Bedfordshire & Luton Fire & Rescue Service    (*please scroll down for more)

The ‘Brigade Steamer is a horse-drawn steam fire engine, circa 1908, with a Shand Mason Engine and the Brigade is proud to have this restored and running.

The origins of this particular fire engine are in some doubt, but it is a smaller type of steamer of the type used in country districts early in the 20th century. It is known to have been on the Duke of Bedford’s Estate, in Thorney, Cambridgeshire, before the Second World War.

During the war, it came under the control of the National Fire Service and was situated at Thorney Fire station, Cambridgeshire. Its station designation was then 12E2X1, which could, before restoration, be seen faintly on the side of the coachman’s seat. This coding indicated the steamer was in E division of no. 2 fire force area (Cambridge and Bedford), the figure ‘2’ signified a sub-division, ‘X’ was Thorney Fire Station and ‘1’ was the appliance number.

After the war it was brought to Bedfordshire by the Chief Fire Officer of Bedfordshire—Mr E.R.F. Stanford KPM—and was housed at Luton.

Subsequently it was put on display at Fire Service Headquarters in Kempston, Bedford, when the building was opened in 1971.

The work of restoring the fire appliance was entrusted to W.H.Allen, a local engineering works, as an apprentices’ project. The work was carried out by a team of apprentices under the leadership of the Training Supervisor, over a period of approximately eight months.

During this time, the machinery was completely dismantled and restored, paintwork stripped and the carriage work repainted. The boiler was restored to meet the stringent conditions required to obtain an insurance certificate.

The original cost would have been about £450. The pump is rated to deliver 250 gpm of water per minute at 120 psi. With a good pair of horses, a speed of 12 mph could be achieved for a distance of one mile.

A modern appliance has a bhp of 260 speed up to 90 mph and 600 gpm at 100 psi, carries 400 gollons of water and costs £160,000.

This particular model was introduced in 1908 and represents the peak of development of the steam fire engine.