A Kit-Bashed Fire Station

[brokemoto]

Something happened to the photograph of the hook and ladder.  Is it a wood prototype or did you build it from wood?
I have seen photographs of motorised fire equipment that was made mostly of wood, but those were early twentieth century.  For how long did they use wood in the construction of fire equipment?

My scratch-bashed hook and ladder is  a mostly wood prototype.

Oh, and a question to Joe from Baltimore:

Did they keep the  horsies in the fire house in Baltimore?  I seem to recall reading that, in most places, either they built stables for the horsies separate from the station, or, they would keep the horsies at a local livery stable.  In places where the local  businesses sponsored a fire house, the owner of the livery stable would, in fact, often stable the horsies in lieu of a monetary contribution.  Did they do it differently in Baltimore?

Since horsies tend to make noxious fumes of their own, I would suspect that no one would have wanted them to spend an inordinate amount of time in the firehouse.

[absnut]

I don't know what has happened to the photo from your perspective, Phil, but it still shows good for me.  If you want, I can email some more to you.  To answer your question, I worked in three different departments in the late 50'- early 60s.  The first department in the 50s had a mix of equipment, newer trucks had aluminum or wood ladders, depending on year, manufacturer, and bid specs.  We had two "ladder trucks", both of which were service ladders and carried a complement of wood ladders, including a monstrous 50' extension, 6 men to raise it.  During that period, the city purchased a new Seagraves 65' aerial ladder truck.  My aerial ladder is a loose copy of a tiller job the City of Portland (ME) had (think they had two at one time and one was converted to an aluminum aerial, with 85' or 100')  Mine is supposed to be a wood, spring assisted aerial with a wood ladder.  All ladders in this truck would have been wood.  My truck is basically made from styrene with wheels from my scrap box, a cast metal "hood" on the tractor, and wood and styrene ladders.
On a side note concerning horses...  while I am too young to have remembered it, my father used to tell a story about our South Portland Fire Dept in its early days when the equipment was horse drawn and all volunteer.  It seemed that Mr. Dyer, who owned a store across the street from our home, also owned or boarded one of the department's horses and used it to pull his delivery wagon.  Volunteers were called to duty by a large (and loud) steam whistle on top of a power station.  (you know where I'm going with this, don't you?)  Wherever Mr. Dyer was, if the whistle blew, he had to get the horse to the fire station.  If he were out on a delivery and the whistle blew, he just held on to his seat tightly because the horse would head for the station all on his own!

[superchief]

that fire station is awesome!!

[Philip H]

Dick,
I can't see the hook and ladder pic either - there's not even one of those little boxes with the red X in it.

[kc9jts]

Excellent work!  MY dad was a volunteer firefighter in Wisconsin for over 2 decades so I have always been a closet fire buff and I think you definitely did it justice (even if a few details are missing as you said).

[absnut]

Sorry about the photo.  I found another host and edited the post about my hook and ladder above.  Photos should show now.

[Philip H]

Now that's outstanding work.  You have every right to be proud of it.  The ladders are the best part IMHO.

[joebalto]

Brokemoto, My station had the horses in the station. and the fireman had taken great care of them. When the first gas fire apparatus came in to service a 2 foot wall was built around the bottom of the stair case to not let fumes into the basement where the furnice was. We still had the access door for the hay loft. the history in the old firehouses were great between the log books and pictures. Nice job on the tiller truck.

[wm3798]

Nice work.  Now get yourself some warm white LEDs and really make those interiors pop... and don't forget the red "on duty" lamp out front...
Lee

[up1950s]

Super job Dick , what color did you for the ladders on that hook and ladder ?

[absnut]

Richie, I think I used Poly S "Earth" and "Dirt".  They seemed to give the impression of old, used, varnished wood.  I say "think" because it was a few years ago and I just color matched the ladders with those paint bottles and they matched.

[Wardie]

I have used Polly scale earth and dirt to paint a lot of flatcar decks wood colors myself.

[brokemoto]

Nice job on that hook and ladder.  It must have taken some time to scratch that.  The rest of the Department looks pretty good, too. It is obvious that you spent quite some time and care on your fire department.   I wonder how many others on this forum have gone to such effort for their fire departments.  There were quite a number on another forum that still exists. 

Initially, I did not realise that only the ladder was wood; I had thought that you meant that the whole contraption was wood.  Most of the prototype contraption for my scratch bashed hook and ladder would have been wood, except for a few metal parts here and there.  The model is mostly plastic.

Thank you for your reply, Joe in Baltimore.  That is the first that I have heard of keeping the horsies in the fire house, but I suppose that it was not the only case.   The stories of how the horsies would get used to the fire alarm and position themselves just right so that the tackle could be lowered onto them are legion. 

The story of the dual purpose horsey is a good one.

Anyhow, nice job on the firehouse and engines.  Thanks for fixing the photographs.

[absnut]

OK, Phil, I showed you mine...now you've got to show me yours! 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Dick, that is really nice. Also, that structure company makes some cool stuff. I think I want one of each of their offerings.