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Michael Alexander finds out concerning the painstaking restoration of an fashioned late 1800s horse drawn Shand Mason steam fire engine that now sits proudly on everlasting reveal in Forfar fire Station.

Firefighter Stop staring at my fire hose shorts

When The Courier’s Craigie column published a picture lately of a Volvo FL6 fireplace engine at Arbroath in April 1991, it was a flashback to the then state of the artwork equipment being used with the aid of Tayside firefighters.

but it additionally rekindled reminiscences of an ambitious restoration task occurring across the equal time that noticed Angus firefighters painstakingly restoration a piece of historical past.

New Volvo FL6 water tender ladder fire engine at Arbroath in April 1991.

4 of the five crew within the photograph with the then new Arbroath appliance had been heavily involved in restoring an common late 1800s horse drawn steam fireplace engine.

The restored Shand Mason Steam hearth Engine No.605 now sits proudly on reveal in Forfar fire Station and is a credit to the Tayside crews that undertook the task.

How the Shand Mason restoration mission started

Retired Tayside firefighter Alan Rae, formerly of Blue Watch – Station A4, Arbroath – will under no circumstances overlook how he and fellow crew rediscovered the antique piece of machine and secured permission to do it up.

Alan, an ex-Royal Marine, had been worried in planning celebrations in 1989 that marked 30 years for the reason that Arbroath hearth Station opened and 25 years seeing that crews went whole-time/retained.

Restoration crew with David Petrie. (L) to (R) Willie Smith, Jim Forbes, David Petrie, Ron Milne, Alan Rae, Peter Sinclair and Bruce Peters in 2016

After attending the Glamis old vehicle Extravaganza that yr the place he noticed Dennis Scott from Grampian hearth Brigade parade around the enviornment along with his horse-drawn Shand Mason, Alan outlined to colleagues that ahead of joining the hearth brigade in 1978, he had worked in Don & Low Ltd’s Canmore Works in Forfar and had noticed an historical ‘steamer’ within the manufacturing facility there.

The computing device became at the back of a stud-partitioned wall and the brass helmets have been nevertheless there together with the axes.

Don & Low’s predecessors Don Brothers initially purchased the engine to support offer protection to their cloth operations in Forfar, in the event of them having a plague of hearth in a single of their factories.

After the engine became out of date, it wasn’t disposed of, and lay hidden away for years.

After some dialogue, Alan and his colleagues determined they should approach Dons to see in the event that they may get access to their ‘hearth engine’ in an effort to restoring it.

by using this time they’d fashioned a vintage part at Arbroath hearth Station with assist from americans from different stations.

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Stop staring at my fire hose shorts

Alan Rae (L) who turned into the driver in the back of the whole conception, with David Petrie who turned into the Don & Low Director who heartedly supported the initiative and turned into able to attend the get-together at Forfar in 2016

without hesitation, Mr Petrie pointed out they might have it on everlasting personal loan – the best stipulation being that they attach a brass plaque to the equipment stating that it belonged to Don & Low Ltd of Forfar.

• With a permanent display enviornment secured as a part of plans for a brand new Forfar fireplace Station, the Shand Mason become dropped at Arbroath fire Station in can also 1991 by means of one of Don & Low’s lorries.
• Dennis Scott, from Grampian hearth Brigade, additionally came right down to pass on some of his event about  restoration. Then the true enjoyable began.
• The restoration work
• “once we all started to get rid of the black paint from the pipe-work and different metalled areas we found captivating copper and brass pipes and joints,” recollects Alan.
• Shand Mason Pump Bay
• “It changed into a pleasure to see this black paint being stripped away to show the Shand Mason’s actual attractiveness.