It all first started out with a thread about Essex, England, planning to remove their flood siren system. Now I don't know if it is completed yet, or if the public have got their way and kept them, but that is not what this page is about.
On the same thread TheDutchModulator found a map link to an ACA Cyclone on the roof of Europe's largest nickel refinery and smelter, the Vale (pronounced Va-lay) Europe Ltd. nickel refinery in the small Welsh village in Swansea, called Clydach: https://goo.gl/maps/R6RRehdMBr42 A big amount of thanks goes to TheDutchModulator, from me, for surfacing this awesome, to say the least, siren.
A little more research was done by me and MaumeeStormMaster and it was found to have been heard up to 6-8 miles away when it was sounding, probably further since Clydach is in a valley. Local newspapers and even the BBC grabbed hold of these "hearings of a scary wartime siren wailing" and traced the sound to the refinery... where there was an ACA Cyclone. It was then revealed to news reporters that some of the ageing residents were getting a lot of stress from the warning siren, because sirens were used in World War 2 to warn of impending enemy bombing runs. The nationwide newspaper, celebrity and soap opera gossip centre, The Sun, posted an article with a video of what they must've thought was the siren... except they were either factory alarms or some other alarm not to do with the refinery. The nickel refinery then issued a statement that they had a legal obligation to test their warning devices, even the siren. From there it was found out that it is tested every month and it has been my goal to be there for it.
But there is some bad news, I couldn't. My 2 week holiday, in which our holiday home was just about 2 miles away from the Welsh border, fell before the start of August. "Well never mind" I thought. "I can just get some pictures instead." Easier said than done, but after going to an awesome diesel engine museum, complete with a massive pulse dialing telephone exchange, me, my parents and my older brother, went back to the holiday home on the M4, and Clydach is on said motorway/freeway. And, to my surprise, my dad decided we'll go to the nickel refinery to see the UK's only known ACA Cyclone 125 to still be in use!
Well, here is where the saga ends. Boy, it was a good one! I'll leave this with some long awaited pictures. It looks a bit more white than in Google Maps, but it was worth going. This many not have been my first, or second American siren for me to have seen; it is actually my fourth, but it is, and will be, the greatest for me to have seen. (P.S Apologies for the large pictures, but at least they give true perspective!)
- The siren overlooking the St. Mary's Church graveyard.
- IMG_0061.JPG (3.41 MiB) Viewed 3639 times
- The seagulls love it!
- IMG_0060.JPG (1.56 MiB) Viewed 3639 times
- There it is, on its tower.
- IMG_0056.JPG (1.22 MiB) Viewed 3639 times
