There is a lot of interest in old firefighting equipment, so I thought some might be interested in this website:

http://home.kscable.com/hpa/engine2.html

It is an old firehouse, which apparently contains the old equipment that was once used there. It appears quite authentic at the moment, though the site says they plan to expand the building for more exhibits. Personally, I'd rather see it stay authentic.

http://home.kscable.com/hpa/engine2.html
bobyar2001@yahoo.com

Firefighting is an aspect of railroading that receives little press. Most railroad shops had a firefighting brigade at one time. I notice the Santa Fe shops in Albuquerque still has a nice stone-facade fire station standing.
Occasionally, one will read about special fire trains, such as those maintained by SP in the Sierras.
I found that the B&O Museum has a neat artifact on display: a glass fire-extinguishing grenade.

denmeg_hogan@msn.com

Lake Shore Electric Railway was able to throw a USCG boat on a flatcar and get it close to the problem along the lakeshore between Lorain and Toledo. This of course was back in the "rowed" boats days.


lamontdc@adelphia.net

> I found that the B&O Museum has a neat
> artifact on display: a glass
> fire-extinguishing grenade.

*I hope it's a replica. Those things are filled with carbon tetrachloride. They'll snuff a fire, but likely half the room's living contents as well. I had an acquaintance who was a fire-fighting collector who kept two as last-resort emergency use, saying his plan was to throw the thing and then stick as much of himself as possible out the third-floor window.

I could be mistaken, but I believe one of the PRR's Altoona Works fire trucks survives in private preservation in the Altoona region. There was also an article on RR fire-department equipment in a 1987 issue of Fire Apparatus Journal.


lner4472@bcpl.net

Many logging engines were equiped with fire fighting pumps and hose reels as these were the first (and last) line of defense in forest fires.

ironbartom@aol.com

The small building to the east of Brooklyn Roundhouse, in Portland, is in fact the old SP shops "fire house". I'd sure like to know were the old fire truck went!

Smokebox

When logging companies operated on forest service land they were required to have a certain amount of steam pumps, hoses, shovels, buckets, etc.

The Northwest Railway Museum has an approx. 1,000 gallon fire car from Rayonier, Imc. that was built on a small four wheel frame that came from a wood side dump car. Simpson Timber out of Shelton, WA still uses converted steam locomotive tenders on its diesel powered logging trains. These sprinkle the tracks and also protect the locomotive from shifting logs.

Richard Wilkens

> Many logging engines were equiped with fire
> fighting pumps and hose reels as these were
> the first (and last) line of defense in
> forest fires.

And the beauty is, this old fire station/museum sits right next to the former KCM&O/ATSF Pratt extension that is currently operated by the Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad. About a mile west of there is the site of the former KCM&O (The Orient Line) shops (later known as the West Wichita shops where a lot of Santa Fe rolling stock and cabooses were rebuilt up until 1968)now occupied by the K&O headquarters, although none of the historic buildings survived over there.....

> There is a lot of interest in old
> firefighting equipment, so I thought some
> might be interested in this website:

> http://home.kscable.com/hpa/engine2.html

> It is an old firehouse, which apparently
> contains the old equipment that was once
> used there. It appears quite authentic at
> the moment, though the site says they plan
> to expand the building for more exhibits.
> Personally, I'd rather see it stay
> authentic.


wichita_rails@msn.com

The Philadelphia Fire Department has a museum in a retired firehouse at 147 North 2nd Street in Philadelphia. They have an interesting collection of equipment dating to 1730. See http://www.angelfire.com/pa4/firemanshall/ for more.

The Electric City Trolley Museum Association