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Fire Brigade Models Essex
My TeamA chemical incident unit
My TeamA recovery truck

The model is now largely complete. It was inspired by a unit Avon Fire and Rescue used to run

www.fire-engine-photos.com/picture/number33056.asp#google...

booms were Wreckers International. Went on the run at Patchway 17/12/1990. Moved to Avonmouth in 1997 where it stayed until disposal to First Bus (re-registered IIL 2490) in 2004. The bus company completely rebuilt it with tag axle, new crane and body. Below.

Also partly inspired by a South Wales FRS Scania - see below

Base model and chassis is cheap plastic TeamA turntable ladder Scania from Ebay
I had to cut out window as it was solid
Recovery gear is an ASAM (Alan Smith auto models) kit I bought years ago and did not use
Bodywork is Plastikard
Lettering and stripes from RSH and others
Hiab kit bought on Ebay recently.

Scale about 1:43.

My latest modelling project.

More soon........

another Bedford R recovery vehicle/rescue tender but this time a complete one off for Gloucestershire Fire Service, fitted with a fork lift to rear.

Plus a very rare AEC Simon HP.

Alastair Collins collection used with permission.

new to Durham County Fire Brigade was designated a Breakdown Lorry and was used to attend road accidents and also to recover Brigade vehicles which had become disabled due to breakdown etc. The lifting crane on the back of the unit had been transplanted from an earlier appliance. This machine was replaced by a Dennis Maxim (now preserved) and that in turn was replaced by a Volvo.

This vehicle was in use with Willinghams recovery near Hull for some years after its retirement from the fire service, it has then been sold on its second retirement into preservation as a recovery vehicle - see below. In 2012 the machine was rotting away in the field near Warrington!

The single rear wheels did limit the rear axle load on these RLs. The dual rear wheel version of the RL chassis had a much higher axle loading but may not have been available when this unit was bought.

From FireFotos collection courtesy Simon Rowley and used with permission.

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REC V 2020

based Cheltenham. Almost inconceivable that a modern brigade under budget constraints would order such an appliance.

Holmes crane in use. Marshalls of Cambridge airport also built New Dimension fire vehicles.
I imagine it was purchased for use on the new M5 motorway in Gloucs. There is a fine film of this appliance in action in 1967 in the drill yard:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUqZHfGwJlo&t=438s

Liverpool Fire Brigade former pump escape cut down as breakdown lorry. RLV 149 was original registration. It was painted yellow at one time as shown on CCMV site. Now in Merseyside Fire Museum collection - Harvey Frost crane.

This type of vehicle was new to the post war Auxiliary Fire Service for use with the mobile fire columns of the 1950s and 1960s, and was similar to the military version, which was designated 'Tractor, 3 ton, GS, Recovery, Light, 4x4, Bedford, RL'. Fitted with a Turner horizontal drum winch of 7 tons pull with 260ft of rope, and a 3 ton jib. They have selectable 2/4 wheel drive, and are powered by a Bedford 300 cu.in. (5 litre) straight six cylinder petrol engine.
This one went from AFS to Birmingham Fire and Ambulance Service.

my last picture of this great line up Commer Miles Wrt; Dennis F12; Bedford R WrC; Ford HCB WrE; Bedford R Rescue; AEC/HCB HP BAD 659B

I guess cut down from a pumping appliance,

1968 registered 6091 DF improvised by the brigade - possibly for the M5 and prefigures HIABs.

see www.fire-engine-photos.com/picture/number17277
and

www.fire-engine-photos.com/picture/number17278

1988 appliance. Not a conversion I think but built to order. More workshops vehicle than a blue light vehicle.


Late Alastair Collins collection - used with permission.

According to Ian Moore "this vehicle (or more correctly part of it, began life as PFD 777F, an ERF Hydraulic Platform that was new to Dudley FB. Its conversion into a RecV took the following form;

PFD 777F had its main bodywork removed by Acoma, and the booms were sold to a local plant hire business. The chassis/cab then went to Peterborough Engineering to have a Perkins V8 fitted. It then returned to BWS for removal of the cab, axles and suspension, leaving only two main chassis rails and the new engine.

Reconstruction: Allison automatic gearbox with crawler gear, full integral power steering (Dennis RS), and Dennis 'Paxit' cab, whilst a new braking system with skid-check and recovery equipment was fitted by Cowan Recovery (Newport Pagnell) who installed the BRO 2000A lifting gear. The 'new' vehicle kept its original registration for only a short time before being re-registered CHA 755Y."


Late Alastair Collins collection - used with permission.

September 1990 Fire Brigade Society visit to Buckinghamshire, Aylesbury. Not normally operational but could be called out. Later painted white.