Fire Engines Photos

my dad was in the fire service and he remembers these

Added by Chris on 20 May 2008.

A classic set - so many of these combinations would have been responding to British fire-scenes during WW-2. The crew riding in the back of the lorry (truck).

Thanks for showing us.

Regards, from Canada,
Pat_R-B

Added by Pat Rivers-Bowerman on 25 November 2008.

This is my appliance, now painted in grey livery

Added by Simon on 04 July 2011.

Thanks Simon very much for the up-date on this one.Actually, the registration did seem to ring a bell to me when I photographed here again at the Wiston Steam Rally on Saturday, 2nd July.She looks really nice but what made you change here from the Post-War livery of the LFB?.

Added by Pete Matten on 05 July 2011.

That was her original colour grey, it seemed right to paint it as you would expect a NFS k2 to look

Added by Simon on 25 December 2012.

Yes lovely picture, & even better news, the oxforddiecast.co.uk models company actually do a model of this vehicle which is great news, Must order quick as I have just recieved my one after waiting approx 6-12 months to get it.But still worth it, I remember Braemar (Royal Deeside) Scotland had one back in the 60's.

Added by D.J.McDougall on 10 June 2014.

The Oxford model in grey, and red livery have been out a long time, but yes both are still available in good model shops.My old brigade (West Sussex) still had an Austin K2 in use as the brigades Foam Tender until the early 1970's.
The appliance in question went into preservation and in later years was liveried in the livery of the RAF and can also be seen on this site.The old WSFB Austin K2 is today still in preservation, but now its across the channel and in good hands in Holland.

Added by Pete Matten on 11 June 2014.

Yes Lovely picture, I always feel happy when I see one, as they're now very rare to see, Someone in Berwick-upon-Tweed has GLT262 Lovely motor.

Added by Dj. on 05 July 2015.

GLT262 is based at the Honey Farm (near the Chain Bridge). I'm sure that they will let you look at it, It's a beauty & can't wait to see it back on the road.

Added by on 22 January 2016.

Pete - do we know how many were actually built?

When I was growing up in the 1950s it seemed that almost every fire station in England had an Austin K2 ATV.

Many were pretty original, particularly at small retained stations, with their trailer pumps, but others were adapted to serve as ETs, BATs, salvage tenders, foam tenders, workshop vans and general runabouts.

Added by Rob Johnson on 20 June 2017.

Rob, I quote from the Alan House's book 'Wheels of Fire' which was published in 2010 and well worth buying if your interested in the AFS/NFS.It states..................Before the war ended a staggering number of purpose designed towing vehicles had been built.The largest number of fire service vehicle types produced by the Home Office with research indicating that a total of 5, 750 were built.Surely the largest number of purpose built vehicles placed in service by the British Fire Service.I'm unsure whether the total mentioned includes the Fordson Auxiliary Towing Vehicle on the Fordson WOT (15 cwt) chassis of which several hundred were built also.But this gives some idea how many were actually produced.

Added by Pete Matten on 21 June 2017.

A large number c200? were passed over to The Netherlands at the end of the war. Known as bellwagons some remain in museums. At least two British ones have sold over there in recent years.

Added by Neal Glover on 21 June 2017.

Thanks, Pete:

Amazing numbers! No wonder it seemed they were everywhere. They really were...

Added by Rob Johnson on 22 June 2017.

Neal - the Netherlands donation reminds me of the hundreds - possibly a thousand or more - of GMC 6X6 US army "deuce and a half" trucks left behind in France and Belgium, and quickly adapted as 3, 000 liter tankers for forest fire fighting.

Many of these lasted forty or fifty years before being replaced, and you can see many different examples of these interesting historic "home made" units on the GMC pages on this site.

Added by Rob Johnson on 22 June 2017.

I'd love to see the engine stationed in Market Drayton 1950/5. Anyone with photos?

Added by David Nicholson on 04 July 2018.

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