Fire Engines Photos

Nice picture Paul. Have you any of the ex West riding Dennis's that went to North Yorkshire? i am desperately trying to get in sevice pictures of my Dennis CWT 762H but without success..........

Added by Stewart Kaye on 10 January 2008.

Paul, do you know if this machine was ever at Patley Bridge? I seem to remember a white pump there for a while in 1979 whilst theres was off the run. A nice picture though white was selected as experimental as they were meant to stand out under sodium street lighting more than red. I think Coventry were experimenting with yellow at the same time.

Added by John Stott on 01 October 2008.

I saw a very similar machine to this at an auction in Norfolk in 1992. It's registration was UWW 448F and it was described as a Bedford/Dennis M Series. There was a badge indicating the Dennis connection on the front grill and the same can be seen in this photo behind the n/s spotlight. I think the Dennis M Series came about after they took over the Alfred Miles business.
UWW 448F had an identical livery to this machine except it was red so I am guessing it also transferred in 1974. If anyone has any details on it please post them here.
Thanks, Chris.

Added by Chris Wood on 01 October 2008.

There was an ex West Riding Bedford TK on ebay recently, wonder if this was the same one you mention Chris?

Added by Stewart Kaye on 02 October 2008.

Chris there was a TK ( no reg no but old North Riding markings ) at Port Sutton Bridge up until 3 years ago, it was used as a pump not for firefighting. Its engine gave out and it was scrapped locally. There cant be many around now, although I dont know how many were transferred from West Riding in 1974.

Added by John Stott on 03 October 2008.

confirmed the Dennis M series bodywork was marketed by Dennis when they took over Alfred Miles, who had uses aluminium in bodywork from the time they built aircraft in Gloucester during the Second World War. I am not sure of the exact year of the demise of Miles.

Added by Peter Williams on 04 October 2008.

Hi John, im not sure if this one served at Pately Bridge. North Yorkshire got some of these pumps from the West Riding fire service in 1974 with the local Government reshuffle. Some were red and some white, not sure how many in total. I drove then as spare appliances when ours was off the run, these and the Dennis's were spares. Not bad little pumps, fast when you got them going, but tended to back fire a lot when cold with their 6 cylimder petrol engines.

Added by Paul Warnock on 05 October 2008.

Thanks for your comments Stewart and John.
I saw the TK on ebay but don't believe it was the same one because there were too many differences on the bodywork - mostly of a cosmetic nature but not the sort of things that would get changed in preservation.

Added by Chris Wood on 05 October 2008.

Further to my last comment, the TK on ebay recently was PWW 928E and it was at the Odiham Fire Show this year.

Added by Chris Wood on 16 October 2008.

The Dennis M Series was Dennis Brothers (Bros) attempt to get in to the budget fire appliance market. Many brigades throughout the United Kingdom standardised on the Bedford T.k Chassis
Oxfordshire, Isle of Wight,East Sussex, to name but a few. The Dennis M Series was targeted at these Brigades. This appliance was produced by Dennis well into the early seventies and ran alongside the "D Series" and the "F Range" of appliances. Alfred Miles Engineering was a part of the Hawker Siddeley Group (Dennis was also)
they commenced building fire appliances for the domestic market early in 1952, and based many of their appliances during this era on the Bedford SLHZ Chassis and also the Commer QX TS3 chassis.
Their build quality was excellent with Alloy and Stainless components being used within the build construction because of the Dennis Co-operative they designed and built the "Miles" version of the popular Dennis F.8 pump (Ulster) model the company supplied to the R.A.F and several other overseas operatives one of their leading features was the cab design this gave the engines a futuristic appearance but most importantly gave all around driving visibility at all angles.
The factory was sited in Cheltenham in Gloucestershire but sadly closed during the early part of 1966. this was due to economics and a decline in overseas and home market orders.
The Dennis M Models were one of the more nicer looking variations on the Bedford T.K Chassis.
You will view one on E-Bay (25/2/10) in Hants.
This appliance was owned by Hawker Siddeley Aviation at Hatfield in Hertfordshire.

Added by ROBERT CARVER on 25 February 2010.

West Riding of Yorkshire were one of the only Brigades during this era of Fire Service History to be the largest fleet operator using "White" in an attempt to make a Fire Appliance stand out at night and in adverse light conditions. Coventry City Fire Brigade while undertaking trials in 1966 rejected white as the colour was thought to have been used to extensively used by commercial haulage however CFO Holland did not agree with these findings and embarked on the counties own colour experimentation using full size! Home Office Emergency Pumps (Green Goddesses) which were painted in various colours, Yellows, White,
and conventional reds.

Added by BOB CARVER on 11 January 2011.

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