Our Newhaven | Places | NEWHAVEN (West of the river). | NEWHAVENS' BEDFORD FIRE ENGINE (1977 - 90) BEING RESTORED

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NEWHAVENS' BEDFORD FIRE ENGINE (1977 - 90) BEING RESTORED

As it is today 3 - Oct 10

As it is today 1

Alec Paddy

As it is today 2

Alec Paddy

As it is today 4 - Oct 10

As it is today 5 - Oct 10

As it is today 6 - Oct 10

As it is today 8 -Oct 10

Bedford TKEL (HCB-ANGUS) PNJ 338R

By Alec Paddy

When I saw this on ebay I couldn't resist it, having seen it so often through my childhood, and have added it to my collection of Bedford TKs. The engine served Newhaven faithfully from 1977 to 1990, then went into reserve until 94 (some time spent at Bexhill) and has since been owned by various collectors in the Midlands. Unfortunately the last one left it outside and it is in need of some TLC.

It is Taxed/Insured and just needs the paintwork redoing as well as some repairs to the roof and cab timbers. I have taken it for a short trip, to put it undercover for the Winter, and hope to have it out next year to take to a few shows. I intend to bring it back over to Newhaven at some stage.

I have included a couple of photographs of it in its current state and if you follow the link below you can see what it looked like in its heyday. I would be inerested in anything that adds to the history of this vehice. Rather water damaged but still readable were some leave request forms from Newhaven Firemen in the 80's.

http://www.fire-engine-photos.com/picture/number24771.asp

This page was added by Alec Paddy on 30/10/2010.

Comments about this page

As you know Alec, I lived on Fort Road just along from the station and rode my bike in and around the fire station quite a bit. I remember standing watching, with my cousin Lee, whilst they pressure tested the hoses and receiving a soaking when one coupling wasn't secure. Lee was standing behind me and remained dry. In a strange twist, having moved to Canada, I was on the fire department here for a number of years and had one call behind my cousin Lee's house (he also came to Canada when he was 8). He was stood watching us put out a bush fire when I reminded him of the leaking coupling incident....and gave him a quick squirt as payback.

By rob patten
On 01/11/2010

Rob, Nice to "speak", I'll ask Sylvia again to pass on our respective email addresses. I used to see this engine in Saxon Road often as a number of the firemen lived in our road. On a related subject I am not sure if you remember the dustcarts my father had up to 1973; a forthcoming project is to get a Bedford dustcart shipped down from Yorkshire and then repaint it to look like the ones he had. I'll be posting some pictures in due course.

By Alec Paddy
On 06/11/2010