AEC Mercury TL St Helens CB Fire Service

AEC Mercury TL St Helens CB Fire Service

The AEC Mercury Turntable Ladder dates from the 1950s and 1960s. Nearly 200 were built from its launch in 1957 to the end of production in the late 1960s, with over half being supplied with Merryweather 100ft ladders.

Here we see the fire appliance as used by St Helens CB Fire Service in Lancashire. The colour scheme is an interesting departure from the usual bright red fire vehicles, predominantly silver and white with red masking applied as a band round the cab and the ladder mechanism. Registered KDJ 404, the vehicle features the St Helens CB Fire Service lettering along the side of the folded down ladder while the Merryweather badge is reproduced on the cab bonnet with the name repeated on the rear above the number plate. A final touch sees the highly colourful crest printed on the cab doors in gold, blue, black and red, rounding off an appealing model for any collection of fire vehicles.