Author Archives: lowdhamstation
The NFS Overseas Contingent and D-Day
The story of the NFS Overseas Contingent is little known and rarely told. Members of the NFS and AFS Vehicles Group are portraying the Overseas Contingent by taking two representative vehicles and a pump to Normandy for the 75th Anniversary … Continue reading
NFS Overseas Contingent going to Normandy
To remember the NFS Overseas Columns, we are planning to head for the Normandy Beaches for the D-Day 75th anniversary. A group of twelve of us, eight NFS firemen and four partners are taking the Dodge Mobile Dam, the Austin … Continue reading
NFS Overseas Contingent in Training
These photos are a rare view of the NFS Overseas Contingent training to take vehicles, pumps, and a Mobile Kitchen in landing craft over the channel to support the troops just following D-Day. The photos are by George Wilden of … Continue reading
Air Raids at the Severn Valley Railway
Two enemy bombers made a daring raid on Kidderminster Station on the Severn Valley Railway of the GWR. Luckily no-one was injured, but a fuel dump caught fire. A shed with a quantity of black market sausages and other goods … Continue reading
Air Raid on the Great Central Railway
Over the weekend of 2nd and 3rd June, a lone enemy bomber attacked a train in a remote railway yard to target the consignment of explosives and tanker of petrol arriving by train. Railway workers, and the wife of the … Continue reading
Winter Maintenance – Replacing the cable on the TL
A few weeks ago, we had the Turntable Ladder inspected according to LOLER (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations). These regulations cover any equipment used to lift a person into the air at work. Although we are not strictly ‘at … Continue reading
Training day, 24th February
We plan to do a broad range of training, from basic hose and branch work for those who need it, through to pump drill, Turntable Ladder drill, and 6-inch hose laying from the RL truck, and pumping with the Green … Continue reading
Commemorating the Auxiliary Fire Service – 50 years on
The AFS was formed in 1949 and served until disbanded, along with the rest of the Civil Defence movement, on 1st April 1968. The NFS and AFS Vehicles Group are planning to commemorate this with two significant events this summer. … Continue reading
Major Fire Display at Gaydon, 21-22 July 2018
How do we commemorate the end of the AFS, which was disbanded in 1968, 50 years ago? I have recently had a long conversation with Dean Bloxham, who is on the organising committee for the Gaydon show this summer. It … Continue reading
Standard Gwynne ‘Chariot’ restoration
We have been doing a lot of work on the Standard Gwynne ‘Chariot’ trailer. (Well, actually, paying others to do a lot of it…). It is rather a rare trailer, and so beautiful that it is worth spending some money … Continue reading