Carryfast:
To the point of what looks like an original carbon tet fire extinguisher in the FXT 183 example ?.That must have been a nightmare to find with them being taken out of service long ago on grounds of its toxicity.
Yes these old brass fire extinguishers are very much sought after, there are a reasonable number of preserved vehicles with them. I am pretty sure none of them are in working condition, with vehicles carrying modern extiguishers, but since they were fitted right up until the end of RM production owners of preserved examples like to have one in its place in the cab. A lot of these sort of rare detail features change hands on ebay for significant amounts of money.
One of the vehicles taking part yesterday is just a run of the mill member of the fleet, however RT624 was the very last RT to run into Barking garage when the type was withdrawn from service in 1979
All of the vehicles taking part yesterday, some of which are guest vehicles, would have been running on an operator’s licence, would have been : Class VI tested, have a valid COIF, submitted for a PMI by Ensign’s workshop beforehand and would have carried a first aid kit and fire extiguisher in date and clearly marked BS EN 3.
Although it hasn’t been updated recently, the Ensign vintage blog is worth a read to see the ongoing saga of various restorations and the amount of work required to keep what is a working private hire fleet up to scratch. It also makes clear that although the majority of the fleet is ex LT there is a significant number of vehicles from other operators either completed or under restoration. Vehicles have been repatriated from the USA, Canada and Australia.