1935 Ahrens-Fox
Model VR #7042

Hose 2
Louisville, KY

Text by Ed Hass and Charlie Hatfiled
Photos by Charlie Hatfield

This interesting piece of fire apparatus was an Ahrens-Fox 500-gallon-per-minute, midship-mount triple combination Model V rotary pumper, hose wagon, and booster tank. It sported Ahrens-Fox Registered (serial) Number 7042. On Septmeber 25, 1935, it was shipped to Louisville, KY, from the Ahrens-Fox factory in Cincinnati, OH, where it was made.

Despite being a fairly standard design that had been in production for 5 years, this fire engine did have a few unique features, including streamlined fenders, single instead of dual rear wheels, hard-suction hose squirrel-tailed across the front, and a deluge monitor mounted above the hose body. Also, although it had a pump, it ran primarily as a hose wagon, assigned as Hose 2. Judging by the press clippings below, it seems to have run frequently as a hose tender for Louisville's 1892 Hale water tower, and was frequently in the thick of the action at stubborn downtown industrail and office structure fires.

The chassis of this apparatus was made for Ahrens-Fox by the LeBlond-Schacht Truck Company, a small truck manufacturer which, like Ahrens-Fox, was located in Cincinnati, Ohio. The pump was Ahrens-Fox's own rotary gear design.

The motor was a Hercules Model RXC, made in Canton, Ohio; the Hercules motor number was 122072. It had a 4-5/8" bore x 5-1/4" stroke. 529 cubic inch displacement, for a brake horsepower of 131.

The above two aerial views appear to be from the same photo at the same fire. Date is unknown, but was early in this hose wagon's career, before subtle modifcations were made.

In the above photo, and all photos that follow, the Fox's wheel rims had been repainted silver, new sealed-beam headlights were installed, and the location of the extension ladder changed from the right side, to join the roof ladder on the left side. It is unknown whether this was a new extension ladder, or if the ladder had been repainted a lighter color (including painting over the black ends).

The above photo shows one of the latest big fires that Hose 2 fought, in the Dixie Cartage warehouse at 10th & Main on March 31, 1956. Note that once again, the originally horse-drawn 1892 Hale water tower is in the thick of the firefight, assisted by the little but powerful Ahrens-Fox hose wagon.

The water tower, the only one ever used in the Louisville Fire Department, was an 1892 Hale 55-foot, originally horse-drawn. It had originally been built for the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), but for whatever reason, was not accepted, even though FDNY did accept new Hale water towers in 1892, 1895, and 1898. Louisville then acquired its one and only water tower at a discounted price. Interestingly enough, this tower retains the "New York white" mast (in those days, all FDNY fire apparatus was painted white and maroon) and its FDNY-style deluge monitor to this day. From 1914 to 1919, the tower was hauled to fires by an aptly-named One Wheel Auto Horse tractor, which replaced the fire horses. Having but one wheel, that tractor was allegedly very maneuverable, but it was likely extremely underpowered for hauling the massive and heavy water tower.

By the time the new Ahrens-Fox hose wagon teamed up with the tower in 1935, the tower was attached to a 4-wheel Mack AC Buulldog tractor on solid rubber tires, which had been installed new in 1919. The 1919 Mack Bulldog tractor was replaced in 1944 with a new enclosed-cab Chevrolet tractor, which is still attached to the water tower. In 1958, the Fox hose wagon was replaced with a new International Harvester (IH) hose wagon and deluge (possibly fitted with the deluge monitor that had been on the Fox). The 1892 Hale water tower was finally retired in 1966, after 74 years of continuous service with the Louisville Fire Department. Today, the water tower serves a place of honor on display in the Louisville Fire Museum.

The above photo has the Fox once more in the thick of the action, at a block of retail stores, including an electric-supply shop, a bail-bond office, a restaurant, and a hotel. Here the Fox is flanked by two other fire engines that would today be highly collectible: a 600-series American-LaFrance pumper of about 1945 vintage (at left), and a 700-series American-LaFrance straight-frame aerial of about 1949 vintage.


Louisville sold this unique fire engine to a junkyard in 1958, when a new IH hose wagon took its place, and this Fox was long presumed scrapped. But it resurfaced again late in 2003, still in its factory original paint and gold-leaf, and still fully equipped except for its top-mounted deluge monitor and its two-section extension ladder. Below, it emerges from its barn after a long sleep of 45 years, to be hauled home to its new owner, Leonard Krebs of Louisville.


Charlie Hatfield, a friend of #7042's new owner Leonard Krebs, carefully documented the factory-original appearance of Hose 2 in a series of photos, before starting its frame-up restoration.

On November 25, 2003, Charlie Hatfield contacted us at the Ahrens-Fox Fire Buffs' Association (AFFBA): "Hello, my name is Charlie Hatfield from Louisville, Ky. A friend of mine, Leonard Krebs has bought a 1935 Ahrens-Fox Model V serial number 7042. It had been owned by the same man that bought it from a salvage yard in 1958. It is a City of Louisville unit. Unfortunately the man stored it in a leaking building for more than 30 years, so it is a little rough shape. However we are taking it apart and are going to restore it completely. We would like to have any information that you might have on this particular unit. (orginal picture, wiring diagram, pump breakdown, or anything else useful in rebuilding the unit). I am sending a few pictures." (Actually, all of the photos on this web page are from Charlie Hatfield).

Three days later, Hatfield sent a follow-up message: "The engine is locked so we are going to pickup a WXC Army surplus rebuilt engine tomorrow in Ohio. Since I sent you the first set of pictures, we have taken all the body off the frame. Yes we have shot many pictures (digital cameras are great!) and will be working on it almost daily. We are wanting to have it running by summer. All bad sheet metal will be replaced and it will be totally redone. We have both restored old trucks and each own too many! I am president of Derby City Chapter of American Truck Historical Society and will be forming a SPAAMFAA Chapter also.I will be sending more pictures."

On March 24, 2004, Charlie Hatfield sent this update: "Do you have any breakdown of the pump that was used on this vehicle. We have painted the frame and installed newer engine. I am not familiar with it and not sure how it operates or is taken apart. Also we are trying to find correct water cannon for it. Do you have any other info or pictures of this unit? This one will rise from the rust!"


Restoration is underway! First the pump came out of the chassis for complete overhaul and rebuild.


The frame was repainted a lighter and brighter shade of red than had been on this rig since new. The replacement Hercules WXC motor obtained in 2003 was green, and Hatfield and Krebs choice to repaint the motor in that color, rather than the original gray engine color that Hose 2's original Hercules RXC motor had been painted back in 1935.

Update from Charlie Hatfield, April 1, 2004: "We think the water cannon was a type of unit developed by the fire chief in Indy. That is what John Gambs thought it was. We almost have the engine temporarily plumbed, using the original brass pipes. We have strived to use as many of the original parts as possible. The radiator and bumper will be rechromed.It is amazing what a little cleaning and painting will do to old stuff. I have started a local SPAAMFAA chapter also and hope to have a good group!"

Ed Hass comment on the missing water cannon from #7042, 4-15-2004: If this was an Indianapolis-style water cannon, as John Gambs suggested, as I recall, Jim Dougherty of Indianpolis had two or three of these from an old Stutz that Indianapolis converted to a deluge wagon, and which Dougherty converted back to a pumper about 1968. Dougherty still had these deluge guns in the 1980s. A little research should turn up what became of these (much of what Dougherty had went to Mike Adams in Burt, MI, so that might be an excellent place to start the search). Also, from 1958 to 1966, Lousiville's 1892 Hale water tower served with a 1958 IH hose wagon, whose deluge monitor may well have come from the 1935 Fox. Fire departments rarely tossed out old, heavy, expensive brass (for example, San Jose, CA still uses a deluge monitor from a horse-drawn 1903 hose wagon, which has been carried on 6 or 7 successively newer hose wagons over the years). So perhaps the 1935 Fox's monitor still survives on an in-service rig, or in the Louisville Fire Department repair shop, to this day.