Some years ago I was introduced to two fire engines that were stored in the fire station at Tynemouth.  Over subsequent years (probably over a decade), these have been on the list of potential vehicles to join the collection at Beamish, and now, thanks to the generosity of the Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Service, both appliances have now been transferred to Beamish.

The museum has had a varied experience of fire engines and related equipment in the past, with quite a lot acquired and subsequently transferred onwards to new homes.  But these two are very much representative of the region and also fit within our longer-term aims for developing new exhibits at Beamish.  They are also very compatible with the museum’s broader collection of Leyland Cubs, joining both bus and commercial examples in the collection.

XG 2450

The older fire engine is 1934 Leyland Cub FK1 Reg XG 2450, named Lady Sadler and new in March 1934 to Middlesbrough Corporation (costing £916).  This style of body is known as the Braidwood type, with the crew being carried in the cab and along the sides of the vehicle.  The Leyland Cub is familiar territory to the maintenance team at Beamish and it is fitted with a 27.3 b.h.p. 6-cylidner side valve petrol engine.  The engine also powers the pump – a 400 gallon per minute Rees Roturbo centrifugal fire pump.

The appliance is fitted with a 21 foot latter and a small ‘first aid’ hose-reel, supplied from a small water tank on board, as well as the ability to pump from a hydrant.  It later became part of the National Fire Service fleet (Cleveland County Fire Brigade) and in 1966 was sold for further use and saw service as the works fire tender for the Lotus Cars racing team as well as with the Universal Printing Company.  It was later preserved as part of the Tyne & Wear Museums Service before becoming resident at Tynemouth fire station as part of the Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Service.

At present, the engine is removed from the FK1, reportedly with a cracked block.  A spare is available and has also been collected with the fire engine.  It will initially be stored pending work to restore the engine, carry out some repairs to the bodywork and potentially repaint it back into Middlesbrough Corporation livery.  There is no timescale for this work at present, however.

EBB 302

The second is Leyland Cub FK7 EBB 302, fleet number 9.  It was one of four Leylands ordered in March 1937 for the City of Newcastle Fire Brigade.  Three were of the new Limousine body style (providing greater protection and comfort for the crew than the Braidwood style) and one was a turntable ladder fire engine.

It originally carried a small first-aid water tank and hose-reel and was one of three consecutively numbered (and registered) Leylands supplied new to the Newcastle City Police and Fire Service in 1937.  They were said to be capable of 60mph (though the braked were inadequate to cope with high speeds).

A City Police and Fire Service, such as in Newcastle, employed full-time fire fighters but could draw upon police officers to use as auxiliary crew.  The crew could be increased once the fire engine was allocated to a job, picking up trained auxiliary police/firemen on its way.  No.9 served throughout the Second World War, and was involved in tackling a substantial blaze at the large city centre railway goods depot at Manors in 1941.  This lasted several weeks due to the density of combustible foodstuff that was stored within it.

In 1965, No.9 was stood down from active service and was transferred to the driver training division.  The pump was removed to lighten the vehicle (in order to try and obtain improved fuel consumption).  In 1967 it was sold to a commercial vehicle breakers (Wishaw Garages of Gateshead) before begin sold again to a Mr Jopling in Birtley.  He adapted it with a recovery crane and used it as a breakdown wagon for Joplings Coaches.  It was taken out of service in 1981 and stored, with the intention of restoring it  back to its fire-fighting condition.

Whilst No.9 was stored under sheets through the 1980s, it came to the attention of a group of firefighters and officers in what was then Tyne & Wear Fire Brigade.  After protracted negotiations it was puchchased and removed to the fire station at Tynemouth.  Sub-Officer Paul Craggs them embarked upon the project of restoring the No.9, drawing upon a wide network of colleagues and external professionals, who all gave their time and expertise freely in order to accomplish the restoration.  This was an extensive and thorough process with a great deal of new framework being required in order to restore the limousine body, as well as missing fittings having to be found and restored to complete the work.

When the restoration was completed, No.9 as rallied and displayed throughout the region at various events.  It was one of three based at Tynemouth (latterly in a new building there), but as the group who maintained them reduced its activities, various contacts with Beamish were made over the years to see if there was a suitable and permanent arrangement that could be  made for the collection – which leads us over a decade to the present, and the collection of the two fire engines and some other equipment that is the subject of this post.

Below: As No.9 was in complete condition, Phil and Phil were able to inspect it and prepare it in order to see if it would start, and if it would start, whether it could be driven…  If so, this would be a more economical way of getting it to Beamish than on-board a low-loader and so it came to Friday 21st February when, having visited and prepared No.9 for a journey to Beamish, the team were able to put this plan into practice and No.9  made the just under 20 mile journey from the coast, to the museum.

There are some jobs to carry out on No.9, and some cosmetic work is needed to the paintwork and ladder, but it is hoped that by keeping it in proximity to the workshop, it can receive this attention when time is available and that it can take part in some of the events planned at Beamish in May, and enable another Leyland to join the working vehicle collection here.

Below: A temporary fuel tank and pump was rigged up, as the petrol that remained in its own tank was of some age.  The Leyland Cub tipper was taken as support vehicle, carrying spare fuel and water as well as tools.

Below: The handover was covered by the brigade and museum comms teams, and a number of photo opportunities were set up before departure.  There will be a video of the day on the museum’s social media fairly soon, so I’ll embed that here once it becomes available.

Below: The journey back to Beamish proved to be fairly straightforward, with a couple of stops made to top up the water.

Below:  Once at Beamish, No.9 was taken straight to High Street, where it was immediately mobbed by staff and visitors – giving us a very early indication of how popular it will be at Beamish!

Below: The museum now has two Leyland Cub buses (one unrestored), two Leyland Cub fire engines and one Leyland Cub lorry in the collection, with numerous spare parts from other Cubs held as spares.  That’s probably it now, for this particular model of Leyland, and it enables some interesting contrasts to be made between vehicles.

We are extremely grateful to the staff at Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Service who facilitated the transfer of the fire engines to Beamish, and to the organisation for recognising the museum as a suitable custodian for them for the future.  I do have ideas for a reconstructed fire station at Beamish, but these should be considered to be very much on the long-term list of projects.  We have a reasonably sizeable collection of fire/rescue equipment that would populate such an exhibit, so one day these may all be brought together in one place – it is an important, fascinating and exciting story and one which I am sure will appeal to our visitors.

Photos by: Paul Jarman and Sam Telfer