under the London Fire Brigade. This appliance was used as a pump at my station at Plaistow where this picture was taken. The machine used to go like the clappers but on a numbers of occasions, the gear lever broke as it was very long with a bend at the end as the crash gearbox was located between the front and rear partitions. At the end of its life it was consuming a lot of fuel using several gallons for only a few miles.

Ed: delighted to hear from you Mick. The West Ham FB book has now sold out. There is a lot of interest in the brigade

Added by Michael Gilbey on 27 July 2022.

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