Fire Engines Photos

Can anyone recount precisely the demise of Simon as a Snorkel manufacturer and their re-incarnated after life?

Added by Barry on 06 July 2008.

Barry, I know that they were taken over by Magirus in 1997. There is also a company called GB Fire who do servicing of HP's and TL's. I'm not sure but maybe these group of people came from the Dudley factory and made a restart in Brierly Hill.

Frank

Added by Fire995 on 06 July 2008.

I worked for Simon Dudley for 9 years doing most of the heavy machining ie main frames turn tables and booms. Some of the fitting shop personel and service team set up a service company in Tipton but has since closed, whether the company in Brierley Hill is any thing to do with the original company I do not know. In fact I was the last employee to work at simon Dudley, it is such a shame that the company has disappeared

Added by Ray Nash on 17 May 2009.

From Ray's note above, it is interesting to read that Simon machined all their components rather than just buying in components produced by external sub contractors. I wonder if the likes of Metz and Magirus manufacture in-house or do they just assemble?

Added by Dr. B.A. Hutchinson on 17 May 2009.

Barry, not sure if they still do, but both Magirus & Metz built firetrucks from their own components.
Ray, interesting to read that you worked for Simon, do you know anything about the SSS60?

Added by Fire995 on 18 May 2009.

Yes,we produced 99% of the components.Occasionally some boom fabrications would be fabricated completely by a firm called Applebye (?spelling)out of a special steel called corten.Most booms would be completed in house.Some of the body work would be completed by an outside company.When I first started We would be working on about ten engines at a time, and working a night shift. We fought hard to keep Simon at Dudley but our work was taken to Gloucester,this decision was made by a new managing director.because our site was worth a lot of money I was transferred to another Dudley firm who was supposed to be going to make the fabrications, but this did not happen while I worked there.
When development started on new machine designs, such as the SS things stated to go wrong.

Added by Ray Nash on 18 May 2009.

Frank(Fire 995),I'm sending into site a photo which I took some years ago of the Simon Super Snorkel SS600 with a little information.
I do hope its of some interest to you and everyone and maybe Ray can add a little bit more information to the picture for us.

Added by Pete Matten on 18 May 2009.

Am I missing out I have not yet seen any photo/details of the 600 machine ref pete matten 18may 2009. At Dudley it was the largest extending machine made.Incidently there is a meeting of ex employees held once a month in Brierley Hill

Added by Ray Nash on 06 July 2009.

Ray,
I have one of the 2 SSS600 posted under Singapore a while back. Good to read about that meeting if you can find out how many SSS600 were built I love to hear it.
Cheers,
Frank

Added by Fire995 on 06 July 2009.

I drove GYW 666W (HP6?) at Kensington in the early 80s. It used the 640 V8 engine (the early series Shelvokes had the 540 V8) and an Allinson auto gearbox which was a nice combination. Sadly it seemed to be off the run more often than on and was usually replaced by an old AEC/Merryweather TL. These CFE built machines suffered dreadfully from tin-worm in the cabs and I think a number were re-cabbed. I'd like to hear if anybody knows what happened to HP6.

Added by Bruce Hoad on 17 July 2012.

Tin worm?! What on earth's tin worm?!

Added by Yelp Bullhorn on 19 July 2012.

Yelp, 'tin worm' is a tiny critter, almost invisible to the keenest eye, which eats non-galvanised metal. It secretes a messy brown metallic residue often referred to as 'rust', frequently noticed by prowling officers who demand the capture and demise of the tin worm.

Added by Colin Foster on 19 July 2012.

Also known as Dennis disease in certain brigades who bought RS/SS appliances. S&D had a very serious and prolific strain of Tin Worm though, Wrexhams WrL rotted in 8 years, like a slug in salt!


Added by Gary Simpson on 19 July 2012.

Apparently it especially likes the cab and door frames of Dennis RS, s etc.

Added by Neal Glover on 19 July 2012.

I used to work for a company in South Africa during the 1980s who had the distribution rights for Souther Africa. We imported a few machines, some mounted an chassis and some which wemounted locally. The Simon machines used to be quite popular with some of our local broigades, but unfortunately machines from the US and the Bronto units started to become very competitive, making the Simon machine less easy to sell.
We were also involved with Magirus and Rosenbauer
Our Simon factory representative/Sales contact was Dover Disney

Added by Jim Campbell on 27 June 2013.

Simon had been recovered by a company named Yongqiang Aolinbao in Dongguan China. This is a very famous fire-engine manufacturing company in China.

This company bought the trade mark of Simon in 2011.I still didn't see the product of the new Simon in Chinese fire-engine market.


Added by Lorenzo Bai on 18 January 2016.

Simon lifting fire fighting vechicle was established in Britain, has hundred years history. Its hydraulic pressure arm lifting platform has excellent performance, reliable and durable, which is popular with global fire fighting industries. This product has been into China in the late 1970s , it is one of the earliest imported lifting fire fighting vehicles in our country.
Nowadays, the centenary brand takes part in the Yongqiang big family, exerting dazzling shinning. We introduce a new automatic control hydraulic pressure lifting fire fighting vehicle series, which is much smarter, more safety, and more reliable, they are indispensably excellent equipment for high fire-fighting operation and rescue.

Added by Lorenzo Bai on 18 January 2016.

Any idea of the above S&D registration number and the other 9?

Added by Adrian J Carmichael on 24 July 2026.

Hi Adrian.
The LFB S&D HP's number plates were. 1to9 GYW 663W to GYW 669W and 10 to 12 KUV 65X to KUV 697X. Hope this helps.

Added by Phil Treversh. on 26 July 2026.

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