These are the kind of stations that I love to visit....a mixture of all sorts of apparatus. Lovingston, Virginia is that kind of department. Lovingston is located between Charlottesville and Lynchburg on Route 29 in Nelson County. The challenge.....to find someone there.
I was on my way to Lynchburg when I decided to stop by Lovingston. Of course, it was closed up real tight. Neat thing about a town like Lovingston is everybody knows everybody. I have found in these kind of situations that the local auto mechanic is a great source. I stopped by, talked with him, and we was on the phone trying to track down someone for me. At his shop he had a scanner going with a speaker mounted on the wall. As we were waiting to hear a reply on someone coming down to the station, we heard an officer from Lovingston mark up on the radio asking another member if they could report to the station because someone was visiting and wanted to get apparatus photos. 20 minutes later, I met several nice Lovingston members. How is that for small town hospitality.
I need some help with this truck.....there is some confusion whether it came from a New Jersey FD or a New York FD. Since it still has some of the old markings on the truck, it should not be hard to figure out. Any input is greatly appreciated.
Lovingston, Virginia
Nelson County
Engine 11
1978 Hendrickson/Oren/Grumman
Also marked with a Great Eastern Fire plate (New Jersey FIre Equipment Corp)
1250/500
Serial number 15347
still marked with "Bay Head" markings and "Engine 1411"
I photographed this Mack squad many years ago while in service in Chesterfield County, Virginia. It was great having the opportunity to photograph it again at its second home in Lovingston.
Back to the Harrisonburg area. I am finding myself back to that area more and more for work.
I forgot to post this one with Hose Company 4 from Harrisonburg. While I was at the station, this HAZMAT unit was in the back of the station doing a HAZMAT drill for Rockinham County firefighters.
HAZMAT 900 is an interesting rehab. What I was told was that the tractor came from a tractor-trailer beverage truck. In 2004, the tractor was sent to Betten Rollup where a body (not sure if it was a new body or rehabed body - I suspect rehabed) was joined to the tractor.
This truck is kept at the county garage and is staffed by a training officer in the event that it is needed.
About 10 miles outside of Harrisonburg is McGaheysville, Virginia, also located in Rockingham County. I had stopped by McGaheysville the day I photogrphed the Elkton, Virginia apparatus (earlier posts on this thread), but no one was home due to a variety of EMS calls.
The career guys and volunteers at McGaheysville went all out to make my visit really nice. With a good amount of apparatus and a nice surprise thrown in later, I unfortunately was late getting home that night. But well worth it.
First up at McGahyesville is Engine 801, the departments rescue engine.
Ladder truck duties are handled by Truck 80 at McGaheysville, which is a 1995 Pierce Lance 105' with job number E9426. This Pierce replaced an older FDNY Seagrave rearmount that had previously saw service at Orange, Virginia. It was FDNY, to Orange, Virginia, to McGaheysville, and now in service at Luray, Virgnia.
Tanker 805 is a 1973 Chevrolet C65/Oren 300/1150 with Oren serial number 3309. This one got dressed up a bit. When McGaheysville sold the Seagrave ladder truck, they had the roof lights removed from the Seagrave and put on this tanker.
A new brush truck has arrived in McGaheysville, replacing an older Steinbaugh unit. Don't cry Doctor Steinbaugh, I was told it is privately owned in the Bridgewater area. I might need to track that one down. That would make three Steinbaugh's in close proximity - old McGaheysville, Bergton (old Ashburn), and Broadway (which I hear is now for sale).
And I will save the best for last (in my opinion) from McGaheysville.
While I was photographing the apparatus at McGaheysville, some of the guys made a phone call to a member asking him to bring down one of the newest acquisitions to the area. Although not owned by the fire department because there is no room to store this truck, a member purchased it and there is a tremendous amount of pride in this truck.
Originally ordered by Merck & Company which has a nearby plant in Elkton, Virginia, this truck was donated to McGaheysville when the department was just getting started - roughly in 1965. It was the department's second truck (the first being an old tanker).
It is a 1942 Diamond T Model 404 which is in very good shape.
Here is the interesting part.....I was told Diamond T built the entire truck, including the fire truck body. I had never heard of that before and was told that Diamond T built a small number of fire trucks. Any Diamond T experts out there that could confirm this? I looked for a builders plate but could find nothing except the Diamond T plate.
After serving at McGaheysville, it was sold to Hugh Whitlow (I hope I spelled that name correctly) in the early 1980's, who was once the Oren dealer in Virginia. My understanding that due to older age and health, Mr. Whitlow had to sell the truck, and it was offered back to McGaheysville, but there was no room at the station. That is when a member stepped up and purchased the truck.