Fire Brigade Wagon - March MPD

[John Isherwood]

Here's an odd one - something that I've not come across before :-

 

 

March MPD 1963; no doubt painted red !

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Edited August 28, 2019 by cctransuk

[iands]

Interesting. Wonder if this wagon was in some way connected with the 'unusual' tank wagons at Cambridge mentioned a while back in another thread somewhere here on RMweb?

[John Isherwood]

4 hours ago, cctransuk said:

Here's an odd one - something that I've not come across before :-

 

 

March MPD 1963; no doubt painted red !

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

 

Pure guseeswork follows .....

 

Having lived in the Fens, I know that road access to a number of railway stations, etc. was - how shall I put it - far from direct.

 

Could it be that the Civil Engineers' Department of BR; (and its predecessor the LNER?); had a wagon etc. ready to transport the March Fire Brigade with a pump to remote railway stations?

 

It'd be much quicker by rail !!

 

... or did the railway have it's own fire train for such occasions?

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Edited August 28, 2019 by cctransuk

[Baby Deltic]

It's marked as Civil Engineers Dept underneath so its probably nothing to do with municipal fire services.

[Baby Deltic]

Maybe as John mentioned, a LPP and a few hose reels and branches could have been slung onto it by March FB who might have driven their appliance straight to the Depot and loaded the wagon and got one of the spare locomotives to haul them to the scene. But, you still need a water supply with LPP's.

[SED Freightman]

Could the wagon have been used to transport fire fighting equipment around Whitemoor Yard, most of which would have been difficult to reach by road.

Edited August 28, 2019 by SED Freightman
Spelling correction

[iands]

11 minutes ago, SED Freightman said:

Could the wagon have ben used to transport fire fighting equipment around Whitemoor Yard, most of which would have been difficult to reach by road.

Possible. And on that theme, Rowntree's factory in York once upon a time had its own Fire Engine, could somewhere like Stratford works etc. (large and sprawling) have had its own Fire Brigade?

[Johann Marsbar]

I believe that the GER Fire Brigade at Ipswich had a wagon that they could transport their (steam) pumper from its base at Ipswich loco shed to

any fires in the surrounding area. A photo of it has been published somewhere in the past, though I can't remember where. The March wagon could be something similar, albeit one that lasted in use somewhat longer.

They had similar equipment elsewhere in the world as well, as this more up market,  bespoke wagon (presumably retained for preservation) in Liniers Works, Buenos Aires, back in 2007.....