All the gear, no idea?

Well, as Christmas bears upon us and the year draws to a close, after only a couple of months of ownership I can put my feet up and enjoy the festivities knowing that kit-wise, 326 is now pretty much complete. After a quick (!) trip to west Wales earlier this week, I returned with pretty much all the things that I need to complete the kit as carried during Op Fresco (i.e. the kit that would have been on it when it was cast and sold of by the Home Office in 2005 that has since gone walkies). A pry bar, hearth kit, axe and pick axe all made the journey home along with a spare dynamo (just in case there's a drama that the new regulator doesn't cure and if the dynamo has lost its polarity) and a few other bits. A few items need a little TLC (so a good soaking in coke for the rusty bits) but that can wait for the new year!

Happy Christmas!

Is that a ground monitor in your lounge or are you just pleased to see me?

Now term has finished, finally found time to nip down to LW Vass in Bedford to collect my early Christmas present. There, nestling forlornly in a corner of one of their stores was my ground monitor. These weren't part of the kit carried in 2002/3 on Op Fresco (the point at which 326 will stay in terms of colour and kit) but they are apparently good fun....

Rhys' ground monitors in action

We'll skip over the bit where I put it in the back of the MG and then closed the boot with the keys inside (a couple of their mechanics, some small wedges and a long wire.....).

He threw a nozzle spanner and some more nozzles in too! Anyway, it's now in my lounge on display until I can put it in my friend's garage with the rest of the stuff. Not that I mind as it does have a certain industrial beauty!

Ground monitor with kit, serial number EFS 0056, still with most of its protective coating on:

Unused nozzle spanner - if you look through the protective layer, you can just make out the ER cypher and date - 1-54:

Nozzle detail:

Dunno about Nate Dogg and Warren G but I also had to regulate...

Well, back from another weekend on the south coast and it's a good 4 degrees cooler here in Rutlandcestershire. Came back via Dorset to see a very nice chap with some GG spares. Shopping list isn't too bad at the moment (I could quite easliy go mad in a supermarket sweep kind of style!) but I did bring home a solid state voltage regulator for 326. These were procured by TNT when they maintained the GG fleet at Marchington and it was apparently intended that a good proportion of the fleet, if not the the whole lot, would receive these more reliable solid state regulators to replace to old 1950s versions fitted. So, anyway, having bought them they were never fitted and were sold off when the fleet was sold in 2005.

The one I have still has a tag on allocating it to a vehicle - PGW 206. No idea where PGW 206 is now...

Here's the old one in situ. A handsome 1950s bakelite box but not that effective now:

Here's the new one:

It even has a backing plate on with holes which match the current holes in the dash! Good thinking.

PGW 206 - where are you??

I also returned home to find this latest eBay purchase had arrived in the post. So now I might be able to understand how the pump works......!

He keeps his fire engine clean. It's a clean machine.

Spent this afternoon in the company of 326, main job was a good clean of the cab to remove the years of mud, muck and mildew. Quite productive and satisfying really, looks soooo much better now. There's something really satisfying about poking around in corners with a screw driver to remove the years of muck. Perhaps I need to get out more.....

Anyway, did a few other jobs too - measured the windscreen wiper blades so I can get replacements, had a nose at the underneath to see what state it's in, found the locker T key under the bench, checked out the battery terminals which need replacing and adjusted the hinges in the small coolant bonnet so it doesn't catch the bodywork. I also whacked some WD40 on the cut-out relay and cleaned the contacts, so here's hoping that works next time it's fired up.....

Also spoke to a workshop this afternoon about getting the brakes checked and repaired too, which is good. They seemed keen as well, unlike a certain haulier in Rutland who have workshops and a vintage fleet, who were not fussed at all! Oh well....

The repaired mini-bonnet:

Also, some more pics - the minor corrosion around the front:

The dinge at the back that's been there since at least 1992:

Evidence of previous reflective stripes:

And the underneath - a little light corrosion, nothing that a few days with a wire brush and some paint won't sort:

Feeling the pressure?

...not yet but 326 soon will be!

Having had a nice weekend off from school (what we in the boarding school environment call a weekend off - what every normal, sane person would call a normal weekend) I returned from walking and scrambling in the Lake District via my parents’ pad in Lancashire to borrow the pressure washer and to collect the maintenance charger that's been sat at home for ages to keep the battery that's sat here under my desk in the study topped up and ready for action.

So, as and when allows - probably when terms ends - I'll jet wash the old girl all over. That way the body might look cleaner than it has done for years (handy rotary brush car washing tool!) and the underside will be ready for wire brushing in places and repainting. The other job for Christmas will be stripping the rear roof and maybe treating the wood underneath if needs be, pending me considering what to recover it with when time and money allows. Not fussed on roofing felt not the original lino. I've heard of someone who has used pukka EPDM roofing rubber - not cheap but waterproof and less slippy maybe. Has a track record on Green Goddesses:

http://www.rubber4roofs.co.uk/EPDM-Uses/Mongol-Rally-Genghis-Goddess

I think the only jobs to be done before then (along with many end of term reports...) will be to get along to drain the heat exchanger off (before the temps drop) and maybe to hoover then wash / clean the cab. Essential? Nope. Will it make me feel better when I see it? Yup!

Duncan.

Happy Christmas to me!

OK - I have no money left at the moment at all (toast sandwiches for me I guess!!), however, an exchange of emails with Rhys (someone much wiser than me about these things) led me to browse the net which led to a phone call which led to buying this ground monitor along with some of the missing tools on 326. Can't wait to have a go but one thing at a time - have to make sure the pump works first!

Now, somewhere to store it when I've collected it in the next few weeks......

D

It's mine - all mine!

Well - it's official! PGW 326 is 'officially' mine as the V5 arrived today. Happy days!

Kit galore?

Although it's been removed now for safe keeping lest the more light fingered relieve me of it, just a few shots of the kit that the GGs carried. Essentially, mine is as it was for Op Fresco in 2002 / 2003. GGs carry comparatively much less kit than modern fire appliances. Hydraulic-powered jaws of life? Nope - would an axe and crow-bar do instead? Amazingly, much of the kit is unused and still has paper tags with the Royal ER cypher on, complete with stock number. Some kit is still in bags.

PGW 326 also still carries the somewhat euphemistically named lightweight pump. This maybe the original - who knows - but it's certainly the pump it's carried since 1982 at least!

The journey home

Considering it’s done about 30 miles in the last 6 years, a longer-distance journey of 80+ miles unaccompanied was always going to be fun / slightly mental! Weather-wise, the 6th Nov 2011 couldn’t have been better – one of the reasons why this weekend was a winner – warm, blue sky, no rain, no salt etc! I even had to open the windscreen this morning as it was a touch on the warm side!

A quick wash at the previous owner’s place and a wipe of the windows which are now see-through and a couple of cups of coffee consumed, there was then the flurry of messages – where’s the brake reservoir? New battery fitted – fine, but not charging? Once the hatch in the floor had been opened, reservoir was brim full. Likewise, the radiator only needed a litre or so of antifreeze. Good job I’d been across on Wednesday and cleaned the plugs – which were filthy, dirtier than any I’ve seen! It started first time, after less than a couple of seconds.

With all that done, it was time to go. A short run into Stone to the Shell garage saw it filled (£125) and the tyres pumped up to the right pressure. Then, off on the slog across the A50 (Britain’s most boring road?), round Nottingham and onto the A52. I have to say, 326 ran amazingly sweetly all the way- though I was hardly thrashing it at 40. It behaved very well, bar the battery not charging, so no lunch stops just in case it ran out of juice or wouldn’t start again…. Having driven a fair few Bedford MKs through my years of TA service, I would say that it’s a much better drive – although I guess it’s slightly heavier so doesn’t bounce as much and has only done just over 5,400 miles! Certainly double de-clutching is the way forward, thank heavens I was taught to drive Bedfords in my UOTC days by our barman who’d done National Service with the RAF and learned to drive on RLs!

I arrived at Grantham mis-afternoon, took a few pics, before de-kitting it. Getting it into the parking space was amusing, least of all because unlike Bedford MKs, it doesn’t ride the clutch well and tends to bounce with the usual accompaniment of noise and vibrating drive train. Once the clutch has bitten, progress was smooth. What was a winner though – the new Spafax mirrors – which unlike the previous mirrors, offer a clear rearward view.

Needless to say, most of the kit appears to be present even down to the lightweight pump tool kit in its canvas bag (please let me know if anything obvious is missing!). All the stuff and the battery has been removed and will be in a friend’s garage later this week (amazing what you can fit into an MG ZT estate!) - just in case the light fingered lift a few bits!

Now - on with the long list of jobs!!

PGW 326 - history

Finding out the history of any old vehicle is fascinating, but Green Goddesses often come with lots of the stuff!

That said, as they moved around, sometimes this did go missing, so PGW 326 has lots from 1982 onwards but nothing before....

The summary so far:

Built: 1954
Chassis: Bedford
Body: Willowbrook, Loughborough, body number 54626
Lightweight pump: F2229

Service: 
1954-1968 with the AFS (Auxiliary Fire Service) somewhere
1968: AFS disbanded
1977: Op Burberry, fire strike, location unknown
1982 (13th Jan): in store at Home Office Supply & Transport Store (G57), Branston, Burton-on-Trent; mileage 2115
1989: lockers 3/7 modified - floor strengthened 
1991/1992: transferred to Marchington, Staffordshire, as out-station storage of GGs was centralised, maintained by TNT Truckcare, initial service saw much minor work done to bring it back up to standard, mileage 3rd March 92 - 2276
1994 (10th Jan): damage to near side rear body first noted
1996 (May): Major work - cylinder head, studs, all 6 pistons and liners replaced on the engine, converted to negative earth electrical system, cab heater and battery charger removed, coolant system replaced, dynamo replaced. 257 mile road test where it used 134 litres / 29.7 gals of fuel meaning 8.6 mpg (took 10 hours). 192 hours of workshop time in total(!!), mileage 4045
1998 (3rd Aug): mileage 4304
2002 (14th May): mileage 4311
2002/2003: deployed on Op Fresco, fire strike, stationed at RAF Innsworth in Gloucestershire. Start mileage 23rd Oct 02 - 4314, end mileage - 5297.
2005/2006: out of service, sold via Witham SV in Colsterworth, Grantham
2011: bought by me, mileage 5328

With thanks to members of RSOLES, the GG and Bedford RL owners site.

A new chapter?

Well - here we go. First ever blog! If you're interested, you can follow the rambliongs, cursings and, occasionally, progress of the restoration of PGW 326 which I bought a few weeks ago on a bit of a whim really.... I've always fancied one, in part to join my fleet which includes an ex-military series 3 109" Land Rover ambulance which is now my camper van. No - I don't need a police car to complete the set.


I've now found a home for it about 20 miles from Oakham where I live, which was interesting as I had nowhere to keep it when I bought it! Where do you keep a fire engine...? Undercover is crucial - it is 57 years old and has a wooden frame underneath the bodywork, so not good outdoors.


Credit to the prvious owner, it had been undercover, so was a runner. I'll recall the delivery journey soon...