In Quainton's Small Exhibits Museum there are many fascinating artefacts and we are focussing attention on our archives this August by a special week. One item which deserves a feature in Quainton News is the Bucket Fire Extinguisher, which is kept in the booking office. It is a beautifully restored example of firefighting history.

One of our original LRPS members of 1962, Peter Pugsley, purchased and painstakingly overhauled it and repainted it in its original Livery. It came from the former London and North Western Railway's Parsley Hay station, on the Cromford and High Peak line, closed to passengers on 1st November 1954. Thanks to Peter, it is now back on railway premises and can serve a useful as well as historical role at Quainton. It is known that the firm Messer and Thorpe patented the principle of the bucket fire extinguisher in 1889, but the company were taken over by Shand Mason and Company, the well known fire engineers, who were, in turn, acquired by the equally famous company, Merryweathers. A number of different sizes of extinguisher were marketed and some had double bucket arrangements and a larger cistern. Our example had a capacity of ten full buckets of water and must have been very useful in the days before portable fire extinguishers.

Sadly, Peter Pugsley died as we were going to press.

Notes:
The text in this Quainton Railway Society publication was written in 1986 and so does not reflect events in the 25+ years since publication. The text and photographs are repeated verbatim from the original publication, with only a few minor grammar changes but some clarifying notes are added if deemed necessary. The photos from the original publication are provided as scans in this internet version of this long out of print publication.

Reference:
Fire! The Bucket Fire Extinguisher by Ray Hedley - Quainton News No. 59 - Spring 1986