Fire Engines Photos

F106 machines with midships pumps had 100 gal tanks. Those from LCC days were DP's (100 gal), those ordered by the enlarged GLC Brigade were classified P's with the fleet number followed by suffix 'A' (100gal) or 'C' (300 gal). The reason for no extra lockers was that behind those blank panels was the tank containing the extra 200 gals. In fact, these had more locker space due to the deeper footboard lockers. The pumps were rear mounted because the extra tank displaced the midships pump which was under the no 1 locker. When new they were fitted with gantries for 45ft alloy ladders inherited from outer brigades. These were subsequently converted to trunnion mountings carrying newly purchased MW steel escapes. It was not necessary to slip the escape when pumping, the controls being side mounted. You just had to duck a little bit! The road performance was quite good, even with a timber escape on the back.

Added by Alan T on 14 August 2023.

Alan. This is an interesting one. It looks as if the controls were on the side panel but the plumbing was actually at the rear. Or was the side control only for the hose reels? Not long after, the Perkins V8 Dennis dual purpose appliances had all the inlets and deliveries on the sides, behind the rear wheel arches, and this became pretty much the standard on all kinds of chassis and bodybuilder dual purpose units very quickly. Interestingly, some brigades dud modify center pump appliances to carry larger quantities of water, after adopting the lighter Merryweather steel escapes. Middlesbrough for example had a 200 gallon tank on their F12 while the longer wheelbase F7 was 250. It seems that quite a few brigades were becoming aware that a 100 gallon tank was a bit marginal, and very often it needed quick work to get set in to a hydrant, if two reels or a 1 and 3/4” hose was being used.

Added by Rob Johnson on 16 August 2023.

Hello Rob. Take a look at picure #37522, where all is revealed. The side panels had pump throttle, h/r valve & pressure gauge. For anything else you had to duck under. There were four F106 variations in LFB: DPs (100g), A type (100g), Early C type (300g rear deliveries), Late C type (300g rear pump with side deliveries). The late C type machines were delivered with escape mountings from new. Clearly the conversion to PEs was anticipated, the clue being the provision of a first floor ladder gantry on the cab roof. FF ladders were only carried in tandem with wooden escapes.

Added by Alan T on 18 August 2023.

Thanks Alan. This confirms what I suspected. I guess the idea of controlling the hose reel system from a side panel was all that was needed 90% of the time, as in those days most incidents were hose reel jobs anyway. The rear mounted controls and plumbing were not all that problematic I guess, but the DPO would have been well advised to wear his helmet if the escape was still on board.


Added by Rob Johnson on 19 August 2023.

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