Post-war Albion Fire Engines

Ron Henderson brings us the second part of the history of fi re appliances on Albion chassis.

It was some years before full production returned to Britain’s manufacturing industries after the end of World War II. Rationing of materials and priority for exports delayed the replacement of the country’s worn out and obsolete fire engines. Meanwhile, the allocation of new ones was restricted by the government, which initially awarded contracts to some chassis builders and fire engine coachbuilders, then allocated the finished products to those brigades most in need of new equipment.

The main chassis providers at the time were Dennis Brothers and the Rootes Group. Almost 20 years were to pass before the first new post-war Albion fire engine appeared, when a batch of five Chieftain Super Six pump escapes with Carmichael & Sons bodywork were built to the order of a customer in the Middle-East. They featured Leyland’s 0.400 125 bhp diesel engines and carried a 50 ft wheeled escape ladder, 900 gallons per minute pump and a 300 gallons per minute portable pump.