Middle Kentucky / Northern Tennessee

[Oldiesmann]

Yet another "I'm going on a trip, what sirens are along the way" post from me

In late July, I'll be taking a 4-day trip to Nashville for a fan gathering for one of my favorite bands. Are there any cool sirens along the way? I know Louisville has 2001s and TBolts, and Nashville has those stupid ATIs, but have no idea what else to expect along the way.

While I don't know how much time I'll have to go siren hunting, I may be willing to take a few side trips to see some sirens if there's something really cool. I am planning to stop at Beech Bend Park in Bowling Green on the way, so I don't want to spend a lot of time siren hunting.

The general direction of travel will be I-71 from here to Louisville, then I-65 from there to Nashville.

Also, if there's anything interesting in the Chattanooga area, I might be making a trip down that way on the way home. There's a nifty little family-owned amusement park just south of Chattanooga called Lake Winnie that I'm itching to visit (if anyone here is a roller coaster or amusement park junkie: 1967 John Allen woodie, 1916 PTC Carousel, oldest mill chute water ride in the country, only known working Eyerly Fly-o-Plane in the country...)

[djscrizzle]

Metro Nashville-Davidson County has 73 ATI sirens, and Vanderbilt Univ. has 2001s on campus. Trevecca Nazarene univ. has 2x ASC iForce sirens on campus.

Sumner county has a couple-three 2001s scattered around Gallitan.

Wilson County & Lebanon has 2001s, Sentry sirens, a Denver Duplex on the EMA building, and the Sentrys are fairly common throughout Lebanon. 2001s are the siren typically used in rural Wilson County. Watertown has an ACA Screamer at City Hall.

Williamson county has 2001s in Brentwood, Franklin, and Modulators in the county as well as in parks, as lightning warning annunciatiors.

Rutherford County has a Whelen WPS2910 system at MTSU in Murfressboro, and in Christiana is a Fedelcode model 5. The large cities in R-Co need sirens badly: Smyrna, Lavergne, Eagleville, and Murfreesboro come to mind. I grew up on the western fringes of Smyrna off of TN 102 & I24 @ Exit 70 in the 1990s.*

Tullahoma's got Whelens of various makes throughout town. That's roughly half-way to Chattanooga on Interstate 24, which I'm positive you'll be using to get there.


Want interesting leads along the way to Chattanooga? I know Smyrna very, very well... Despite living in Colorado for the past 11 years. Smyrna and northern Rutherford County have a LOT to offer in sightseeing!

[Oldiesmann]

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely try to get pictures of the Screamer and Denver while I'm down that way. I didn't realize there were any Denver sirens in that part of the country

I still don't really know how much time I'm going to have in Chattanooga, but if I do get to that area, Lake Winnie is probably the only thing I'll do, due to limited time (I don't want to take more than 4 days off of work and Chattanooga is 2 1/2 hours from Nashville and 6 hours from Cincinnati). If I do end up getting the next day off of work as well, then I will likely spend the night in the Chattanooga area and go hit Rock City before heading home (I was there once back in 2000 but would love to see it again).

[loukycheckinin]

Bowling Green is all 2001's. They are painted black and white and called COWS (Community Outdoor Warning Siren).
-EDIT - 1 MOD on WKU's campus.

For Kentucky, Louisville is the most diverse- and thats not saying much...we have Tbolts (all 1000T's save for a few 1000's and a 1003), 3T22's, MOD's, 2001's, and a handful of Whelens.
I live in Louisville and have a good portion of them photographed already.

Lexington is all MOD's and DSA's. (You wont pass this anyway)

Richmond is all 2001's I BELIEVE, but they are in the process of phasing out older sirens so there may be some T-bolts or the like there too. (You wont pass this anyway)

Smaller cities like Maysville, London, Somerset, etc tend to have a XT22 "downtown" on their man VFD. A small handful may also have a 2001 sprinkled in here and there.

Frankfort is 2001's and T-bolts.

You will drive thru E-town, and I know they have 11 sirens, but I dont know which kind. I am doing a virtual search now and will update if you find anything.

Hit me up before you go on your search. I can show ya some of the sirens in Louisville if you have the time to spend.

Hope that helps ya!

[Sirenguy02]

I'm not sure if it was that town(Bowling Green) but,wasn't their a town with COW painted Model 5/7's?

[loukycheckinin]

I am not sure about that, I just went to college in bg and remember those

So, no luck in E-town searching schools and fire depts, but check this out in Rineyville

Rineyville vfd


And then, its almost impossible to see because of the sunlight...but is this a Thunderbeam in Radcliff? This is easily on your way!

Thunderbeam

Other one:

Glendale, KY

[TrackerSirens]

The Radcliff "Thunderbeam" is actually an STH-10.

[loukycheckinin]

The Radcliff "Thunderbeam" is actually an STH-10.

I pasted the wrong link. Look again.

[TrackerSirens]

Yep, it's a Thunderbeam. I can see the disc in it.

[Melvin Potts]

I don't believe that Chattanooga has any working sirens.

Twice each year I go to Atlanta, so pass right through Chattanooga.

There is a very low-mounted Thunderbolt atop the Belvoir Pharmacy in Chattanooga. It's on Brainerd Rd. I've never seen one mounted that low.

Just head N on Moore Rd. off I24; turn L on Brainerd, and the pharmacy(brown brick building) will be on the R.

It's been several years since I've been in that part of Chattanooga; don't know if the siren is still there.