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Details: Given the previous picture, the appearance of a fire engine is quite appropriate, except that this isn't actually a fire engine! A 'Transportfest' event was held at the London Bus Museum at Brooklands on 22nd October 2017 and the theme was service vehicles. Many of the preserved service vehicles were present and photos of several will be added shortly. Some other vehicles with peripheral connections were also present (such as a British Aerospace Land Rover ambulance) and among these was London Fire Brigade BL14 (314FLM). This vehicle was new in 1964 and was based on a Dennis F107 chassis cab, resembling a typical London fire engine of the time. 314FLM was in fact a recovery truck and the Herbert Morris bodywork has the swept-down sides typical of this type of vehicle (as seen on LT 746P for example). Presumably intended to recover broken-down fire appliances, it is possible that it sometimes saw use dealing with buses, although the authenticity of the 'London Transport Urgent' board above the windscreen is not known. I have had a passing interest in the London Fire Brigade fleet for many years, partly because of their long-standing and logical fleetnumbering scheme (prefixed by type codes, for example BL=Breakdown Lorry), and partly because, as a child, I lived just round the corner from Clapham Fire Station. This was a divisional headquarters and often had unusual vehicles inside. The vehicle shown here actually carries the B21 plates that indicated allocation to Clapham. It is now H21 and demoted in status. A few years ago there were several websites detailing the LFB fleet, usually with lots of photos. It seems that there was some concern about the sensitivity of making such information publically available, and very little now remains.

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Posted By	Comments	Date/Time
Kim Rennie	You have been unnecessarily pessimistic regarding the latter! A search of ''London Fire Brigade Fleet'' on the WhatDoTheyKnow F.O.I. website brings up a current LFB fleetlist, including allocations etc, correct to Sept 2017 and the LFCDA say this information is updated annually.	Wed 15/11/2017, 00:42
Thomas Young	Thanks for the pointer to that fleetlist. Perhaps I was wrong, but an expert in the field did show me evidence (admittedly about a year ago) of photos of a particular type of support vehicle being published on the internet and then disappearing. Photos of that type are now available again. I am slightly disappointed that they have introduced a discontinuity in their fleetnumbering. The most common type of fire engine is a pump/ladder, which the LFB classed as DPL. Fleetnumbers reached as high as DPL1308 in 2007. There was then a gap of almost 10 years before deliveries resumed. However, as this was in the 150th year of the service, they numbered the first DPL150, and later deliveries have followed on from this. Still, at least nobody has complained about my spelling of 'publicly'!	Sun 19/11/2017, 21:50
Thomas Young	I stumbled across a photo of BL14 on the LFB website and it appears that it was not used to recovery fire applicanes but to attend incidents where heavy lifting capability was required. It also had 'LTE heavy lifting jack' (sic), so the board above the windscreen may indeed be authentic. Here's a linky dink: http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/150/dennis-f127-breakdown-lorry.asp	Sun 19/11/2017, 22:12
Kim Rennie	I was surprised that some of what were at one time called ''New Dimension'' units (mass decontamination bodies etc introduced post 9/11) are shown.	Tue 21/11/2017, 19:21
Rob Morel	In LFB use 1964-1977 Located to station 'B21' Old Town Clapham , former 'South West' area , fleet number BL14 BL13 SLD661 a Dennis F23 in use before that 1956-60 hd a damaged crane after hitting a RSJ BL11 BYV317a Dennis F23 in use 1936-56 donating crane to BL13 Meanwhile ! http://www.fdnytrucks.com/images/specialunits/shops/FDNYMM16002.jpg	Sat 25/11/2017, 17:02
Kim Rennie	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTBXphY87eo At 4.59 there is another b&w view of this vehicle though with revised bells and blue light arrangement.	Sat 30/12/2017, 06:19