Seasons and Discoveries

It's been ages since I've posted, and I apologize.

There's been a lot of change in our family, which I won't drag you through, but it has led to some shifting priorities.

Engine 17 has been moved to a new facility and is now in Tacoma again, and is stored indoors, which is fantastic.  But due to all of the aforementioned events, I have not had a chance to do really any work on her in years.  But she made the 2.5 hour run up to Tacoma no problem, she just runs like a champ!

Backstory.... back in 2015 I became a map editor for the mobile GPS app Waze, mainly to improve the map in my old fire district.  All editors are volunteers, but there is a progressive structure and hierarchy, and I've advanced (not always willingly) to the role of Washington State Co-Manager as of last fall.

In this role, after cleaning up the counties near where I live, I've been working to extensively review and clean up Pierce County since late last summer, and I'll probably be at it for over a year yet in my spare time, but as part of this process I ran across the Tacoma Fire Garage in the course of my work, and while looking at the aerial imagery there, something.... caught my eye.

Well now..... what's this?

I know Tacoma still owns a couple of older pieces, and have heard they have one of the 1970 sisters as well, though I've never seen it.  But here's an obviously aged rig by virtue of the color fade, with a distinctive single emergency light on top.  Could it be?  Let's check Google Earth.

Is that what I think it is?

There, on the left, is what I am pretty sure is one of the sisters.  Tacoma did own other similar ALF pumpers over the years, I think there were four 1964 Type 900s, and there were two 1976 Century's with Squrts on them, along with four ALF aerials.  But I don't remember ever seeing the 1964 rigs after in the 80's.  Tacoma has assumed fire protection for Fife and Fircrest in the intervening years, and assumed ownership of their rigs.  I don't think Fircrest had an ALF.  I don't know what Fife had. Fircrest was in 1995, and I think Fife was later, late enough that I don't think Tacoma would have taken a rig of that vintage in the process, let alone kept it all this time.  Thus, there's just not too many other options for what this could be.

That's a strong resemblance

As an aside, the ghost image on the right here above was caused by another rig being parked next to the ALF during some of the aerial imagery side-view camera passes but gone on others, so when the imagery was magically melded together you ended up with a ghost pumper.

Anyway, here she is, whatever it is.  It doesn't quite look 100% right, the bright coloring on the side towards the rear, but the cab configuration, the ladder rack (I'm told hydraulic ladder racks in 1970 were very rare), and even what looks like the old company number placard holder on the nose all looks spot on.  This imagery is less than a year old, so maybe this rig is just there all the time.

I'm hoping to get up to Tacoma soon despite the stay-at-home orders (don't worry I won't visit anyone!) to see if I can get some confirmation.

In the meantime, if you'd like to tour the Tacoma Fire Garage through Google Earth and check it out for yourself, just click here.

Interesting stuff.

Stay safe and healthy out there.

TFD's Last Sister Rig

I received a surprise Facebook Message a few days ago.  It was from a man who will remain nameless for now (not that he is in hiding, but I don't have permission to share his name at the moment) who confirmed for me that Tacoma Fire does in fact still own one of the original eight 1970 American LaFrance pumpers from Engine 17's batch.

This revelation is cause enough for me to come back here to the blog after nearly two years for this update.

About a year and a half ago we had to move from our place in the country, as the Fire District decided to close the resident satellite station we had been living in while working for them since 2008.  It was a good long run that benefited us as well as the District, but leadership changed and the new electeds decided to go in a different direction.  Subsequent to them closing the station down, I retired from my 22 year fire career.  Still work full time at the power company, and am now the Director for a home school community in Vancouver.

The country abode was an ideal place to store E17 under cover, but that option went away.  Money is tight for us, and presently I am sad to say that E17 is stored outside in the weather.  Plans are afoot to move her back to Tacoma where a family member might be able to store her inside, but we're not sure when that might come to pass.

I have to admit, I've been sad to not be able to make any meaningful progress on her, and have entertained the thought of putting her up for sale or even giving her away if the right buyer faithful to her heritage came forward.  Not presently actively looking to rehome her, but if you are that right person or know who is, drop me a line.

In the meantime, I am hoping to get a chance to see Tacoma's last 1970 ALF pumper and maybe get some pictures.  Finding out one still exists and has not been extensively modified or abused by secondary owners is a godsend, this means that when there are questions about original equipment, this last rig will be a very reliable model to consult most of the time!  Word is, a bunch of guys are getting an effort together to start restoration on the last rig, so even though we aren't in a position to work on E17 meaningfully right now, we hopefully will be able to soon start reporting on the progress of this other restoration.  Stay tuned!

Dear old Engine 8 found

The entire tale of this blog starts with me growing up by Tacoma Station #8, and the special place in my heart for the 1970 American LaFrance 900 assigned there during my childhood.  The direct result of that, as well as other serendipitous events, was my coming into possession of Engine 17, one of the identical siblings of dear old Engine 8.

Engine 8 as I knew her was Tacoma Fire Shop #43, and she started her career in 1970 as Engine 5 at Station #5 in the Hilltop neighborhood.

Shop #43's first assignment at Hilltop Station #5
Photo: Richard Schneider via Thorsten Umbach

Just a few years later, Fire Station #4 near where the Tacoma Dome is today was permanently closed, and Fire Station #5 was renamed as #4.  Engine 4 kept its number and moved to the Hilltop station, and Shop #43 was reassigned to Fire Station #8.  Here is the only picture I have of Shop #43 at Station #8, and below is a much later picture of Station #8 as she appears today in retirement (a new Station #8 opened in 2003).

Shop #43 at Station #8 with my niece, circa ~1984
Photo: Mine

Historic Station #8 today
Photo: www.tacomadailyindex.com

Shop #43 was replaced in 1987 and moved to reserve status.  I would see her occasionally around town even when she was placarded with a different unit number, because no one ever painted over the large "8" on the rear center compartment door.  But it didn't last long.  Seems that all of the E17 sisters were sold off and gone from Tacoma by 1990 or so.

Where Shop #43 went after Tacoma sold her I don't know.  She may have gone on to serve another agency like Engine 17 did.  At this point all I know for sure is that at some point the sandwich shop Firehouse Subs obtained Shop #43 and repainted her to their signature Dalmation scheme for work down in Florida.  I have no idea how she got to Florida, if she was already there when they bought her, or they transported her there from somewhere else.  I got this picture from company reps back in 2010 - but at that point I did not know it was #43, I only knew that their rig was one of the E17 sisters.

Shop #43 as a marketing tool for Firehouse Subs, circa 2010
Photo: Mike Kelly, Firehouse Subs

This week I reached out to the SPAAMFAA community on Facebook to try to track down any of the other remaining E17 sisters.  The only other hint I have for any of them is one that was photographed around 2000 in Seattle, which brings us up to accounting for three of the eight sisters.  And then I started trolling the Internet for anything new since the last time I looked years ago.  What I came up with was a batch of photos of the Firehouse Subs engine, one of which was a clear shot of the rear compartments, .... and there in plain sight was my answer to which one she was.

Shop #43 looking pretty rough, January of 2013
Photo: Flickr user VinceFL

There she is, dear old Engine 8.  Now we know where she went.

Have to admit, the deterioration in condition from 2010 to 2013 is significant: Peeling red stripes, quite a bit of rust, flat tire (!).... kind of hard to look at.  Here are some more pictures from 'VinceFL' with some finishing effects applied to the images.

Yesterday I sent an email to the contacts I made with Firehouse Subs back in 2010 to see if they still have Shop #43, and if so how she is doing and where she is.  Not sure what I think I want to do with that info if she is still around.  She would be a much bigger project now than in 2010, and I haven't been able to make any realistic headway on the fire engine I already have!  But it would be nice to know.  Fingers crossed that she still has a future and isn't already gone.  Will post more when I know.

Hello there

I still have E17, no worries!  Can't believe it's been well over two years without an update, so sorry!

Just have been very busy, and one of my children was diagnosed with brain cancer a little less than a year ago, and working through his treatment has been all-consuming for our family.  That is all being documented on a different blog: http://remarkablecourage.blogspot.com

Current concerns: Air pressure warning keeps coming on even though air pressure is OK. I kranged a compartment door.  Honestly, I've been driving fire apparatus of all sizes up to and including a 102' aerial platform quint back in the late '90s, and I've never seriously kranged any of them.  But then I get my own, and rack up two?  Frustrating.

Replaced the front tires last year.  Got more equipment, mostly but not exclusively old hose.

Mostly she sits under her cover.  Starts and runs, and can be driven, I try to get her out and moving around at least every other month or so.

Until Mark's cancer is resolved, not much is going to move forward, but we're still here.  Thanks for reading.

We wind up the Q2B to goodness gracious - HQ video

Here ya go.  What a lovely, lovely sound!

Q2B Installed

Well, that was more of a chore than I anticipated.

First off, let me just gripe a bit about the rats nest under the dash.  Surely some of this is leftover from the removal of radios at some point, but... really?  I looked it over when I brought 17 home and was annoyed at the time, but it had been a while and I forgot how annoying it was.  Look at this mess!

So there was a random, small, single-conductor wire sticking out where the Q used to go.  Much too small to be a supply for a Q, so I thought maybe it was for the siren brake.  Verified that there was power to the siren brake button, but wherever it went after the siren brake (disappeared into an anonymous wire bundle), it did not come out at the pedestal.  Starting at zero, then.

Also, there was still a wire to the Q's foot pedal, which also still had power.  And once again, the sending end disappeared into an anonymous bundle never to be found again.

Clipped back both the random wire at the pedestal, and the siren pedal wires, and securely capped off the hot ends until such time in the future the more complete rewiring can be done and those removed.  Unlike the old stewards of E17, who just disconnected random crap and left it to lay there, dead ends and random-access grounding lugs and such.  GAH!

Ran a new 4-gauge wire right from the battery selector switch to a new 150A circuit breaker, then under the cab to a new starter solenoid.  Stole a hot lead from the solenoid's source and ran a 12-guage to the foot pedal then back to the solenoid actuator terminal.

By the way, I found that my cheap hand tool cutters were no match for 4-gauge wire!  Glad that piece didn't put my eye out when it came off!

4-gauge wire - 1  ----  cheap wire cutters - 0

Then there was the siren brake needing attention.  Ran a new 12-gauge line from there to the pedestal before finding that I had a bad section of wire.  Tested for continuity, and it failed.  Wow, was that frustrating, how often do you get manufacturing defects in wire?  What a chore!  Removed the bad section and restrung it.  I am not a fan of butt-end connectors and prefer all-new wires and terminals, and the siren brake was no exception.  While attempting to remove the terminals from the old siren brake, the 43-year-old circuit board lost a chunk.  Thankfully you can still get this exact starter-type switch at NAPA for about $8.  Short delay, but onward.

Original siren brake switch, may it rest in "pieces"

Got it all finished late last night at about 9:30PM.  A little late to play without annoying the neighbors.

So here it is this morning.

Got a sweet video of the beast winding all the way up and waking up the chickens for miles around (sort of obscure C.W. McCall reference there).  Just as soon as we figure out how to get that video off of my son's iPod, we'll post it here.

Engine 17 has a SIREN, baby!

Q2B - with video

Got an excellent deal from a friend for a Federal Q.  In the early days I wanted to do paint before anything else, but this was driving my crazy, taking 17 out and having just a dinky parade siren widget.  People want a SIREN.

This Q was originally a flush mount, but I also got a pedestal and cowl for it.  Trouble was, for some reason the flywheel housing had been rotated 180 degrees, making it impossible for the pedestal and siren brake to co-exist.  Taking it apart to fix that, I got stuck needing an impact wrench to release the bolt holding the flywheel (the four screws to release and rotate the housing are behind the flywheel), and I don't have an impact wrench.

Took it to the shop guys at work and struck a deal.  If they'd give me ten minutes and access to an impact wrench, they could play with the siren.  They just ended up brushing me aside and doing the work anyway, because guys in coveralls are unable to stand and watch a guy in slacks and a tie do anything at the workbench.

Situation resolved, the Federal Q2B is now ready for installation on E17.  Enjoy the show.

Living in a Fire Station is apparently of national interest

We had a structure fire near our place recently, and due to extremely good luck and favorable circumstances, we were able to save the house.

Yeah I got there first, but I do not deserve full credit, as I could not have stopped the fire completely without all of the help that showed up after I did.  I don't have permission to name names, but let's give it up for the other crews that came out and did the bulk of the work.

The local paper decided, instead of an article on the fire, to do a feature on our newly-discovered status as a live-in family at a fire station:

Volunteer firefighter operates out of rural home in Bear Prairie

I guess no one minds a pat on the back once in a while.  But really, I do love this job, no credit or rewards are required, and I honestly would have been happier to continue to fly under the radar.  Anyway, due to how these things work (when one gets spotted in the media and owes the crew ice cream), this kind of coverage necessitated delivering ice cream enough to cover all shifts at six nearby fire stations across four fire districts.  Cha-ching!

But it gets better.  Or worse, depending on how you see these things.  Firehouse Magazine decided to pick it up:

Rural Wash. Station aka Home Has No Siren, No Pole

And now I hear that the Daily Dispatch also has it linked from their front page.

(Update, now Fire Engineering has picked up the story as well: Volunteer Firefighter Operates Out of Rural WA Home)

I am getting Facebook requests for ice cream from friends all over the country.  Wisely, some of them are noting that ice cream doesn't ship well, and are suggesting certain beers instead.

One of my co-workers turned one of the media photos into this hilarious meme:

Through all this, somehow Engine 17 has escaped mention.  If someone can think of a magic way to turn this media attention into a fundraiser to help fund the restoration 17, that would be terrific.

As one good friend reminded me in the midst of this craziness and my fretting about overexposure, I guess this is my 15 minutes of fame and I should just ride it out and enjoy it.

OK, I'll try.

....  gaaaaaah!!!!

The return of Engine 17

Last year late in the Summer I discovered the front tires were deteriorating, and the breakdown was rapid. Without funds handy to replace the 11R22.5's she had to sit. The cracks got so large that I feared a blowout, so I blocked up her front and deflated the tires.

Seeing a fire engine on blocks is a sad, sad sight. I feel so much guilt every time I look at her!

Then, sometime over the winter, one of my rather young children apparently turned the battery on to play with the pretty lights, and didn't turn it off. By the time I discovered this, the batteries had to have been drained completely dead for weeks. Not sure the batteries will be recoverable or not, that is a little outside of my area of expertise.

However, a friendly benefactor has come forward to assist me with purchasing replacement tires and possibly batteries if needed, and I have a good "in" with a local firefighter who works on large trucks who is willing to bring a service rig up to the house to replace 17's tires on the spot.

Hopefully she'll be back on the road soon so that the tales may continue.

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A couple of years ago I registered at alfowners.com so I could get help from the members there. At some point I requested a change to my username, which was granted, but my login never worked again. The password recovery script just locked up with a database error for the longest time. Now it appears to go through, but email ever arrives. No email address was provided for the admin. New registrations were disabled. I have been locked out of alfowners.com for well over a year. I've dropped some notes on Facebook to try to find out who runs the place to get that fixed. If any of you, my faithful and patient readers, happen to know who that is, please let me know.

Ending the Hiatus, and a Tale of Fun

Man it has been soooooo long since I posted, I am so sorry.  I resolved that I needed to write something and get back in the groove, and then noticed that it is two days short of a year since the last post.  I have failed to keep you all entertained and informed, I hope you can forgive.

After obtaining the collection detailed in the previous post, it has been a little more fun to be out and about in an old fire engine that is no longer naked.  The big master stream device, the hard suction, the ladders, and various hoses packed where they go, all makes a better picture.

Speaking of pictures, I have a new camera phone and will try to remember to get some new pics with the equipment installed.

And of course, the Tale of Fun:

My daughter asked if I could take her to the Homecoming dance in E17, and the answer was a resounding Of course.  How about eight people?  Well, not enough seatbelts for that, so we compromised.

E17 arrived at the local burger drive-in a mile or so from the dance, and picked up the party.  Thanks to having the new stuff from the Equipment Grab, there were now four sets of old turnouts available, and the guys in the group each donned a yellow lid to go over their tuxes.  Brilliant.  Everyone piled into the hosebed, and we proceeded slowly and carefully towards the high school.

The kids were waving and hollering hello at everyone they saw, and of course everyone waved back.  Who doesn't wave at kids riding on a fire engine?

But the best part was the arrival.  You see, everyone who is someone at Homecoming wants to impress their dates with stretch limos and stretch Lincolns and stretch Hummers, making a scene as small groups arrive in their fancy rides.

So, there's a long line of a few hundred teenagers waiting in line at the door to get in as expensive cars continue to arrive, and suddenly...

Engine 17 is on scene.

Yes, as we pulled through the parking lot, lights and siren came on and we drove right up to the front door, delivering the eight most-noticed dance attendees of the night.

After that, all those spendy rides were just a long line of cars for the commoners.  You can't beat a fire engine entrance.

For the win.  Have fun at the dance, kids.

Equipment Grab

So, Dad called me out of the blue yesterday. I'm at the fire department's surplus sale, he says, and asks what I might need, and describes some of the stuff lying around. And the prices. Dirt cheap prices!!

He cleaned up, and sounds like he had more fun than even I would have had. He only found out about the sale the day before, not enough time for me to arrange to be there myself.

Long story short, through the silent-bid process he secured the following for Engine 17:

A ground base for securing a deluge monitor.

A 2.5" siamese.

A 2.5" threaded to 3" Storz elbow.

A triple 2.5" inlet deluge monitor. $150!

Twenty-one lengths of miscellaneous hose. Some are knotted (damaged or unfit for use) but this stuff is mainly for decoration, so it is perfect. $5/roll!

Three lengths hard suction, $15 each (only have room for two, so the odd one is up for re-sale at cost). Three ladders, also $15 each. I would have liked a roof ladder and an extension ladder, but I'm not complaining, since E17 presently has zero ladders.

They also have numerous sets of older used turnouts for sale, but without the proper credentials (active FF and note from your agency to prove it) you can't buy them on the spot. I can arrange the credentials easy, so if the price is right I might grab 2-4 sets for costume use when I have riders in a parade of some such.

Score! Thanks Dad!

Also have a neighbor who is thinking about loaning 17 for standby duty while he does some logging nearby. Depending on cost, we may arrange for him to repair 17's tank-to-pump leak and pneumatic pump shift actuator - making it pump capable for his needs - as payment. We shall see.

Summer is pretty much here. Fingers crossed for progress.

Summer is here

Engine 17 has been out three times in the past couple of weeks, running short errands to get the winter crud blown out, and ferrying kids to various events where they delighted in the splash of showing up or disembarking in a fire engine.

Too much fun!

Anyway, this post serves to let you know we're still here. Hoping to get a few things done in the coming weeks and months of good weather. Stay tuned.

Wearing a Fire Engine Disguise

I took my daughter to the high school playoff football game, so she could hang out with her friends. I dropped her off in our little car. The lot was beyond full when we arrived, and the entrance was barricaded. I pulled up alongside the barricades, completely outside of any moving traffic, to let her out. She was rummaging for something for a minute, and a school security person walked over and rapped on my window, telling me to move along.

Now maybe there was a legitimate reason I couldn't be there, but I haven't thought of it yet. I was still in the driver's seat, she was getting out, the car was running, lights on, not remotely appearing that I might be thinking of parking there. But OK, no problem, she grabbed her stuff and I left.

Near the end of the game, she called to tell us she was almost ready to be picked up. I heard her friends chattering, and offered to bring 17 down to pick her up and take some of her friends home. She was all aboard for that plan.

I had completely forgotten about the barricades and security people by the time I arrived, but just as I approached and saw them, trying to figure out where to park, they saw me and just automatically grabbed the barricades, moving them out of the way and waving me through.

Well, OK then!

So I picked up my kid and several of her friends right at the ticket gate. It made quite a scene, not unlike when I picked my boys up after school one day.

Picking your kid up in a fire engine and also taking some of her friends home raises her stock, as well as your own in her eyes and those of her friends, especially the guys. For real? Your dad owns a fire truck? Big fun was had by all, especially since the home team won big.

I promise I wasn't trying to play the traffic folks, really, but that was just too funny to not share.

The Ripening of Squad 6

One of the biggest tasks in the Engine 17 project is getting her painted red again, or "ripened", from the lime-yellow coat she currently wears.

While that major task awaits, the other unit at my place was successfully ripened today.

As a result of a consolidation of fire protection agencies, the older apparatus in the district still bore markings from the two previous agencies that came together to form a new one. Squad 6 was one of them.


In every other case, the contractor was able to simply remove the old markings and apply new ones, in some cases extending a white stripe on the door with stock decal material. Squad 6 was the only unit, in the 22-vehicle fleet of various colors, that was white with a painted lime-yellow stripe, and the contractor had no stock lime-yellow that would match.

Solution? Cover the entire stripe with a new color. Hey, how about red?

She looks nice with her new stripe, doesn't she?

Welcome, PNW SPAAMFA members

I got my periodic SPAAMFA PNW newsletter the other day, sat down with the pile of mail to peruse through it.

There, on the second page, with no advance warning, was a couple of paragraphs about Engine 17, her history, and how she came to be in my possession.

I didn't write it. I don't know who did, but they seem to know a lot about me. Oh wait, I think I've about spilled my soul right here in this blog. I'm a bit crazy and I own my own fire engine. What else is there?

What's new? Well, 17 has been given a clean bill of health following a detailed inspection. A few air lines need to be moved so they don't rub, but otherwise she is in remarkably great condition, mechanically. Also found some vintage (heavy!) 2.5" hose sections that are loaded so she isn't quite as naked. Love the classic brass couplings.

That's really all there is for now. If you came here from the SPAAMFA newsletter, nice to see you here. Things will be slow over the winter unless I get some historical stuff to talk about. Otherwise, the project is going into hibernation until Spring. Stay tuned.

Parade Report

When we left off, I was trying to install the Whelen Commander strobe light and found things not exactly in a plug-and-play configuration.

The very next day the job was completed, with help from my very-helpful six year old. Seriously, this is no joke. He was a huge help, holding hardware in the right place for me on the roof while I fiddled with bolts and ratchets down in the cab. Plus, his random stories about unrelated topics diverted my attention from irritating but uninteresting problems that cropped up here and there.

Here he is on the cab roof, making sure we know where the new base is installed. You can see the dirty ring in front of the new base that shows where the previous light was installed, forward of the original beacon placement when 17 was new.


A couple of days later, 17 was patiently hanging out at my fire department's Station 1, out of the way, waiting for parade day. May I take you for a trip down Memory Lane, regarding the First Krang? On the day of the Krang, 17 was parked on this side of the building like this, but pulled all the way up by the yellow bollard guarding the corner of the building. Yes, that's the one I clipped. Embarrassing. Not at all a coincidence that she was parked so far back this time, either.


Finally, parade day! 17's role in this parade, besides being a, well.... a fire engine in a parade.... was to be the entry accompanying the New Blue Parrot drama troupe as they promoted their upcoming show Thoroughly Modern Millie. If you bother to ask if I play a Chinese laborer in this show, whose lines are pretty much all in genuine Chinese, I may or may not comment.

Unsurprisingly, there were other apparatus in the show. I was impressed with the work done to this old pumper by the Shriners, as can be evidenced by the weathered photograph on display showing how it looked when they started on it. It isn't at all faithful as a true restoration, but I can respect the amount of effort.



Another lime-yellow pumper was in the show, one I had not known about from this area. The driver, however, was merely a hired hand with no special interest, and the rig itself was borrowed or rented from its owner to ferry a political candidate.


I tried to make small talk and ask about their rig, sort of expecting some of the same in return, but they were totally disinterested. To them, the pumper may as well have been a rented Corvette of no special significance. Thankfully, though we started out parked side-by-side, we were far apart in the procession.

Here we are perhaps twenty minutes before the start, still setting up banners and other attachments for the run.


About to get underway. I don't remember what I was irritated about, but it probably had something to do with telling people to sit down for the umpteenth time. Whatever, it didn't last. Irritation doesn't last long when you get to drive your own fire engine in a parade.


And thanks for suffering this long post to see a picture of 17 in the parade, Millie cast members strolling along in front. It was a great day.


The one thing sorely missed? That missing Federal Q2B.... just gotta get my hands on one.

First Parade Detail Coming Up

Ready or not, the date is coming up fast.

The rotating roof light on 17 usually does not rotate, and it would be rather embarrassing for that to happen in a parade. Therefore, I decided to not wait to put the "new" strobe light up before the rig is painted, because who knows how long we'll wait for that.

I removed a bunch of screws from the aluminum strips that hold the interior roof panels in place, and removed the center panel, exposing the nuts that held the roof light in place. Removing it was not much of a chore at all.

It was not until I brought the original equipment Whelen strobe out that I realized that this was not going to be so simple. In the picture below, with the dome removed, you can see the Fresnel lens strobe unit resting on the base. The lens and strobe components underneath are held down by the clamp ring, along with the dome, when installed, but as shown below they just lift right off of the base. So for installation, all you have to do is secure the base, and then you tie everything down to that. Simple.



It was not until I had exposed the underside of the old light's installation that I realized it was mounted in a different location than the strobe had been. Reviewing old photos of sister rigs, along with considering the evidence of old holes visible from under the roof, I confirmed that the original strobe was mounted roughly in the front/back center of the cab roof. The newer light had been placed closer to the front.

OK, no problem. A little sealer, some new holes, we're good.

Then I looked at the Whelen base. It has three tabs spot-welded to the inside, about halfway up (not along the bottom edge). And there were only two holes in the original installation.

Fabricating something to make this work, or simply using long bolts, will not be a problem. But the two holes on the roof and three inside the base are not plug and play compatible, so I couldn't finish the job with equipment on hand. Probably will just go with three long bolts.

Here's a picture before the old "new" light was removed, and a picture of where the new "old" light will go that I snapped after realizing I couldn't get the job done that day. Until I cobble something together, poor Engine 17 is feeling a little naked without a roof warning light at the moment.



It isn't much, but some work is getting done at last.

17 Gets a Visitor

I am having a heck of a time finding the time to get work done on 17, as the best days of the season slip by with so many other things going on. Hence, the sparse updates, precisely when I hoped to have the most going on.

Disappointingly, of the four or five SPAAMFAA and collector's auto meet events coming up this summer in the area that I would have liked to have attended with 17, every single one is scheduled on a day that I am scheduled to work. What a serious drag! I haven't ruled out arranging the time off, but vacation time is precious, you know. Still, drats!

I still take 17 out every few weeks, though. And she received a visitor a few days ago when Engine 3 made a courtesy call up here to Station 6.

It's an art project, but 17 played a bit part

This is only barely related to 17, but it seems like forever since I've posted, and I have no updates on work or the project at the moment. Hopefully this will tide you over until more news comes along.

My daughter is a fantastic artist, improving by leaps and bounds every time she takes something new on.

So, do you remember this picture from the February post "Living the Dream"?

Well, the daughter took this picture to school and managed to create the following fantastic bit of work:
Having kids is so cool. So, so cool. They're amazing.

Maybe if you manage to catch a ride in 17, she'll sketch you too.

Another new blog to follow

Randy made the jump from his rig having a Facebook page, to also having a blog for his sweet 1958 FWD pumper. I have no words of value to add on top of what he already has to say about the story of his pumper, so it's best if I don't try.

Check it out:

Engine Company 1102