This appliance passed to a new owner in summer 2009.
Leyland Firemaster 6900NF was sold at auction
in summer 2009.
Looking at its condition in this picture,
hopefully it won't be too long before it begins to appear at rallies.
[Picture courtesy B.Green and reproduced with
permission.]
The next set of pictures all kindly provided by Wayne Gilmore [retaining his copyright] were taken on Easter Sunday 2010 at the South Yorkshire Museum of Transport in Rotherham where the appliance is undergoing restoration.
6900 NF ~ AN ANECDOTAL TALE.
I am very grateful to Graham Daniel for this anecdotal tale regarding 6900NF.
In about 1964 a friend and I were cycling along Rochdale Road in Harpurhey near the junction with Turkey Lane. We were about 12 years old. There was a fairly sharp right hand bend in Rochdale Road at that point. We could hear the siren of a fire engine coming up behind us. As the appliance got to the bend in the road the driver had to swerve to avoid a vehicle coming towards him in the middle of the road. The fire engine skidded on the wet road and the large wooden wheel on the nearside hit me in the small of my back and knocked me off my bike. Yes it was 6900NF. I have never forgotten the registration number to this day! Other than a few cuts and bruises I was OK. They had to call for another appliance to attend the fire.
A policeman on a motorbike was over me when I woke up. Realising that there were no serious injuries the policeman insisted that I rode my bike home to Crumpsall where I lived. He followed us most of the way to make sure that I was OK and then rode on to my home to tell my parents what had happened. Later that day my father and I "walked" to Crumpsall Hospital so that I could be checked out in casualty.
In today's culture of claiming
compensation for accidents I am sure that a claim would have been made.
On that occasion Manchester Fire Brigade agreed to pay for the repairs
to my bike and we were quite satisfied with that. I think the repair came
to about £6-10s. [£6.50p]