Maureen Lines relates the story of restoring a hundred-year-old fire engine in Peshawar

The fire engine, with the sun flashing on its brightly red painted metal, sped along in front of us. Janus (my driver/PA) was still up in the driver’s seat, thoroughly enjoying himself. He was not actually driving, as the fire engine was on a long pick up truck, but I am sure he was in his mind. Everywhere, people stood on the side of the road, open mouthed. Men lent out of their car windows to shout at the vehicle.

As we came to the army check post, just before the roundabout leading to the secretariat, a man leapt out of a car and aimed his camera at the fire engine. “Hey,” I shouted to my driver, afraid we would run over the poor guy. There was no doubt that this ancient British fire engine, newly restored, was attracting a great deal of attention. Perhaps they thought the Brits were back! Even the army personnel were entranced and forgot to check our credentials.

As we entered the old city, kids started running after us, shouting and gesticulating. This was the second fire engine we had had restored. At Gor Khatri in Peshawar, the historical site’s administrators and workmen were waiting for us. They were most enthusiastic, but like us, felt let down, that the vehicles had to go back into the dusty derelict but historic 1912 fire station garages.

The FHT (Frontier Heritage Trust), which had managed the restoration had called for its restoration and had offered to give the government a viable project proposal. Some of my workers were builders, and it’s a business I knew back in former life times in the UK and NYC. The late Saleh Mohammad, Peshawar Museum Director, had declared they had someone in mind, but so far nothing had been done. How did we get to do the fire engines, you may well ask? SCN (Sarhad Conservation Network) and FHT had been discussing the fire engines over the internet for some months, when SCN and a contact in ‘Pindi came up with the name of Ikram Mohsin, the president of the classic vintage car club of Karachi. He and his friend Romano Yusef of Islamabad were adept at restoration. I had already met Romano at a conservation meeting at the Sethi House, Peshawar, and he was enthused.

Money? Where was that going to come from? Provincial government? A project paper was given to the Secretary, Culture. In the meantime, the wife of the British High Commissioner in Islamabad had already donated Rs30,000 after listening to my enthusiastic plans over tea in the HC’s gorgeous garden. The Brits love to remember their colonial past — at least the colourful part of it.

The government granted another million. But now where were we going to do the restoration? If done at Gor Khatri, we would not be able to put the engines back in the garages at night. To leave them out in the open would risk damage or theft. In the daytime the workers would have to contend with children in attendance.

Riaz Noor, the former chief secretary, came up with the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development. Brilliant. Only a few blocks from my house, an ideal location — quiet, relatively unpolluted air, space, water and electricity at hand. The DG, Niamatullah Abid, an elegant, bright and warm hearted gentleman, extended help in any and every direction. Out of one of his unused garages, housing an old transformer and no proper roof, we made a nice garage with cement floor which we left for him when we pulled up stakes.

Of course, there were people who had devious minds and thought that the site so close to my house was engineered by me, so that I could whisk the vehicles away back to the UK! The first fire engine was exclusively done by Mohsin, a worker from Karachi, and Romano; the second by Mohsin, the worker and Janus. Hence Janus’s great enthusiasm. He was the real machine behind the operation. It was he who bought and found all accessories needed which were not brought up from Karachi.

It was a project where everyone cooperated to bring about the best results, but, what about the fire engine building? The year 2012 is the centennial year. Surely, there should be a celebration to honour the restoration of the fire engines and a plan made to quickly restore the old fire station. So much of the colonial past of Gor Khatri has been demolished already — the barracks have been pulled down and the old horse stables made into tourist alcoves. Hopefully, this last vestige of that era at Gor Khatri will be preserved.