Firefighters ladders

atferrari

Well-Known Member
Most Helpful Member
My modelist brother is interested to know how these ladders were used. Basically as a stand alone unit or linked to the truck all the time?

I could not find anything close to it in the Web. Any idea?

 
I'd say they are permanently part of the truck. The large spoked wheels are how the ladder was extended. These are from before hydraulics were made small enough to be used like they are today. Turning the wheels by hand would move cable/ropes that extended the sections of the ladder. The truck looks to be from the late 1920's or early 1930's.
 
Nope, they used to roll em off the back of the truck, down the street and into place against a burning building. They used ropes to extend them, I think the later ones had a hand crank on them too
 
Have a look here:

Ladders on wheels!

JimB
 
Good finding Jim. Now I know.

Gracias for that.
 
Hola Jim

My brother says (he speaks no English): ¡Muchas gracias!
 
Hola ATF,

JimB says in his broken Spanish:

De nada.
Buen assuertes a su hermano i son jugettes de bomberos.

JimB
 
Nigel Goodwin said:
You need to watch the old B&W silent films, such as Buster Keeton etc. - they often had sketches with those old ladders on wheels.
Click to expand...
Yes, I recall watching some, precisely from BK, involving quite often cars and trains.

BTW, a ladder on wheels, nowadays, would be banned simply for the sake of safety.
 
JimB said:
Hola ATF,

JimB says in his broken Spanish:

De nada.
Buen assuertes a su hermano i son jugettes de bomberos.

JimB
Click to expand...

Good enough to understand. I'll pass the message.

Thanks again.
 
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