1926 Maxim City Service Ladder Truck
1926-41
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Noted author of books on fire apparatus, Matt Lee, sent this excellent factory photo of
Hamden's 1926 Maxim city service ladder truck, taken prior to its March 1926 delivery.
Note the "Highwood" lettering on the front bumper.
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| Photo courtesy of Walt McCall and Matt Lee - CLICK to enlarge |
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The open air apparatus of the mid-1920s and before often had no windshield. At some point a windshield was installed on the ladder truck. Also, department records indicate that a pump was added to the truck on December 27, 1934. The intake and discharge ports, located below and to the rear of the driver's seat, are visible in the photos below, right after the truck was uprighted following the accident in March 1941.
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| H&L Co. 1 (Highwood) - 1926 Maxim City Service Ladder Truck (Photo by G. Donald Steele) |
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Hamden's first motorized ladder truck was delivered in March 1926. It cost approximately $8,000. (It was delivered with a new Maxim 500 GPM pumper. Together they cost $12,500.)
On March 19, 1941 at 4:30 p.m., Engine 4, Engine 5, the Squad and the Hook & Ladder were dispatched to the Peters residence at 2316 Dixwell Avenue for a reported oil burner fire. At 4:31 p.m., the ladder truck was struck by a Connecticut Company trolley car at the corner of Dixwell and Mather. Firefighter David F. Howe was driving. There were no other riders. Miraculously, Howe was uninjured.
The truck was deemed unsalvageable and was traded in for a brand new 1941 Diamond-T city service ladder truck from the Woods Engineering Co. in Topsfield, Massachuetts. The new truck was delivered in February of the following year.
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Originally posted March 19, 2011
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| CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
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Of course there could have been some undercarriage damage that made a proper repair of the truck impossible, but that seems unlikely from what can be seen in these photos.
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According to department records the old truck was "traded in" to Wood Engineering Services in Topsfield, Massachuetts toward the purchased of a 1941 ladder truck that was delivered in early 1942. This suggests that the Maxim was probably not junked. Instead, it may have been refurbished by Wood Engineering or some other auto repair facility capable of such a repair. Compared to some of the damaged yet salvaged trucks pictured below, this looks like a fender bender.
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Even though this truck has sustained obvious damage, one wonders if it was actually "junked." There are photos of fire apparatus with far greater damage that were factory repaired to new condition. For Hamden, it was probably more feasible to simply purchase a new truck, which it did. But it seems quite possible that Maxim could have repaired this truck and, for a profit, made it available to another, perhaps smaller department in need of a ladder truck. Might be worth investigating. Wouldn't it be a hoot if this truck actually survived?
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Maxim rebuilt the front end of Hamden's 1973 1000 GPM foam truck following an August 1976 collision with a telephone pole that occurred as Hurricane Belle was bearing down on Hamden. Lt. John Tramontano in the officer's seat and Ff. Ralph Dievert right behind in the jumpseat both sustained injuries.
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The photo of the damaged truck at left was taken by Ff. Doug Yocher at Station 3 where the truck was stored before it was sent out for repair. The photo at right with Ff. Art Heriot was taken the year after the repair was completed. Nice job!
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| CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
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Both of these ancient Seagrave pieces were successfully factory rebuit to like-new condition. If these could be salvaged, why not Hamden's 1926 Maxim ladder truck? Food for thought. (These photos are from Matthew Lee's, A Pictorial History of Seagrave Fire Apparatus (Copyright 1991 Matthew Lee).
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