by ex-tc driver
I saw a picture of an Altoona Works fire engine would like to have more info plus pictures
Railroad Forums
I'll guess that PRR had a fire department. The much smaller Boston & Maine had one for years at its Billerica, Mass. ShopsTechnically the "railroad" (which owned and operated the shops) did have a fire "department" (which was more really some fire-fighting equipment and employees trained to operate same). However, to be more correct, the locomotive shops had the fire "department" (since the "department" did not operate system-wide).
Today it probably would be very difficult for a private industry to maintain a legitimate fire department.Today it would be much more expensive for a private industry. but not more difficult. Training and equipment costs money, money that could be used elsewhere in the industry.
Statkowski wrote: Don't forget, when such things were started and used many years ago, the roadways weren't always available to support a rapid response from outside and the fire threat was more real.That's not exactly true. The threat from fire is always real, and true. Like a wild animal, fire consumes food to grow bigger and can spawn more of itself. No, the threat from fire is very real.
Statkowski wrote: Water cannons on tugboats shoot a lot of water.Fire hoses, and even most turrets, use nozzles that aerate the water when opened; kind of like a kitchen faucet. Tugboats commonly used smooth bore cannons with no resistance and are known as deluge guns. These cannons are mostly found for mariner and urban/industrial situations when you need to apply tremendous amounts of water in a short time and not worry about damage caused by the water stream. I've seen these guns take down brick walls. As a an example, if you take a 1 1/2" hose nozzle at 150 PSI and hit someone with it, you knock them on their rear-ends. If you did the same with a smooth bore - you will most likely seriously cripple someone.