This from Wayne Stuart for #TBT:
The Gary Fire Department operated this 1961 Seagrave KB model pumper. It carried Seagrave Serial #M-6595, had a 1000-GPM pump and a 500-gallon tank. It was purchased from the Valparaiso Indiana Fire Department in 1982 and ran as Engine Company 12 and as Engine Company 2.
wayne stuart photos
wayne stuart photo
Wayne Stuart photo
#1 by Joe Smith on August 10, 2018 - 6:02 PM
Milwaukee had a very diverse apparatus fleet during this period, lots of onesies and twosies, though they did have a distinct preference for Mack and Pirsch up until the E-One era. You could often identify a company’s rig from several blocks away, now everything is Pierce and you just about have to look at the number on the side.
#2 by CrabbyMilton on August 10, 2018 - 11:44 AM
A side note about Milwaukee’s only SEAGRAVE pumper.
It was rather unusual that this 1964 rig had a GMC V12 engine rather than SEAGRAVE’s own V12 or the various WAUKESHA engines that were also offered. I have a book about SEAGRAVE by Matt Lee that chronicles this in that it may have been the only OEM example of that. I’m sure MFD had their reasons. Perhaps there were GMC trucks in the DPW fleet so they wanted common parts across the board.
Plus a GMC truck dealer was right across the street of the MFD shops at one time.
Or else they just wanted to be different.
#3 by G.F.D. #643 Class of 5-85 on August 10, 2018 - 5:57 AM
Have to agree with CrabbyMilton nothing like a Seagrave this rig was still on the job in 1987 serving as a shop spare. Manual Transmission and Steering on this rig was actually easier to drive than some of Mack “C” series that were still on the job.
#4 by CrabbyMilton on August 9, 2018 - 12:32 PM
Nothing like a SEAGRAVE K series.
Milwaukee had just one pumper very similar that was built in 1964. That rig got yours truly interested in fire apparatus in the 1970’s as a youngster.
The Milwaukee SEAGRAVE served into 1989 after which it’s not known where it ended up or may have been eventually scrapped.