Ramsey Fire and Steam show in Ramsey is a great family ran show, there is about 20 fire appliances all shapes and sizes and a bunch of steam engines. Its hosted at the Ramsey Rural Museum and happens at the end of June typically.
Its our 4th year of going and we won Best in Show! The award is dedicated to Will Baker who was one of the founders of the show and was taken from the world far to early.
Well, we bought a Green Goddess.... Why? I hear you ask? Well, I was looking for a rolling project and my previous project ( lashmidget.blogspot.com ) only had two seats, no good for taking the family out - so any addition needed 6 seats. After several car shows, steam rallies and a good chunk of Googling (and some very helpful conversations with friends - you know who you are) a fire engine became the natural choice. Significantly more consultation of online resources followed (Googling!) and i was surprised just how much choice there was! I had always wanted a 4x4 and a 'military' vehicle add to that the fire engine dynamic and the Bedford RHLZ Self Propelled Pump was the perfect choice. Curiously the Goddess is neither a fire engine or a military vehicle rather its a Home Office Auxiliary Fire Service pump designed for relay pumping water over many miles from lakes and rivers into Nuclear Bomb stricken cities during the cold war. Nonetheless it was perfect for
I waged war on oil leaks. Armed with some nice thick gasket paper from my father in law (Thanks Eric) a tube of Black Gasket Maker by Wynns (Great stuff) and new oil I replaced the gaskets and oil seals on the axles, transfer box, sump and rocker cover. Anglia Bearing Company were great and had in stock the correct replacement sizes that I needed. Transmission products supplier | Anglia Bearing Company Ltd (anglia-bearing.co.uk) The original leather oil seals had served their time and were very dry and tired. I only have the gear box to do now which I will try and do in situ, but the rest of the underneath is now oil leak free. The transfer box has the main drive for the speedometer which included a plastic worm gear. This had started to deteriorate and I got a replacement.
Got out to a show in September and was parked next to a Zil-131 which is a 6x6 fire truck used during the cold war in Soviet states. Famously used in Chernobyl after the nuclear accident to contain the fires. It was mentioned that all we needed between the Zil and the Goddess was an iron curtain. Two sisters in arms from different sides of the cold war.
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