A Leyland Cub fire engine, ex Thornaby Fire Brigade used at Head Wrightson. 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
A Leyland Cub fire engine, ex Thornaby Fire Brigade used at Head Wrightson.
The above engine is no at the Shildon Lorry Museum, County Durham. It costs £2 entry and is well worth a visit.
Head wrightson Leyland cub fire engine is supposed to be in a warehouse at Billingham, with the other two fire engines that Preston Park Museum look after.
In 1953 three or four of us in the Apprentice Training school at Head Wrightson were assigned to polish the the brass fittings used for fire fighting in a small place opposite the main offices. I don”t recall seeing a fire engine because the place only held hoses and fittings; lots of fittings and lots of brass. My ageing memory is not to be relied upon but I think I would have remembered seeing an engine as the fittings would have needed to be cleaned and polished by us had it been there.
I am a firefighter in Pickens County, South Carolina U.S.A. I recently gave a die-cast model of a 1939 FK9 Leyland Cub to a fellow firefighters newborn son to hopefully start him on the right road. Any history/photos of this apparatus to share with them would be greatly appreciated. Steve@Tosheff.com
I worked in the Joiners Shop at Head Wrightsons Thornaby. Immediately behind the shop was the Riggers Cabin. One day the Riggers Cabin caught fire. We immediately phoned Harry Soppitt the Chief Fire Officer. He asked how serious it was and the Machinist in our workshop replied, “It”s alright Harry, we”ll keep it going, we”ll pour some Naptha on it.” Harry replied, “Don”t do that.” It didn”t take long to get the Firemen there but I can never remember the Fire Engine attending. It was always kept in mothballs. The Firemen did their training by unrolling the firehoses and rolling them back up again. The Fire Engine was taken out of the Garage and checked over but I never saw it in use. The Firemen were all workmen at Heads and were volunteers.
The Leyland Fire Engine from Redcar was in a museum called Autoron,Drunen in the Netherlands. I have a photo of it in the museum taken in 1985/6. The museum has now moved to a place called Rosmalen in the Netherlands and I am not sure if the fire engine is still there.
This Leyland Cub, wheeled escape, ( you can tell this by the curvature of the rear part of the bodywork)still exists. it was last heard of as being in storage at preston park, awaiting restoration.i think it was new in 1937. there are two very similar ones from the Newcastle and Gateshead joint Fire Brigade active in preservation, whilst there is another from Redcar in a museum abroad, thought to be Switzerland.The two Newcastle ones can sometimes be seen at the Preston Park fire engine rally in july.
Does anyone know the year of the truck as my ggrandfather was fireman at Head Wrightson in the early 1900s