I’m interested in the new Walthers fire station (933-4022).
It looks like this:
I’m thinking of replacing my old Magnuson Victoria Falls fire station with the new Walthers fire station. My Busch ladder truck doesn’t fit in the Magnuson fire station. It sort of fits, but I can’t use the doors as the front just peeks out a little too much.
Here’s the Magnuson fire station on my layout, note how the fire trucks stick out a bit:
The new Walthers station is a little longer and I’m wondering if the Busch Lafrance ladder truck will fit inside with the door closed.
Anyone know if the Busch ladder truck fits? And if anyone has built this new fire station kit, I’d like to see photos of it.
There’s no way the walls are thicker than a quarter of an inch. That would be some pretty beefy construction. So its reasonable to assume that the internal length of the new building is at least 7 1/2". Given that that is longer than the total length of the Victoria Falls structure before accounting for the thickness of its walls, I’d think that they’d fit provided the firetrucks are less than 7 1/2" long.
I agree yours has that “ready to go” look. As equipment has gotten larger, older stations barely can hold the trucks. When they back into our local station, the rear bumper is at the wall and you knock the flies off the bumper when the door comes down. In a manned department, if any maintenance or training going on, it would push the trucks noses out the door to the “ready” position. Since it can’t be seen that there is just no more room behind the trucks, it isn’t an unusual position to find trucks in.
Used to have some beautiful trucks for my O guage Plasticville fire station. Lost them in a house fire. The ladder truck took up all the available space. Will have to look at the Busch trucks, as yours look better than the HO ones I have now.
The Magnuson (Victoria Falls) fire station is 7" long, the ladder truck is just a little longer. The fire station kit is still being manufactured by SS Ltd.
The Busch fire trucks I have haven’t been made in many years. Open cab and red paint, ladder and pumper. They are La France 900 series models. With the earliest 900 models dating to 1958, they just fit into my late 1950s era layout.
You can occasionally find the trucks I have on eBay, but not that often. Below is a ladder truck currently listed on eBay, I could not find the matching pumper.
Ive got the prebuilt version, just stuck my tape measurer into it, and its approx. 7 3/4 in. from the back wall to the back of the front doors. Like the previous poster stated, 7.5 in is about max. ,maybe mm or two more thats it. I really like my Walthers Firehouse, Woodland Scenics victorian firehouse is very nice also. My layout era is the late 50’s also. One of those Busch ladder trucks would look good next to my Athearn Mack or Ford pumper. Can you tell me how long the ladder truck is?
I really like the look you have with the fronts just sticking out. Really brings attention to the trucks. Inside you would lose all that “pop” of the red fire truck.
You can always add an extension on the back of the station like they do in real stations when trucks started to outgrow the buildings.I worked at a firehouse that was built around 1900 and had two extension added the first when they got a 65 ft front mount then another extension added when they got a ALF 85 footer.It was a tight fit but it worked.Maybe it was just our Chief but it was a no no if the trucks were left under the door.All the way in or all the way out.Different know tho ,if the doors meet any resistance they automatically go back up .
I’m at my folks house out in Colorado for two weeks, but when I get back to my layout in Southern California I’ll measure the ladder truck for you. I’ll post the info here when I can. Hope the wait isn’t too much of a problem. Maybe someone might respond quicker if they have a ladder truck as there are multiple versions out there, green, yellow, white, Chicago, Niagra Falls, etc…
I appreciate the comments on my fire house. I also kind of like the way the trucks look poking out. So I’ll probably keep things the way they are.
Matt - The new station is described as 8" deep (presumed to be outside dimension). My Busch closed cab tiller job is crowding 7" long. You should have maybe 3/4" clearance inside which would be a scale 5’6". should be ample unless you’ve got fat firefighters. As someone said, extensions off the back of the station are not unusual. Can look like a storage shed for excess equipment, like the lawnmower. Leaving the front bumper outside is ok if you’re not modeling Deluth MN. Gets chilly up there . . . Paul D
