blog

Open houses are an excuse to play

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:45:58 +0100

There is a large crank on both sides of the truck to raise the water tower, hand powered!

Last month, in preparation for the open house- we pulled the water tower onto the apron in front of the garage doors and set the tower up.... Actually, Trevor and Andrew set the tower up, by hand, with elbow grease. In the old days, the firefighters were real men! Cranking the tower up at the scene of a fire was probably pretty quick, fueled by adrenaline at the curb of a hot building fire- but today, we had time to reflect on the good old days, and how far fire equipment has evolved.

It's always cool to unfurl the 50' flag and suspend it from the snorkel- so we did that, too. The nice weather was teasing us into pulling out all the stops for the March open house.

We'll have another open house this weekend- on the 21st of April from 10-12... See you there!

After the open house, as a little reward, we set out to work the engines a little bit with a drive through Estes Park, our own mini-parade.

A very small, Big new project

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:03:04 +0100

Waiting patiently at the Estes Park fire station for some TLC, Opal had a few flat tires for starters.

'Opal' arrived
at the Museum last week.

This little truck started out in the Nebraska plains, and ended up in the hands of the Estes Park volunteers who used her to appeal to kids and families at public events for several years. After sitting for some time and not being used after a couple of mechanical challenges, the Volunteers donated the truck to the Museum with hopes that she could be revived.

Our goal is to bring life back into this little truck for Museum public events, beginning with the Rooftop Rodeo Parade in July. Keep an eye on the blog for progress, or stop by during our monthly public tour to see how things are progressing.

Doug wheels the little truck to the van for the ride to the Museum.

Not many new arrivals are unloaded by hand. This should make the restoration a little easier! Doug and Mark will work together to bring the life back into Opal.

It's a small world

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:56:53 +0100

The first part of the clipping sent to us that features our '32 LaFrance (on the left)

It used to be a pleasant surprise every time a stranger would walk into the shop, or drop by a car show or fire muster and say: "I remember when I worked on that truck", or "pumped that truck" or "my father/brother/uncle worked at the station that truck was at"..... It happens so much any more that it's not a surprise when you see him coming- with a sparkle in his eye as he fancies the glimmer of the bumper or looks a truck over from front to back and has a story on the tip of his tongue...

That's just what happened last summer when a man came along and confessed that he had pumped our '28 LaFrance at her last major fire back in the 60's... and better yet, he said he knew of film footage of his father training with the very same truck in the 40's ( ! ). Wow !

Of course, Doug took this man for a ride on the truck and listened to the stories he told.

It was another pleasant surprise when the same man mailed an article to us recently with a picture of the truck and a story about it being sold by the department. It was a real bonus when he shared a link to the video of our truck (among others) being used for training by the Lawrence (KS) fire department. (LINK TO VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtunAsWnae4 - see our truck at the 24 minute mark)

So, although it's not as surprising anymore to hear someone that knows a truck personally- it is always a pleasure to actually hear the first hand (or second hand) account of the old days.

Keep those stories coming! We love to hear 'em.

The second part of the clipping (the 3rd section was lost) that describes the trucks being sold, and their last assignments.

Merry Christmas

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 05:04:45 +0100

We love fire engines and red paint, and all the friends we've made along the way.

... but as we slow down for a few days to spend time with family and recognize the meaning of Christmas, we are thankful for all we have.

Merry Christmas to our friends!

Santa and the Fire Truck

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:29:10 +0100

Actually, from our perspective, it's the Fire Truck and Santa- but most people would give Santa more attention than just an old 100' tiller truck from Beverly Hills- you know.

For several years, I have been at the theater welcoming Santa to throngs of little kids for the annual Christmas movie with Santa at Reel Mountain Theater in Estes Park. Since our family sold the theater last year, I finally got to help deliver Santa to the theater. Now I understand why Doug likes this assignment, delivering Santa to the theater. Fire truck owners take note:

If you add one Santa Claus to the top of the fire truck (probably any fire truck will do), you can apparently drive really slow, blow the siren really loud, ring the bell as much as you want and create a parade along whatever route you desire. No kidding! Just make sure Santa waves and smiles to every passing car- I was impressed by how many honks and waves this friendly mini-parade earned just traveling a mile into town on Hwy 34 from Santa's sleigh parking spot.

Driving Westbound on Highway 34 as we begin the descent into Estes Park. You can't hear the bell and siren, but rest assured that they're both clearing a path for Santa.

While the little kids stood in line for Santa, these smart Cub Scouts took a few minutes to become familiar with the controls for the 12 cylinder workhorse under the hood of the Beverly Hills tiller.

I enjoyed my view from the tiller seat, and was able to get a couple of pictures in while we were on the straight-away, just before we arrived to over a hundred kids and their parents in line to visit with Santa before seeing a movie.

That wasn't enough for Doug, who after chatting with the families at the theater, in his warm turnout coat with his sparkling Diet Coke from the theater soda fountain- suggested that we take the truck around the Lake to 'work the engine a little bit'.

Raised to about 3/4 height and a 60 degree angle between tractor and trailer, the truck is ready to work. We always enjoy operating the trucks when the conditions are right. Today's conditions: sunny, no wind, open parking all over town.

I was game (remember the tillerman makes very few decisions about where to go) and followed Doug's lead obediently. After a few miles of subzero wind chill, we stopped at the fairgrounds to raise the ladder and take full advantage of the beautiful sunny day- without even a breeze (when parked).

It was a good day for the museum: Santa, raising the tiller and a free bag of popcorn!

Public Tours to resume in February 2012

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:17:12 +0100

Saturday was fun for us! Although we dropped attendance from last months 100 visitors, we enjoyed having time to talk with everyone that braved the snowy roads to peek inside the Museum during our November public tour.

We'll get back to our regular tour schedule in February on the third Saturday, and probably expand those hours for the summer.

In the meantime, we'll be at the museum watching old Emergency re-runs on VHS...

Ha! We're working full steam ahead with restorations and plans to make 2012 a turning point for the Museum as we increase our public outreach even further. Watch for news and a series on restoring 'Opal', a special truck that was just donated to the Museum, that's like nothing we've ever taken on- it's a surprise we'll reveal in the new year.

As always, we welcome private requests for tours as our schedule permits for groups or individuals- just contact us to set that up. (Contact page tab above)

Happy Thanksgiving from everyone at Reliance.

Sacramento tiller aerial arrives

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:23:56 +0100

Last week Doug picked up this 1911 tiller aerial from the Sacramento Fire Dept on the semi trailer (which is how most trucks get here). The tiller has a colorful history in California, including being hit by two streetcars at the same time (the frame damage is still visible in the trailer).

We will be rebuilding this truck for SFD, and expect that the project will take about two years.

The 1914 Ahrens Fox tractor was repainted without the trailer and displayed at Harrah's in Las Vegas, and has been stored inside since then. Unfortunately, the trailer has been outside and will require a lot of creative engineering to get it back to factory fresh.

We will document the progress here as it moves along toward it's 'redelivery' date. Stay tuned...

Get the latest scoop on the Museum

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 00:33:35 +0100

Although we're not big talkers, we enjoy sharing the news from the museum in Estes Park. To make that easier, we're going to post the latest happenings here on the blog- which you can subscribe to (see the RSS link on the right side of this page).

By subscribing, you'll hear about events, new additions, complete projects and other pertinent stuff from our little part of the world without having the check in with the website every day. You won't want to miss some of the great stuff coming up including a restoration article series from Doug.

We'll still keep the calendar page up to date for a quick glance of what's coming up for the Museum, but here you'll get a little dose of editorial commentary with the news, too.