We are planning something rather different this year. The Great Central Railway have decided to make their June weekend multi-period, rather than just WW2, and out of respect for the situation in Ukraine, do not want actual fighting portrayed (not that it affects us as firemen!)
There are a lot of people with Green Goddesses and other trucks used by the Auxiliary Fire Service in the Cold War era, from 1950 to 1968, and this is an unmissable opportunity to bring some of them together and show you some of their capabilities.
In essence, the plan in the 50s and 60s was to have an out-of-town fire service of 4×4 vehicles and loads of supplies, capable of moving a vast amount of water to a burning city following a nuclear attack.
We are hoping to have 5 Green Goddesses and a number of other vehicles including a Control Unit, Hose Layer, Wrecker Recovery Truck, Bikini Unit, an RL General Purpose truck and an Austin Gipsy command vehicle. We will demonstrate laying 6-inch hose from a truck, and the awesome pumping capability of the Green Goddesses. The Pipe Bridge will be erected.
We will have a long thin arena with a pair of Goddesses permanently set up relaying water from a 2000-gallon dam using 6-inch hose so that we can demonstrate the ability to pump 900 gallons a minute (that’s around 4 tons!) back into the dam. We will also do a short display of pumping through 4 ground monitors in an arc over the railway, but that cannot be for long, or we will run out of water!
We will also be able to lay two lengths of 6-inch hose (OK, so it isn’t 20 miles, but it shows the principle) from the Hose Layer. This will be followed by the Austin Gipsy which determines that the hose joint in the arena is actually the one that needs a Goddess to maintain the pressure and flow rate. The Goddess follows along and will splice into the hose joint.
We will do a full display at 10 am, 1 pm and 3 pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This will include a description of the mobile column and the vehicles present, the hose laying demonstration and pumping demonstrations.
There will be a smaller pumping display on the hour, at 11 am, 12 pm and 2pm.