В парке науки и инноваций в Свиндоне открыли экспозицию исторических пожарных машин

In industrial Swindon, the threat of fire was never far away. As the town grew rapidly during the Victorian and Edwardian periods, so did the need for organised firefighting. By the early 20th century, Swindon had its own Fire Brigade, while the vast Great Western Railway Works also ran a separate brigade to protect its workshops and workforce. Firefighting was changing just as quickly, as horse-drawn pumps and small local brigades gave way to motor engines and professional fire services – a transformation brought to life by historic vehicles at the Science and Innovation Park in Wroughton. Built by Merryweather & Sons in 1863, the Sutherland came from an era when horses still rushed fire engines to emergencies, but steam was beginning to do the hard work of pumping water. Harnessing steam power, this fire engine could project a jet of water up to 170 feet. By 1894, vehicles like the Shand Mason – one of only 20 made – could pump 350 gallons of water per minute. But for all its power, it was still cumbersome to get to fires, with horses needed to pull it through the streets. But change was afoot. In 1904, Merryweather & Sons built the first petrol-powered fire engine to be used by a public brigade, in Finchley. It could get to emergencies faster and was fitted with its own petrol-powered water pump, signalling the beginning of the end for horses and steam. The Great Western Railway had bought a Dennis motor fire engine for its own brigade in 1912 and the First World War served to speed up the switch to motorised vehicles as horses were conscripted for military use. By 1943, war once again reshaped fire engine design. The Austin model was one of 50 vehicles fitted with a 60-foot turntable ladder to tackle fires caused by V1 flying bombs and V2 rocket attacks during the Second World War. This specialisation continued. The hulking 1970s Thornycroft ‘Nubian Major’ was built for aircraft emergencies and could rapidly blanket a blaze with foam while on the move. The one pictured started its career at Heathrow before moving to Prestwick Airport. These machines chart more than a century of firefighting, showing how new technology repeatedly reshaped the ways fires could be tackled. Today, they are preserved in the Science and Innovation Park’s Hawking Building, where visitors can view them alongside many other objects with remarkable stories to tell. Guided public tours at the Science and Innovation Park offer a unique behind-the-scenes experience, with visitors invited to explore some of the 300,000 objects cared for in the Hawking Building, a working collection store, on a 90-minute expert-led highlights tour. Book tickets at scienceinnovationpark.org.uk/visit-us/public-guided-tours. For £6 get 6 months of UNLIMITED access to the Swindon Adver - £1 a month. 📱 Ad-free app 📰 Digital edition of the paper 🧩 Online puzzles 🎁 Reader Rewards with hundreds of deals and discounts Save on an annual subscription and pay £26 Subscribe👉https://t.co/TRcoVgUC3b pic.twitter.com/ujSt2dLFWa — Swindon Advertiser (@swindonadver) July 21, 2026