91Èȱ¬

Wales History visited the in September 2010. Based in Skewen, near Neath, this small museum, run by an enthusiastic group of volunteers had some exciting plans for expansion. Read the blog article.

One of the fire engines in the museum caught our eye, and it turned out to have quite a remarkable story. Today, on the 44th anniversary of the , it seems appropriate to tell the story of this Merryweather fire engine.

Nearly five years ago the museum had been contact by a man in New Ross in Ireland who wondered if the Welsh Area Fire Engine Restoration Society (WAFERS) could give him some information on a rusting, dilapidated fire engine that he had bought. It was just minutes from being broken up when the man bought bought the vehicle.

The Merryweather fire engine was rescued from an Irish scrap yard moment before it was to be cut up

The fire engine turned out to be an important find for Wales. Malcolm Evans, secretary of WAFERS, explains why a Welsh fire engine ended up in an Irish scrap yard:

"A lot of these fire engines are bought after their days in the service for pumping water, and this one was on a quay in one of the docks in New Ross where it was actually used for pumping water into the ships. And then it sent to the scrap yard."

It didn't take the WAFERS volunteers long to realise the engine had been one of the emergency vehicles sent to attend the Aberfan tragedy. The engine, a Merryweather Regent 3 (Park Royal) model had been based in Aberdare and the five-man crew that had raced to the village was one of the first vehicles to attend the scene.

A couple of volunteers from WAFERS went out to Ireland to take the fire engine back to Wales. It was in a terrible condition and even just getting the engine out of the scrap yard was problematic.

Malcolm Evans recalls: "It was just in among trees and bushes and overgrown thorns of blackberries and trying to get in and have a look at it.

"Because the wheels were locked they had to force and pull it out as best they could from the bushes. I think it took them about four or five hours. When it arrived back we looked at it and naturally we could see the terrible state it was in, not knowing that it would then take us four years to rebuild it."

Restoring the fire engine took nearly five years

The restoration of the fire engine required enormous amount of work. All the electrics required replacing. The hard wood had rotted and the metal was rusted. View a slideshow of the restoration of the Aberdare fire engine.

Ray Evans, Chairman of WAFERS, was a fireman for 27 years in Port Talbot and Neath. Evans was also one of the many fireman who formed part of the rescue effort during the Aberfan tragedy.

"You get sort of feeling for different machines and because it did attend that incident you know you do have a special feeling for it. I suppose the boys who actually worked on that machine would be surprised to see it now in the condition that it is in."

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