Factory Photo - New Britain's 1946 Maxim
Twenty-nine years later, four Hamden firefighters bought it.
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| Photo courtesy of Chan Brainard |
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This was one of those "it seemed like a good idea at the time" projects. In July 1975, four members of Co. 5, two of them paid men, invested $150 each to purchase this 1946 Maxim 750 GPM pumper from the chief of the Wethersfield Fire Department, who had purchased it earlier from the New Britain Fire Department, where it had served as Engine 7.
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| Parked on Martin Terrace, near the corner of Treadwell Street |
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This pumper, one of the last Maxims built on the chassis style that was introduced in 1931, was intended to be a "parade piece" for the company. One of the pumper's co-owners actually drove this beast to work at Station 2 for one night shift after picking up a fellow career firefighter at his Willowcrest Drive home.
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| August 10, 1975 - Unloading newspapers from the '46 Maxim at rear of 5's |
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Except for one Saturday that summer, when it was used for smokehouse training at the Wolcott Fire School, the '46 Maxim was only driven for Co. 5 paper drives, when it consumed more money in gasoline than what it collected in old newspapers.
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The boys' 1946 Maxim does have one dubious distinction in the annals of Station 5. A couple of weeks after the new concrete floor was poured, the 1946 Maxim was first piece of fire apparatus to be parked inside the newly constructed annex at Station 5. Too bad no photos were taken of that remarkable event.
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Winter 1975-76 was an especially cold one as the '46 Maxim pumper sat parked in the rear lot behind Station 5. When the boys went to start 'er up that spring, they discovered that the engine block had cracked. No anti-freeze! The ancient pumper was towed to the Cheshire home of one of the other co-owners, never again to be seen in Hamden. Its fate is unknown.
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