Fireman Sam Kiddie Rides

**Fireman Sam** is a Welsh comedy children's television series created by Rob Lee, with the original idea from David Gingell and David Jones & first produced by Prism Art & Design for the Welsh-language broadcaster, S4C and animated by Bumper Films (now produced by HiT Entertainment & Mattel). The show aired its first episode (The Kite) on November 17th, 1987 and has been running ever since. Kiddie Rides exist. One design was made by OMC Electronics in 1993, which was later adapted by R.G. Mitchell Ltd. in 1999. An Elements Carousel kiddie ride (that includes three video screens) was also released, made by Linan Lian Animation Technology Co. Ltd. for Ride On! Entertainment in 2012.

## OMC Electronics Ltd

History of the ride: After a huge success of their Postman Pat ride. OMC decided to make another ride based of an another popular children's show. This time being Fireman Sam. OMC had a license with S4C and Prism Art & Design Limited and manufactured the first Fireman Sam ride. While that ride is a success too, It never achieved the same popularity as Postman Pat.

License: S4C and Prism Art & Design Ltd.

Design: The ride is based from Sam's Fire Engine. (Jupiter) Sam is also driving like Pat, along with Elvis and Station Officer Steele. The buttons are placed in the same spot as the Postman Pat ride. The speaker was originally placed under the dashboard with the firemen's coat black. Later, they moved the speaker to Sam's legs and paint the firemen's coat blue. The coin slot is now placed on the shutters of the fire engine.

Seater: 1

Year of release: 1993

Other releases: Norway

Faults: Siren SFX button's microswitch wears out and Sam's eyes are peeled off.

Start sound: "Fireman Sam, Fire Evans, Call in, On the double!" "Reporting for duty, Sir!"

Audio Track: Theme Song then Emergency Theme

Attract Sound (if enabled): Siren then "Fireman Sam, Fire Evans, Call in, On the double!" "Reporting for duty, Sir!"

Trivia: These voice clips are used from 2 episodes, The Kite, And Trevor's Training.

#### Buttons

START button: Well, It just starts the ride

Siren button: The fire engine sets off the siren.

S.O.S. button: "All systems go, Cridlington!"

#### Controller Timers/Kiddie Ride Boards

FMS Control Board (1993-1994)

ROSie (1994-1996)

#### Versions

V1 (1993): The speaker is placed underneath the dashboard. The firemen's coat are black, (just like from the show) and It uses a PMP/FMS Control Board. But it has no messages (Because the PMP/FMS Control Board never had the messages programmed)

V2 (late 1993): The firemen's coat are now blue and the speaker is placed near Sam's legs but otherwise, it's the same as a V1

V3 (1994): The ride now has messages because it's using a ROSie board.

## KidzStuff Fun & Games

History of the ride: After KidzStuff aquired OMC Electronics, they continued making OMC's old rides. Their Fireman Sam ride is similar to the original and is rare to find. The ride still has 3 buttons.

License:

Design: The KidzStuff version is just like the OMC version. it's the same as the OMC V2 but now it has a new base to prevent the rides from getting tipped over, and you can see they put the KidzStuff logo on the bottom of both sides.

Seater: 1

Year of release: 1997

Other releases: Australia and Oceania

Faults: Unknown (KidzStuff Versions Only)

Start sound: "Fireman Sam, Fire Evans, Call in, On the double!" "Reporting for duty, Sir!"

Audio track: Theme Song then Emergency Theme

Attract sound (if enabled): Siren then "Fireman Sam, Fire Evans, Call in, On the double!" "Reporting for duty, Sir!"

Trivia: The KidzStuff version is rare to find nowadays

#### Buttons

START button: Well, It just starts the ride

Siren button: The fire engine sets off the siren.

S.O.S. button: "All systems go, Cridlington!"

#### Versions

V4 (1997): It uses a ROSie V4 Board and the messages say "KidzStuff" and their phone number.

## R.G. Mitchell

History of the ride: R.G. Mitchell aquired the Prism Art & Design and S4C license in 1998 and made the new improved version of the ride in 1999.

License: S4C and Prism Art & Design Ltd.

Design: The ride is similar to the OMC version. Differences are: lacking the red on the hubcaps, rear licence plate and radiator grill, Penny replacing Station Officer Steele, the removal of Elvis, new lights, new timer and a new base. the ride still has 3 buttons except that the 2 are now square and one is red, while the other is blue.

Seater: 1

Year of release: 1999

Other releases: Unknown

Faults: None

Start sound: "Ready, Everyone?"

Audio track: Theme Song

Attract sound (if enabled): Alarm Clock (From the first seconds of the intro)

Trivia: Both of these voice clips were taken from a 1999 Fireman Sam CD-Rom Game, Key Stage 1.)

#### Buttons

START button: Well, It just starts the ride

Siren button: The fire engine sets off the siren. However, The siren is now TV show accurate.

Sam button: "Great Fires of London!"

#### Controller Timers/Kiddie Ride Boards

PCM V3 (1999-2000)

BOT-1 (2000-2004)

#### Versions

V1 (1999): The ride has Mrs Mitchell messages. The speaker is placed on Sam's legs

V2 (late 1999): The audio is now low pitched. The speaker is now moved away from Sam's legs but still in the same spot.

V3 (2000): The ride now has new messages.

## Ride On! Entertainment

In 2012, Ride On! Entertainment of Box Hill, VIC, Australia came to contractual agreements with Chinese manufacturer Linan Lian Animation Co. Ltd., to build a range of Elements Carousel kiddie ride modules; one of which was based on the 2008 reboot of Fireman Sam. (there also existed Bob the Builder: Ready, Steady, Build!, Chuggington, and Thomas & Friends variants). These rides feature three video screens, with footage of the shows they represent. It runs on a Soundmaster timer and operates similarly to Amutec's various video rides.

License: Prism Art & Design Ltd. A HiT Entertainment Company. (Owned By Mattel)

## Other releases/Variants

OMC Electronics

* An OMC V2 running on a very short timer without the Emergency Theme was spotted at Waves Amusements in Prestatyn. It has a messed-up ROSie board/timer as the Siren SFX goes off non-stop unless if you press the SFX button so many times than it stops. It can be found here on the Kiddie Ride Errors page
* There was a Fireman Sam kiddie ride spotted in Sugár Shopping Center, Budapest, Hungary that for some odd reason was fitted with a Cogan/Motoi soundboard/timer, none of the buttons worked, and it played racing car engine sounds instead of the theme song. It can also be found here on the Kiddie Ride Errors page.
* OMC Fireman Sam kiddie ride with the old Whittaker Brothers base and movement was spotted at Ocean Beach Pleasure Park in South Shields.
* In Brecon South Wales﻿, an OMC Fireman Sam with a Black bumper was found.
* 2 OMC Fireman Sam Kiddie rides with blue EMT bases can be found on the same German Website as the 2 Weird Postman Pat ones. One Is Missing It's Grill, Another Has A Random Sticker.
* Kinderplanet of Germany modified some units removing The START button and replacing it with Flashing Lights. But they still retain the original Board.
* A variant with no licence plate Exists.
* Northern Leisure bought a batch and refurbished those in a similar matter with their messages after re-programming ROSie boards.
* In 1995/1996, Photo-Me bought another batch and released the ride with a Stamar timer and a Photo-Me R.B. interface, a cover theme tune sung by The Mother Goose Singers (which can be found on Spotify), and different sound effects on the push buttons.

R.G. Mitchell

* A few units of Jupiter with a yellow license plate on the front bumper exist. Some of these rides with the original yellow license plate are very rare to find.
* At ASDA Colindale, a version with a sticker on Sam's helmet was spotted. The same sticker is on Penny's helmet as well.
* At Island Leisure, Barry, A V1 RGM Fireman Sam with a jammed start button was spotted. (NOW MUTE AND GONE)

## Gallery

OMC Electronics (V1) (1993)OMC Electronics (Prototype)OMC Electronics (V2) (1993)OMC Electronics (Photo-Me 1995/1996)KidzStuff Fun & Games (V4) (1997)RG Mitchell (1998)RG Mitchell (Yellow Licence Plate, 1998)R.G. Mitchell (Silver license plate; 1998)
Miscellaneous

OMC Blue Base Version (No Grill, 1993?)OMC Blue Base Version (Random Sticker, 1993?)OMC Blue Base Version (Weird Varient, 1993?)