Wednesday, July 25, 2012

When Firemen Were Firemen

The Antique Fire Engine Museum in Staunton is located inside one of the city's fire stations.

It's a single room, with one star attraction.

A 1911 Fire Engine.



This is a 1911 Robinson Chemical Fire Engine. The firefighters call it "Jumbo."



My husband discussed the fire truck with a firefighter who was staffing the museum when we were there.

The folks in Staunton think this is one of only two remaining trucks like this left in the world. The other is in Arizona.


The 1911 truck has lots of shiny brass doohickeys on it.



The Staunton Fire Department formed over 200 years ago; it is one of the oldest fire departments in Virginia.


More shiny doohickeys.


Still more shiny doohickeys!

There were other firefighter-related items, too:



A street alarm box.



An old firefighter's helmet.



An alarm bell that would have been inside the station.


Another alarm bell.



A really old-fashioned kind of alarm bell!



A memorial to the fallen firefighters from September 11, 2001. When the towers collapsed, 343 firefighters died.



A big metal firefighter's helmet located outside the museum.



This is a photo of a postcard showing the entire 1911 engine. The museum room was too small for me to get a really good shot of the beautiful machine. This doesn't do it, justice, either, but I wanted you to see the fire engine in its entirety. I think it is a marvel.

6 comments:

  1. it is beautiful...with all those shiny doohickeys ;)

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  2. Love the machines of old and this one is really nice! Bet your husband enjoyed his chat with the fellow. Common knowledge they share.

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  3. Thank goodness you went to the museum to learn all those technical terms. Otherwise you might still be calling them whatchacallits!

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  4. Wow, that really is so beautifully preserved...I know they must be very proud of it. And I have seldom seen shinier doohickeys! :-)

    I'll bet your husband enjoyed talking machinery with the other firefighter.

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  5. This is a beaut. There are a lot of fire engine enthusiasts out there that you've made very happy with this post.

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  6. Whoops sorry about the previous message being cut off and sent before completion, but often hard to type on the iPad keyboard with one hand. As I was posting, my husband is a retired Irvington, NJ fire captain and this looks like a place he would also enjoy seeing. And I would enjoy photographing the fire equipment.

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