Fire engines, and other stuff

On 1 April, MOTAT staged a day centred around things to do with fire. I went along for a bit of a look.

Newer versions of fire engines were up top, closest to the pumphouse, but that didn't really hold my interest. Thankfully, there was much more down the hill.

This truck in the line-up seems a bit confusing. In what way is this to do with fire equipment? I haven't identified it as yet (and there were no interpretive panels visible for it.)

Judging by the excellent site 111 Emergency, this is MOTAT's 1969 International C1800, used in Auckland.

1955 Dennis F8, also used in Auckland.

The makers started out as Dennis Brothers Limited back in 1895, according to Wikipedia, as bicycle makers in Guildford. Motor vehicles followed in 1899 (a motor-powered tricycle), buses by 1903, and fire engines by 1908. The company, after corporate takeovers from the 1970s, still exists and still makes fire engines.

Compare the 1937 Dennis Lance, used in Waverley and Whanganui, an English Dennis chassis with "New World" body added in Whanganui, according to the interpretive panel.

The engine in use in Whanganui (from the panel). The body style allowed firemen to sit facing inwards, rather than riding on the outside.

 

1956 Dennis F21, used in Auckland

1971 Bedford KELC3, used in Murupara, Rotorua and Turangi (the latter still visible on the livery).  Bedford is a subsidiary of Vauxhall Motors, which in turn stemmed from General Motors, which established the British subsidiary of the American firm in 1930.  More on Bedford history here.

1956 Bedford A2, from Taihape.

Commer Karrier. Both Commer and Karrier makes are part of a tangled weave of corporate takeovers in their histories. Commer was a British manufacturer from 1905 to 1979, according to Wiki. They took over Karrier (which itself dated from 1904, a Yorkshire firm originally) from 1934, but today Karrier is owned by Peugeot. This example bears Auckland Metropolitan livery.

1905 Birmingham Small Arms bicycle replica, according to 111 Emergency. Another image here. The Birmingham Small Arms company began as gunsmiths from 1854. The company began the sideline of cycle manufacture in 1880. The company specialised in military-style bicycles, some of which folded up between uses -- but I haven't seen a bicycle before with a hose-carrying attachment. I'd like to know more.

Here (below), the cyclist (who very kindly posed for the image above) is next to some of the crew from the Auckland Fire Brigade Historical Society.

The historical society based themselves beside the 1971 International CO8190, labelled by MOTAT as a 1971 Darley International Snorkel. The snorkel bit apparently comes from the Hydraulic Elevating Platform, known as a snorkel. Cab was built by Cincinnati Cab Company (probably hence the American look), and the body by Apex Motor Bodies in Auckland. It served at Auckland and Manukau and was donated to MOTAT in 2002, according to its info panel.

On to the 1907 Merryweather fire engine.

This particular example served in the Sydney Metropolitan Fire Brigade (as in photo above, from the panel) before being imported in 1969 by a private individual. It was acquired by MOTAT in 1973, and at least one of those who helped to restore it was there on that Sunday I visited.

Merryweather & Sons, of Clapham and Greenwich, near London, was established back in 1692, making them probably the earliest in terms of manufacturing history of the appliances in MOTAT's collection.  This engine's pump can't work with pressurised water mains, only from open water.

Then we have the 1868 Shand Mason Horse-drawn Manual Pump, originally known as "Excelsior" and used by the Reefton Volunteer Fire Brigade from 1869 all the way to 1937, according to the info panel. It was sold to Auckland Fire Board in 1939 for the 1940 Centennial celebrations. It was then supposed to head to Auckland Museum -- but headed north instead, to Wellsford Fire Brigade, who used it (!) until 1955. The panel says "It was their only fire engine, and was used  during a major fire  in the town in 1955, which it failed to contain."

The photo above, from the Alexander Turnbull Library (and the info panel), shows a similar horse-drawn fire engine in Petone.

Shand-Mason itself was founded as a manufacturer of fire pumps and engines in 1774. The firm's main competitor was the old Merryweather company, which eventually bought out Shand-Mason in 1922, according to Roger C Mardon's An Illustrated History of Fire Engines.

According to the info panel, this is supposed to be MOTAT's 1938 Ford V8 fire engine. But I did think that it was odd that the vehicle didn't quite match the photo on the panel (below), and seemed to have been modified since it was in use by the Auckland Fire Brigade.

I wrote initially: "Comparing the photo from the info panel with the engine today, the hand crank is still there, but higher up in a new grill. The side vents used to be vertical, but now configured horizontal. It looks like the whole front was changed at some point. It served at Devonport until 1974, and was nicknamed 'The Rattler'. It saw the introduction of pneumatic tires which allowed the fire engine to go faster than previous types, and the 'New World' body meant firemen no longer had to cling to the sides (as with the 1937 Dennis Lance, earlier in this post)."

Well, thanks to Stephen's comment a few hours later, we now have what appears to be an info panel which does not go with the vehicle displayed.

"The Fire engine shown in the pictures registered number EZ1894 is a 1940 Ford V8. It was still in service in the late 1970's based at the Mt Roskill Fire Station in Mt Albert Rd. The Fire engine in the black and white photo is a 1935 Ford V8 and was in ordinary service at Devonport until 1974 when it was donated to MOTAT. It was on display for awhile then disappeared as have several other early Ford V8 fire engines that Motat was given."

So, MOTAT? Please update your info panel, and correctly caption the historic image. Thanks.

This, according to the sign, is a "Horse-Drawn Fire Extension Ladder", built in Germany in 1893, with an extension of 75 feet, presented to MOTAT by the Auckland Metropolitan Fire Board. According to Mardon, two German manufacturers of fire ladder equipment at the time were Magirus-Deutz and Stahl and Honig.

Tucked away in a corner of the restoration shed -- W10, a Crown firecoach from the Los Angeles City Fire Department. Why this wasn't on display, I don't know. There's a vid of it in operation here.

The Crown Coach Corporation in the States also made the iconic yellow school buses we see in American telly shows and movies. They began in 1904 as the Crown Carriage Company, making buses until diversifying into fire engines from 1951 to 1985. The company was purchased by General Electric in 1985, and ceased production in 1991.

Now, the other stuff ... This appears to be a Lansing Bagnall horticultural truck. The company operated from 1943 to 1989, mainly known for forklifts.

Still working on identifying this ambulance under restoration, with the help of my friend Liz. Two further images of the vehicle are online at 111 Emergency: here, and here. From those, this appears to have originally come from Otahuhu, and it could be a Dodge, 1930s-1940s, but more info would be needed.

Update: Stephen, in the comments, has provided information -- and it isn't great news.

"The ambulance referred to above is a pre-war International. It belonged to the Otahuhu Railway workshops. When the ambulance was retired the Otahuhu Railway workshops staff restored it to immaculate condtion then donated it to Motat. After a while Motat put it outdoors into the weeds by the Motions Rd entrance (along with several other desirable vehicles) where it deteriorated and meanwhile used indoor areas for irrelevant Disneyland type things.I last saw it in the weeds a number of years ago but at least it is now back under cover albeit a shadow of its former self."

That is a pity.

I sent around a "please help" for this to Liz and another friend, Bill Ellis. Bill came up with the exact make (because he said he's worked on them a fair bit over the years) -- 1952 Ford Prefect E493-A. Fairly well matches the example I found on Wiki. They were in production from 1949-1953, and were the second in the series of the Ford Prefect line.

I headed through part of the rest of MOTAT's buildings at one point -- and found something else tucked into a corner -- a G. Bacigalupo barrel organ from Berlin, Germany. The Bacigalupo family were apparently a force to be reckoned with in the barrel organ world. You can hear one here.

I was told, enthusiastically by one of the fire engine enthusiasts, that I had to see this, and he took me around to the next display -- a replica of a Ford A Model from 1903. This is the two-seater runabout version. The replica was purchased by MOTAT in 1978, with the assistance of the Ford Motor Company of New Zealand, celebrating Ford's 75th anniversary. There's a good image of it here without the surrounding clutter.

And this is the car the Ford later models surpassed: 1912 Liberty-Brush runabout. Wooden construction (yes, even the wheel spokes are wood!) couldn't compete with mass-produced steel -- Brushes were only produced from 1907 to 1913. When first sold, this car cost US$350, according to the info panel.

 

Alanson Partridge Brush founded the Brush Motor Car Company. According to Wiki:

A feature of engines designed by Brush (who also designed the first Oakland Motor Car, ancestor of Pontiac and who helped design the original one-cylinder Cadillac engine) was that they ran counter-clockwise instead of the usual clockwise, which, in those days before the invention of the electric starter, was Brush's idea intended to make them safer for a right-handed person to crank-start by hand. With clockwise-running engines, many injuries were sustained, most often dislocated thumbs and broken forearms, if the hand crank kicked back on starting, especially if the car was not properly adjusted before starting, or the person cranking it did not follow correct safety procedures, including fully retarding the manual spark advance, keeping the thumb alongside the fingers instead of around the crank, and pulling the crank upward in a half turn, never in a full circle or pushing down.

I do like the cheery livery of the Brush -- a good way to end the visit.

Papakura in the autumn

The last time I had visited Papakura was 2009. Last week, I had cause to visit it twice -- the first time, on Tuesday, for a sanity break (which was the reason, oddly enough, why I visited Papakura three years ago, hoping for a break for a bit from history stuff -- ah, well, that was the hope!), and the second time, three days later, to present a talk on Chinese history in Auckland to the local Probus Club.

For me, Papakura is nearly 80 minutes of train travel from Avondale, plus waiting time at Avondale and at Newmarket stations. But -- for me, fond of rail transport as I am, that's a bonus. The time is worth it. At the end of the train journey to the south of Auckland City, with only Pukekohe further on, I found Papakura to be a laid-back sort of place. Much like parts of Rotorua and Matamata in that respect. Excellent stuff for frazzled urbanites like myself. There is still some of the rural countryside spirit in Papakura, and on both days I was made to feel extremely welcome.

March 27, by the way, the Google Streetview car was out and about. Hardly surprising, as the last time they took shots of Papakura, it seems to have been raining. This time, hopefully, that car with the strange ball of camera lenses sticking up on a pole attached to the roof got one of my favourite parts of Auckland on a truly grand day weather-wise.

Wood Street curves out from the train station's exit, and is probably the main way towards Great South Road and the shopping centre. Alongside Wood Street, sitting on Central Park, is the old Papakura School building.

According to the history of the school (copies available from the Papakura Museum, by the way, where I bought mine), the first part of the building dates from October 1876, extended with a porch and fireplace in 1879, a further classroom in 1902, then two further classrooms in 1913, designed by Mitchell & Watt (Auckland Education Board architects at the time). Theirs is the dominating style. John Farrell, another Board architect, designed another classroom addition in 1918. A separate infants block was built next door in 1924 -- you see this first on the park as you walk from the station. Even the road itself has changed over time. Simms tells us that it was once called Union Street.

As for the school itself, it was: Papakura Free School (1877), Papakura School, Papakura State School, Papakura Primary School (1880-1939), Papakura District School, Papakura Central School (1940-1947), Papakura Normal School (1947-1957), Papakura Central School (1957-1972).

A new school was built on Ray Small Drive, on the site of saleyards on former Cook Street, and the old school was closed in 1973. Forty soldiers from Papakura Military Camp gave the old building a facelift in 1978, and in 1987 it was leased by the local District Council to the Papakura District Community Arts Council as a Community Arts Centre.

 

Just across from Central Park, the Papakura War Memorial, at the junction of Great South and Opaheke Roads.

The surrounds today are a far cry from those at the memorial's unveiling in 1921.

From page 19, Old Central School, Papakura 1876-2000. Possibly from Papakura & Districts Historical Society archive.

According to Elsdon Craig's book, Breakwater Against the Tide (1982, reprinted 2008), pp.152-153, a young local named T S McFarland sculpted the memorial with a composite uniformed soldier and crouching lion. The memorial was unveiled by Admiral Lord Jellicoe, Governor-General of New Zealand.

Fellow blogger and historian Helen Vail, in 100 NZ WW1 Memorials, has covered two of those included on the memorial: Lance Corporal William Fred Derbyshire, and Roy Alexander, DSM. The memorial also includes plaques for those who served in World War II, Malaya, Korea and Vietnam.

This is very cool, as far as I'm concerned. Set into the pavers at the corner of Wood Street and Great South Road, six plaques creating a map for visitors (like me) so we know how to get about. Excellent stuff -- more of these should be in other places in the city.

Late in 2010, the efforts of the outgoing Papakura Council came to fruition with the opening of the combined Papakura Museum (operated by the local historical society) and the Sir Edmund Hillary Library, in an easy-access building off Great South Road. Another fellow blogger, Claire at A Latitude of Libraries, has covered info on the library already. The museum, though, is worth a visit.

"Feeding birds on the lawn at Mrs Chamberlin's homestead, Drury." Auckland Weekly News, 24 September 1903, ref AWNS-19030924-1-4, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Library.

One of the images on display was this (above). Egad, I thought, not more ostriches!

Back in 2009, when I visited the museum in its previous incarnation, I bought a lot of books. Actually, I'd say that the Papakura Museum is either a good place or a bad place for local history book addicts such as yours truly, depending on the point of view (and how much money is left in the bank). I didn't buy the book above ($35 for the 2012 second edition), but ... I bought the school history, and these.

This was around $30 as I recall -- check with the museum. I thoroughly recommend it as a great and detailed history of the local shopping precinct. I feel other studies of the type should model themselves on this.

As for this -- a classic, reprinted in 2008.

And as for these in the foyer outside the library and museum -- I thought I'd left the sheep behind at Mangere? And, why is the one on the right apart from the others? The sheep keep their secrets, though. I may never know.

Update: My favourite taphophile, Sandy, has added value to this post (thanks!) with these links from her comment below: her collection of photos of Papakura Cemetery, including the grave of the saviour of prostitutes, and a survivor of the 1886 Tarawera eruption, and Papakura South Cemetery.