Cumberland, MD and back, 5/23-5/26/14 (note: lots of photos)

[PeachtreeSirens]

Well, I finally did it. I went on a trip into the mountains. Granted, it wasn't exactly about sirens, but I still managed to visit at least 50 of them on the way, much to Mom's frustration, and hence the delay in posting this.

(By the way, mods, if this many photos is a bit too much, PM me and I'll be more than happy to drop them to thumbnails.)

I'm going to post half of the trip a day, since the 24th and the 25th only involved one or two sirens each. If the photos from the first half seem fairly run-of-the-mill...the return trip was anything but that.

Day 1, Friday, 5/23: The trip up

After we left, we decided to make time until we were past Richmond, since there weren't any sirens of note that I couldn't easily until after then anyway. After taking US 33 out of Richmond, I tipped Mom off to the presence of an STH-10 in the town of Montpelier. I had discovered it not all that long ago, but it wasn't on the map yet. And so, it became the first siren of the trip...



As we were taking photos, a gentleman came up to the van. After talking with him, I ended up in the bays, where I was shown this.




I have never seen this controller before. The ID plate says it's an "AR2"...which makes no sense to me, but there you have it. Controller and siren came with the department when they moved into the station in 1988. I was also told that this siren, while no longer used for fire calls, is still connected, and the department has tried to get Hanover County to let them sound it for tornado warnings. The county, though, wanted to write up a complicated criteria for setting it off, which the firemen balked at.

Leaving Montpelier, we continued through the hills a ways, until this appeared out of nowhere. We had entered the North Anna EPZ.



This is siren #42, near SR 656. I hadn't added it to the map yet, hence the surprise. Ironically, this was 2 days after the quarterly system test, which I was unable to come and tape due to a suspected vehicle problem which turned out to be much ado about nothing. Oh well, there's always August...

The next siren we visited was siren #55, located at the intersection of US 33, US 522, and Cuckoo Road. (The graininess is the result of high ISO settings which were forced by sub-par lighting.)




Next, we took US 522 into the village of Mineral, which some of you may recognize as being very close to the epicenter of the 2011 earthquake. For railfans, this town is home to a really neat old train station. For siren fans, the FD across the street from said train station has this.




This Darley STH-10 is sounded for fire calls, but doesn't go off with the North Anna system.

Continuing north on 522, we next encountered this North Anna 2806. I couldn't get a box shot of this one, and can't find any location number in my data that precisely matches this one, but a close match would make this siren #49.



Next, North Anna siren #56, located at the intersection of US 522-VA 208 and Chopping Road. Notice the very worn-out number label.




Next, the last North Anna siren we visited - siren #48, located just off of US 522 on Days Bridge Road. What was originally a surprise turned out to be a case of "duh, I already knew about this one and just forgot it was there".




Continuing north, we blew off several known sirens that were too far off our route, and eventually hit Culpeper, a town I hadn't looked through yet. Proceeding to the FD, we discovered these.



No siren was in evidence.

Heading out of Culpeper, I thought enough to photograph this interesting cloud formation. TurbopropPilot should like this one.



The next town we visited was Warrenton, home to a square-horned STL-10 (thank you Allenorgan42099 for tipping me off to it). This strange-looking thing is used as a storm siren. I don't know the testing schedule, but I do know it sounds for the statewide tornado drill in March.



At this point we were out of light and low on time, so we blew off several known sirens and headed for Winchester, where we spent the night in a Walmart parking lot (how classy can it get). During the night I somehow managed to pull in 5 NOAA Weather Radio stations at once - and, of course, taped them all. (That video is going up on my EAS/NWR channel soon, for anyone interested.)

Day 2, Saturday, 5/24: Breakneck speed

Leaving Winchester the next morning, we blew off a known siren as we continued towards Cumberland. Strangely enough, we didn't encounter a single siren in the section of West Virginia we drove through. That was just as well, as we had things we wanted to see at the festival later that day.

Once we were in Maryland, though, a few surprises popped up - namely, this Model 2 in Oldtown...



...this very festive Eclipse 8 in Bowling Green, not far from the fairgrounds...



...and this cute little 2HP Screamer in the hamlet of Cresaptown. I would soon return to this town after learning what else they had...



That's all from the first two days. Tomorrow, the rest of the trip, two days of surprises, excitement...and a random covered bridge. Stay tuned!

[coastalsyrolover]

Hey turboprop ain't the only pilot on here… Only one who flies planes that require a license but not the only pilot. Anyways those were great pics! Do you have video of that square horned stl10?

[PeachtreeSirens]

Hey turboprop ain't the only pilot on here… Only one who flies planes that require a license but not the only pilot. Anyways those were great pics! Do you have video of that square horned stl10?

No, I don't. It's out of my normal video range.

[coastalsyrolover]

Oh. Okay. Well thanks for the pics man. They rock.

[Rheems1]

I am going to assume that Cresaptown finally got the siren put up that was laying behind their firehouse lol. If it is what I think, there is a fun story that goes with it... Will share after you post (and will put up my pic of the siren laying on the ground LOL)

[mrboojay]

Those are some great photos, looking forward to part 2.

[PeachtreeSirens]

Thank you for all the kind words.

Here comes the second half. Prepare for even more photos!

Day 3, Sunday, 5/25: A fun surprise

I am going to assume that Cresaptown finally got the siren put up that was laying behind their firehouse lol. If it is what I think, there is a fun story that goes with it... Will share after you post (and will put up my pic of the siren laying on the ground LOL)

Well, as it turns out, your posting the story (and a very helpful list of every known siren in the county) three years ago is what alerted me to the presence of that siren. As for whether or not they put it up...

...I'm sorry to say, you assumed incorrectly.



This greeted me when I took a stroll behind the new FD building Sunday morning. As you can imagine, that stroll immediately broke into a mad dash back to the van to get Mom.



This 3016 doesn't even seem to have been moved in the last few years. Everything looks to be in great shape - they just haven't put it up yet. I imagine that once they sell their old building across the street (which is where the Screamer is) they'll either decommission the Screamer and put the Whelen up...or someone will come back through and find the Screamer sitting on a shiny new pole next to the 3016's head.

Day 4, Monday, 5/26: Coming back

The festival was over Monday, so we packed up and headed out of the fairgrounds. Having heard of a potential severe weather outbreak in the area (thank heavens for NOAA Weather Radio - no Wi-Fi and no cell service is not a good combo), we cut our originally-planned several days-long trip home to one day, and decided to take a roundabout route to catch as many interesting sirens as we could. Having copied Rheems1's Allegany County list down on my tablet, we proceeded to Frostburg, where we quickly ran into this topsy-turvy GCS Model 5.



Knowing that this FD (there are two in town) had another siren not far away, and having a vague idea of where it was, we then spent the next 10 to 15 minutes chasing our tail through harrowing hillside alleyways and streets, searching for it. Coming up empty-handed, we were just about to give up and head to the other FD when I spotted someone sitting outside in front of the first FD. After talking with them, we were given a street corner to head to, and quickly found this Type B.



Heading to the other side of town, I was disheartened to read that the siren we were looking for next was mounted high up in a belltower. Strangely enough though, when we came to a belltower matching the description...it was empty. We kept looking, though, and sure enough this turned up at the Public Safety Building.



Clearly they decided the belltower was a little too tall.

Having read that the last siren was "4 blocks from the firehouse with the Sterling", we began randomly hunting again for a few minutes, until we came across the second FD. Finding the station itself to be siren-less and devoid of people, we left and continued hunting, heading out to the outskirts of town before giving up and deciding to return to the FD to regroup. This time people were around, and I was told that the other siren was at the town's water treatment plant. Soon we arrived there expecting to find another Sterling, and were instead surprised to discover this.



I haven't the foggiest idea how it got there. For all I know they slapped a Model 5 housing over the top of the Sterling.

Finally leaving Frostburg, we headed down Route 36 to the town of Midland, which was marked as being home to a 5T, 2, and 2V8. Soon we found the FD...and were surprised again.



The 2V8 was nowhere to be found.

Continuing down the valley, we next visited Lonaconing, home to a Sterling M, a Model 2, and a GCS Model 5 on the same platform at the FD. Or so we thought.



How the GCS survived the arrival of this Eclipse is beyond me.

The next town we came to was Barton, home to another old Type B. For once, things went according to plan.



Soon we were in Westernport, home to an STH-10 and a 3T22. The STH-10 showed up on top of the municipal building as soon as we came into the town.



I asked a nearby gentleman about the 3T22 and was told it was in a cemetery on the east side of town. Sure enough, it cropped up at a street corner there.




(And yes, that's our van sitting there. Why would anyone else want to park beneath an active fire siren?)

Strangely enough, the lock on the RCM was broken. Assuming there's an AF in there, I could easily have opened the door and set the siren off if I wanted to.

Heading across the Potomac into West Virginia, we soon found this pair in Piedmont, directly across the river from Westernport.



In the ultimate twist, there were several heavily burned buildings across the street from the FD. Talk about a fast response!

Heading down Route 46 (a very scenic drive, by the way), we soon arrived in Keyser, home to this 16/16 port M-10.



This active fire siren is also the only one in town, and came with the FD to the new station. Their other station, on the south end of town, is siren-less.

The next town we visited was Burlington, towards the east end of the US 50-US 220 multiplex (if there are any roadgeeks here they'll know what I mean). Their VFD is home to this relatively new 3T22.




It, too, is an active fire siren.

Heading down US 50, we next arrived in the town of Romney. After eating lunch we started hunting through the town, looking for the FD. It took us a bit of time to figure out the correct address, but as it turned out our efforts were for naught - the station was siren-less. And so, with a sigh, we continued eastward. Soon we hit Augusta. After stopping at an antique store to ask for directions (and to resist the urge to buy stuff), we found the FD. After failing to find anything at the station, we were just about to mark it as siren-less and keep going when this STH-10 appeared out of nowhere from behind a gas station across the road.



The next town we hit was Capon Bridge, a rarity in that I actually knew there was a siren there, and where it was!



Crossing into Virginia, and blowing off a clearly siren-less FD in the Gore area, we soon arrived in Round Hill, just barely outside Winchester. Seeing an FD sign on US 50, but failing to find one, we decided to head into the village. It then took all of 2 seconds to find this low-mounted M-10.



Unfortunately enough, an active rail line crosses this station's front lot at just the right angle to make it impossible for them to be able to get in or out while a train is crossing.

After this we bypassed Winchester on Route 37 (perhaps the most annoying freeway ever in terms of configuration - they couldn't be bothered to make the south end a freeway-to-freeway interchange, and the north end doesn't even intersect with I-81!), and headed south on US 11. Soon we were in Stephens City, whose FD is home to this.



I'm not quite sure what it is, though I know it's a Darley of some sort. It looks too big to be a Model 2. Thoughts?

Next up was Middletown, home to this Model 5.



Next we arrived in Strasburg, home to two botched VA 55 shields and this 10V.



Our next stop was Toms Brook, home to this...thing. I think this is another case of "cover-an-M", but it doesn't even really look like an M to me.



Soon after that we hit Woodstock. Once we found the FD, we quickly determined that it was siren-less...but this STH-10 appeared after we went up the street a bit on a hunch.



Next up was Edinburg, home to this siren. For whatever reason I've gone completely blank on what it is.



After that, we visited what I consider to be the highlight of the whole trip down: Mount Jackson. Here's why...



No, your eyes are not deceiving you.

All three are inactive to my knowledge, and I haven't the foggiest idea where the Thunderbolt's blower is (the standpipe leads underground). The Little Giant and M-10 received a fresh coat of paint sometime between 2002 and 2012, which is already beginning to show its age.





After this we stopped at Meems Bottom Covered Bridge, which, at 204 feet, is the longest one in the state. The lighting was sub-par, though, so I won't add any photos of it here, and will instead direct you to the relevant Wikipedia article.

As I mentioned, the lighting by this time was becoming sub-par, but we were able to come around to the rear of the station and get a great shot when we discovered this Model 2 in Verona.



And that, folks, concludes the trip. Many thanks for reading! All of these will be going on the relevant maps soon, by the way.

[freebrickproductions]

I think the one in Edinburg, VA is a vertical sterling (Sterling K?) with a home-made cover on it.

[Urbanexplorer]

The T-bolt blower is probably in the basement of that building.

Sure looks like you had fun meandering around looking for sirens. Thanks for sharing the photos.

[Brendan W]

The Stephens City siren is a Darley Champion