F903 USX - Renault Commando
F903 USX was one of 5 Water Tender Ladder / Emergency Tenders supplied to Lothian & Borders Fire Brigade early in 1989. This vehicle was built by Renault (formerly Dodge) in their Dunstable factory and is based upon their Commando 2 G13 Chassis. The bodywork was built by Excalibur CBK. This was the third batch of the Wrl/ET configuration which combined the traditional ‘water tender’ fire fighting capability with the ‘emergency tender’ capability with rescue and cutting equipment to cope with Road Traffic Collisions.
This vehicle was allocated to Livingston Fire Station where it remained for 3 years before being moved to Whitburn. In 1998 the vehicle went to the Scottish borders firstly being based in Newcastleton and then 3 years later moving to the nearby Hawick station. From then on the vehicle entered the reserve fleet and was eventually removed from service in 2005.
The Dodge ‘K’ series and ‘G’ series were extremely popular with UK Brigades throughout the 70’s and 80’s, however 1989 was to be the last year the G series were produced. The factory eventually closed in 1993.The vehicle is fitted with the distinctive sounding Perkins V8.540 engine. Since 2006 the vehicle has been taken into preservation by a group member and continues to be preserved/restored.
