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| 2024 Call Volume Stats |
| Fire | EMS |
| Jan | 89 | |
| Feb | 48 | |
| Mar | 65 | |
| Apr | | |
| May | | |
| Jun | | |
| Jul | | |
| Aug | | |
| Sep | | |
| Oct | | |
| Nov | | |
| Dec | | |
| Total | 202 | 0 |
| Past Call Volume Stats |
| Fire | EMS |
| 2023 | 878 | 2510 |
| 2022 | 811 | 2699 |
| 2021 | 716 | 2484 |
| 2020 | 768 | 2058 |
| 2019 | 809 | 2368 |
| 2018 | 864 | 2376 |
| 2017 | 722 | 2219 |
| 2016 | 780 | 2424 |
| 2015 | 774 | 2351 |
| 2014 | 848 | 2287 |
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| 1954 Mack B75 Restoration |
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| Key Milestones |
| Quoted: July 20, 1954 |
| Ordered: September 1954 |
| Mack Specifications completed: September 27, 1954 |
| Hale Pump Cast: September 30 1954 |
| Truck Built: November 1954 |
| Truck and Pump Tested: December 15, 1954 |
| Delivery Accepted by Radnor Fire Company: December 27, 1954 |
| Sold to Rockingham Volunteer Fire Department: April 23, 1973 |
| Repurchased: July 20, 2002 |
| Returned to Radnor Fire Company: July 20 - 23:59 Hours |
| Restoration Started: November 15 2002 |
| Restoration Substantially completed: May 15, 2004 |
| Engine Rebuilt: January – April 2006 |
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| History |
| Our 1954 B75 Mack is one of only 54 Model B75 Mack Fire Trucks ever built. It was the 10th B75 built by the Mack Truck Plant in Allentown, Pennsylvania at Mack Plant 5A. The 1954 Mack B75 F Thermodyne is known as a semi open cab and this truck was named Wayne 2. It is equipped with a 464 cubic inch 6-cylinder engine, and 5-speed transmission, 750-gallon pump with 400-gallon booster tank. This truck was one of the first B model Mack fire trucks and one of the first equipped with the Federal Q siren, and Rota-ray emergency light. The truck was originally ordered with a high-speed rear, which was deemed too fast by Les Wilkins and Eddie Clark, so the rear end was changed for less speed and safety. This truck is well known for it’s loud engine due to the straight pipe exhaust twin booster reels, carried 1200 feet of 2 ½” hose, 2 1½” lines from the rear from one 1½” inch preconnect. This truck replaced our 1940 Chevrolet field truck. Radnor’s 1954 Mack at the factory – December 1954 |
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Therefore, it was natural that Radnor would want to order another Mack, when it came time to replace the 1940 Chevrolet and 1937 Autocar Quad.
Radnor ordered a new L95 Ladder truck and B75 Pumper in the summer of 1954 and both were delivered in December 1954. Radnor’s B75 Mack “Wayne 2” was placed in service as the first out pumper at Radnor Fire Company on December 27 1954. Wayne 2 was ordered with the smaller 464 engine as it was used as the first out truck and driven by many of the schoolboy firefighters serving during the Korean War. This truck was favorite of many of the engineers and had a reputation of pumping much more than the rated 750-gallon per minute capacity.
The truck served at many significant fires such as the Wayne Iron Works fire of 1956, The Autocar fire of 1956, The St. Mary’s Church Fire in 1969, and went to mutual aid of the flood victims of Agnes Hurricane in Johnston Pennsylvania in 1972 |
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| Wayne 2 Circa 1970 |
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| Selling the Mack |
By 1973, Wayne 2 was the last of the open cab trucks at Radnor Fire Company and Radnor already had three cab forward Hahn Fire trucks. A 1966 Hahn Pumper, a 1969 Hahn Pumper and a 1970 Hahn Ladder truck. The days for open cab trucks were numbered and coming to an end at Radnor.
Radnor had ordered its first new diesel pumper, a 1973 Imperial to replace the 1954 B75, which was sold to the highest bidder on April 16 1973. Wayne 2 with 32090 Miles and many fires under her belt was driven to Rockingham Volunteer Fire Department on April 23, 1973.
Rockingham Volunteer Fire Department put the Mack to work on the first day of service - it was put into action at a creamery fire in Bellows Falls Vermont and pumped for over 7 hours. Rockingham repainted the Mack their official department color-bright yellow and was painted with a donation from a local contributor in Vermont. Only the exterior body was painted. The frame and interior were left red. Wayne 2 became Rockingham Volunteer Fire Department’s truck 2 and was the first out pumper as well as their pride and joy. Rockingham runs about 60 calls per year so the B75 saw limited action over the next 29 years. |
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| Wayne 2 at the time of Sale to Rockingham Fire Department |
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| Interest in Finding the Mack |
In 1997, Radnor completed construction of a new fire station, with space for an extra pumper. During the parade to celebrate, the construction of a new firehouse the Malvern Fire Company loaned their B75 for use in the parade. It was driven by many members of Radnor Fire Company including some the engineers and honorary members that had driven Radnor’s B75.
Many of the members had an interest in finding out what had happened to Radnor’s old truck. Several of the members remembered having sold the truck to the town of Rockingham, Vermont. After many calls, finally reaching the wife of the Chief of Rockingham Volunteer Fire Company, it was determined that the B75 was still in first line service in 1997 almost 24 years after leaving Radnor.
A trip was arranged to visit the Mack. While the truck was still in service, Rockingham was not interested in selling the truck, just yet. After checking back each year - 1998, 1999 and 2000 it was learned, Rockingham had finally purchased a new tanker/pumper, which put the 1954 Mack in reserve pump status.
Calls again were made in 2001 with no luck but finally in 2002 Rockingham purchased another pumper tanker, which was able to replace the Mack and then the Rockingham Volunteer Fire Company, was ready to sell. This allowed the Radnor Fire Company to repurchase the vehicle. |
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| The Mack at Rockingham Fire Department in January 2000 |
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| The Mack on the way back July 20th 2002 |
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| The Repurchase of the Mack |
After working to overcome various issues including the cost of purchase, the cost of the restoration, identifying the committee that would help restore the truck, the storage site and maintenance costs, the Radnor Fire Company Board of Directors approved the repurchase of the Mack on Wednesday July 17 2002. A small group consisting of Rick Taddeo, Harold Ledgerton, John Statts and Alex Henderson, drove to Vermont on July 19 and picked up the Mack from Rockingham Chief Dennis at 7am on July 20.
The Mack was to be checked and serviced for the trip by a mechanic prior to pickup by the Radnor Fire Company team, however when the team arrived it was obvious that this was not the case. Because the Mack was in reserve status for several years it had not been driven at highway speeds and it was not running well when it was picked up. A decision was made to continue with the original plan to drive the Mack back to Wayne. Rick Taddeo was the senior member and had driven the truck when new, so he was elected to drive the first leg of the trip.
When the Mack left the Rockingham Fire Company grounds, we found that the brakes were fair but a more serious problem arose, the truck would not remain in gear, it would slip into neutral and not allow the rear wheels to engage. Luckily, the team was able to jam a 2-1/2” wye under the seat to hold the truck in road gear so it could make the trip back.
Later another problem arose, the truck was slowly able to reach highway speeds, but after several miles reached 64 miles per hours, then abruptly shutdown and would only go about 30 miles per hour on level roads 15 MPH up hills, 45 miles per hour downhill.
Several stops to investigate the problem were made and discussions were held and calls made to rectify the problem, and no Mack dealerships were open on a Saturday in Vermont so, the decision was made to continue the trip south and try to resolve the problem while on the road.
The truck continued to make the trip south, but at the slower speed took much longer than expected. The team drove from Rockingham Vermont to Middletown, Connecticut and stopped for lunch and fuel. The fuel filter was changed but it operated the same. The team continued south reaching the Tappan Zee Bridge around 6pm. The truck made the crossing with many other drivers beeping and waving, however as the truck reached the west side of the bridge it was a slow ride up the steep hills on route 287.
The Mack continued on the New York Thruway and onto the Garden State Parkway. Stopping at the first fuel stop in New Jersey we refueled and stopped for dinner. Many people complimented us on the Mack and one gentlemen offer the to purchase the siren and roto-ray for $1500 dollars right on the spot, however we let him know we wanted to maintain the truck in original condition.
We drove all the down the Garden State Parkway and next made our way south on the New Jersey Turnpike. We passed a stopped New Jersey State Trooper with a car pulled over about dusk. About five minutes later the State Trooper was behind our Suburban chase car and pulled us over. The trooper liked the Mack but felt that for our safety that he could not let us continue on the New Jersey Turnpike only running at 30 miles per hour.
He escorted us off the Turnpike and exited with no tolls onto Route 130, which runs parallel to the Turnpike but has a speed of 50 miles per hour. Harold Ledgerton was driving and we made our way down route 130 until we reached the east west connector from the New Jersey Turnpike to the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
It was about 10 pm and we decided that the traffic on the turnpike would be considerably less at this time and headed east on the connector, over the Burlington Bristol Bridge at 35 mile per hour, the Mack made it over the bridge and into Pennsylvania, we were almost home! The caravan continued west on the turnpike stopping at about 11pm for a final fuel fill-up and checked the oil, the Mack used about 2 gallons of oil over the 400-mile trip. On the final leg, we exited the Turnpike at 11:40 at the I-476 south exit, normally about a 5-minute drive to the final destination Route 30. The exit sits at the bottom of a long uphill climb and the Mack was steadily making it’s way home but it took about 20 minutes to make the that leg of the trip.
We exited at Route 30 and were met with a police escort for the final few miles drive into Wayne. As we rounded the corner at South Wayne Avenue and headed down to the firehouse, we were greeted by a group of about 30 excited and rowdy members of the fire company.
We drove the truck around the block once to celebrate its return after 29 years back to the Radnor Fire House! The 4-person team was in need of a rest so the other members that had been anxiously awaiting its return took turns driving it around the block, repeatedly until they finally parked it behind the firehouse at 3am. Wayne 2 was finally and proudly back at Radnor Fire Company once again. |
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| Planning for the Restoration of the Mack |
Parked behind the firehouse, the new Mack team assessed the status of the truck to determine what steps would be needed to return the truck to pristine condition. The first step was to make sure all mechanical repairs were made and all safety issues resolved to make the truck road worthy. The first day the Mack team removed the steel studs from the rear tires, inspected the brakes, and checked the entire truck and started making minor repairs; repairing a bent pushrod, adjusting the valves, and an engine tune-up was completed, but despite all this repair work, the truck would still only reach 30 MPH.
After several days of diagnostics and help from Jay Statts of Motorsport Services it was determined that, the governor had stuck in the closed position resulting in the truck only reaching a maximum speed of 30 MPH. Once the governor was released and repaired, by members of the team, it finally was running correctly. The next step was to replace the rear brakes and make various other mechanical repairs. Once completed the truck was driven locally to many local events. During this time the initial research and estimate for the restoration was developed. |
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| Financial Support for the Restoration |
To support the repairs and restoration, Sam Robert’s President of the Fire Company in 2002 developed a specific letter requesting donations for the Mack from members of the community. A letter was sent to select contributors to the fire company and within a month, several significant donations were received to start the restoration. During the next few months prior to the restoration work, members of the company used the Mack to attend other activities including the Mack Gerhardt show in Lititz, Pennsylvania and was seen by an honorary member of the Fire Company that was interested in supporting the project. He made two significant contributions to the project. The Mack was also used to show members of a neighboring fire company considering repurchasing their original engine and they decided to repurchase their 1954 Autocar to use for similar events. Many members of the community supported the project either financially from donations or with support from donating services.
After much research including vesting Malvern Fire Company’s B75F1001 and Wilmington Fire Company’s B75F1002 to research each of these trucks to document their assembly and any changes that may have been made to Radnor’s B75 we were able to start the restoration process. Another key source of information was The Mack Museum, which was able to provide the original build sheets and pictures to document the assembly of the truck when new, as well as help in procurement of the correct parts. Hours of research and contact with many of the Radnor firefighters when the Mack was delivered and original Mack employees as well as visiting the current Mack assembly plant in Allentown were utilized to help clarify and resolve many questions regarding the restoration. |
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| Restoration Process |
The restoration started on November 15, 2002 with the first goal to focus on the engine and brakes. The carburetor, fuel pump, fuel tank, water pump radiator, hoses, belts and generator were sent out to be restored or repaired. New rear brakes, wheel cylinders and master cylinder were rebuilt and installed at the Radnor Township garage.
The engine was disassembled at the firehouse and checked and found to have a cracked head and needed all new valves, valve guides and a new exhaust system were installed. These repairs were completed, the engine was completed and started up in March 2003, and next the Mack team was ready to start the bodywork.
The entire Mack team from Radnor Fire Company, helped disassemble, mark and itemize the remaining parts on the truck, to determine the extent of the rust repairs, and panel replacement. The rear fenders were rebuilt by Madden and Ryan in Wayne, Pa, The rear body panels were replaced by Stahl Manufacturing of King of Prussia, PA, the diamond plate and side compartments were rebuilt by Keil Welding. The suction hose trays were rebuilt by United Sheet Metal of King of Prussia, PA with paint of numerous parts by Norcini’s Auto Body in King of Prussia.
The entire truck was bead blasted to remove all rust and old paint by Stuodt Media Blasting of West Chester, primed and once all new parts were repaired and ready the entire truck reassembled by the Mack team in the firehouse in preparation for painting by Karmak Auto and Truck painting in West Chester, PA starting in September 2003. All paint was donated by Sikkens Paint Company. The truck was disassembled and each piece was individually painted, with two coats of Red and clear coat, then buffed to a high gloss and ready for reassembly by the Mack team in March of 2004.
Once the painting was completed and the Mack team assembled the truck enough to safely drive, the truck was moved to the firehouse for final assembly. The reassembly of the B75 was a slow and careful process, utilizing Malvern’s B75 F 1001 to insure that all parts and hardware were installed as original. Once all of the final assembly was completed, the truck was the lettered and gold-leafed by Danny Danz. This was a detailed striping process to match the original paint and scroll work. |
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| The Mack is ready to Show |
With the completion of the Mack it was then ready for parades, it was first displayed in May 31, 2004 Memorial Day Parade in Wayne. The Mack then attended the many parades and events during 2004 and 2005.
During a trip to Hershey Fire Company 100th Anniversary Parade in July 2005, the Mack’s No. 2 connecting rod in the engine seized. The B75 was towed home. The engine was removed with the help of Ed and Sparky Forde (and the large Ford F9000 tow truck). After many long hours of finding replacement parts the engine was rebuilt by Jack Shainline of Shainline machine shop in January of 2006, the engine was painted, the engine compartment detailed and the engine, installed, and assembled in Radnor Fire Company engine bay by the Mack team.
The cause of the engine seizure was determined to be the original economy air filter by Mack, which was replaced with a new K&N high performance air filter to insure that no dirt will enter the engine and cause further damage. The B75 was put back in service for the Radnor 100th Parade in May of 2006 and has been recognized and judged by many experts as one of the best-restored examples of the B Model Mack Fire Apparatus in the United States. |
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| The B75 has attended many events and won the following awards: |
- First Place AACA 2007 Hershey Eastern Pennsylvania Fall Meet (Junior)
- First Place Company Owned Antique 2006 Pennsylvania State Fire Convention
- First Place 1950-1959 Company Owned Antique Pump Primers Muster Harrisburg Pa
- First Place 1950-1959 Company Owned Antique Wheaton Village Muster Glasstown NJ
- Eastern States Concours Show 2007 (Show Only)
- Radnor Hunt Concours Show 2004 (Show Only)
- Featured in Fire Apparatus Journal
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| The restoration of the Mack B75 was completed by the Mack team at the Radnor Fire Company and would not have been possible without the support of many members of the community. The Radnor Fire Company utilizes the Mack as the signature truck, and is already well known around Wayne and well liked by the many visitors to firehouse. The B75 will play a continuing role in our on going fire prevention and awareness campaigns as well as at many community events. |
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