THE latest addition to the Pindimar-Tea Gardens Rural Fire Brigade fleet is a vintage fire truck from days of yore.
The Thames Trader, last registered for legal road use in 1986, was first brought to the attention of the brigade’s captain David Bright, during an interesting encounter at Motorfest in April.
“Barry, a farmer from out near Lochinvar, approached me at Motorfest to see if we could help him find a home for his old fire truck,” David said.
“We wanted to find a good home for it, so I called the Mid Coast RFS District, but there was no interest there in taking it on.
“Then [we] called the Penrith Fire Museum, but we were not prepared to cart it down there just for them to take a look at it [so we] decided to give it a home here.”
The local RFB Maintenance Men, a team of RFS volunteers who have more than a century of mechanical expertise between them, and who meet at the Tea Gardens Station every Tuesday morning, made it clear that they were keen to restore the old Trader.
“Once it is fully restored, it will live in the Pindimar Fire Shed, to be used for various community events, such as marches and anniversaries, and future Motorfests,” Captain Bright explained.
The Trader itself is a time-machine, offering stark and tangible evidence of how things were done so many decades ago, long before the high-tech, computerised and GPS-laden vehicles that modern firefighters use today.
The Traders were a short-lived line of trucks manufactured by Ford UK, between 1957-65, and this one, as yet unnamed, was stored in a shed at Lochinvar since 1984, originally finding its way there as an optimistic purchase to be used for watering paddocks.
On Friday morning, 6 June, the Trader arrived safe and sound on the back of a Joe Lewis’ Green and White Transport low-loader, driven by RFS volunteer Karl.
The motor started surprisingly well as Karl backed it into the driveway, mainly because the local Maintenance Men had actually spent two days in Lochinvar cleaning it up, re-inflating the tyres, and getting it going again, to the genuine surprise of all.
“It still has no brakes, and is not yet fit for road use, but they will get it there, and the next step will be to find community sponsors to re-paint.
“The ultimate goal is to get it registered as a historic vehicle and roadworthy. We will even run a naming competition eventually.
“Anyone who wants to get involved in helping fix it is welcome, come along to the Tea Gardens Station on Tuesday mornings.”
By Thomas O’KEEFE
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