The Siren Board

So a while back, I decided to make a map of Madison County, AL's old siren system. However, making a map like that would not be possible without learning about what sirens were used back then and where they were located. Madison County and Redstone Arsenal have removed almost all traces of most of their old sirens which made it quite hard to tell where the old ones were installed. However, there are still several of the old sirens for the Madison County system in service and a couple of abandoned ones from both systems that still stand as well. It took me a little while of looking around for finding out information about the rest of the locations before I contacted emofficer and alineber (through Facebook). They both gave me a lot of information about the old system so this post is what I have gathered.

First, let's start off with Madison County since I know a lot more about it.
The first sirens that Madison County acquired were the Altec Giant Voice System sirens. They were installed from 1965 to 1974 at various locations around Huntsville and were removed between the late 1970s and 1994. I think these sirens are the reason why Madison County doesn't use electronic sirens anymore. The EMA had to pay $518.70 a month for the telephone lines to the remaining Altecs in 1992. The next model of siren that Huntsville got was the Federal Signal Model 2. These were installed to expand the system coverage and replace some of the old Altecs. These were installed between 1968 and the early 1980s, but most of them were removed in 1994 when Madison County began to upgrade the system. The last model of siren that Madison County bought before 1994 was the Federal Signal Thunderbeam (RSH-10). These sirens were installed between 1984 and 1989 and most of them are still in service.
The locations of the Altecs were:

• Chapman Elementary/Middle School (replaced in 1994 with a 2001-AC)
• Blossomwood Elementary School (removed in 1994 with no direct replacement)
• Water tower on Esslinger Road (replaced in 1994 with a 2001-AC)
• Fire Station #9 (replaced in 1994 with a 2001-AC)
• Huntsville High School (removed in 1994 with no direct replacement; the closest siren now is a 2001-AC at Mayfair Park)
• Fire Station #7 (South Parkway location; removed in 1994 with no direct replacement)
• University Baptist Church (removed in 1994 with no direct replacement)
• Triana Boulevard and Linden Avenue (removed in the late 1980s with no replacement)
• Greene Street and Holmes Avenue (removed in the mid 1980s with no replacement)
• 2101 Clinton Avenue (removed in the mid 1980s with no replacement)
• Highlands Baptist Church (removed in the late 1980s with no replacement)
• Grissom High School (replaced in the early 1980s with a Model 2)
• Lincoln School (replaced in the late 1970s with a Model 2)
• White Street & Randolph Avenue (removed in the mid 1980s; I believe it was replaced with a Thunderbeam at Maple Hill Cemetery)

The locations of the Model 2s were:

• Owens Crossroads School (replaced in the 1990s with a 2001-SRN? (I need to confirm the model))
• New Hope (replaced in the 1990s with a 2001-SRN? (I need to confirm the model))
• New Market (located in the old "downtown" area; replaced in the 1990s with a 2001-SRN at the fire station)
• Hazel Green Fire Station (replaced in the 1990s with a 2001-SRN)
• Toney Fire Station (replaced in the 1990s with a 2001-SRN)
• Triana Fire Station (replaced in the 1990s/early 2000s with a 2001-SRN on Zierdt Road, but never removed)
• Main Street, Madison (removed in the 1990s, likely replaced with a 2001-SRN at the middle school)
• Sherwood Park (replaced in the 1990s with a 2001 (not sure of model, either an -AC or a -SRN))
• Grissom High School (replaced a Altec in the early 1980s; was replaced in the 1990s with a 2001-AC)
• Calvery Hills School (removed in the early 2010s, likely replaced in the 1990s with a 2001-AC at the near-by fire station, but the 2011 EMA map still has it marked)
• Lincoln School (replaced in the 1990s with a 2001-SRN)
• Alabama A&M at the west end of Campus Road
• Monte Sano Elementary School (replaced in the 1990s with a 2001-AC at Fire Station 13, which is right next to the school)
• Gurley School (replaced in the 1990s with a 2001 of some model at the fire department)
• Meridianville (replaced in the 1990s with a pair of 2001-SRNs)

And here are the Thunderbeam locations:

• Fire Station #3
• Maple Hill Cemetery (likely replaced an Altec at White Street & Randolph Avenue; replaced in the 1990s with a 2001-AC)
• Davis Hill School (the school is now called McNair Jr. High)
• McDonnell Elementary School (replaced in the 1990s/2000s with a 2001 of some model)
• Meadowbrook Drive (taken out of service in 2012, replaced with a Model 2 in 2014)
• Chafee Elementary School
• Slaughter Road and Maple Valley Drive
• Fire Station 15 (replaced in the 1990s/2000s with a 2001-SRN)

So that's all of the information on Madison County's pre-1994 siren system. Now onto Redstone Arsenal...

Redstone Arsenal's siren locations have always been hard to find, and there's not much information about their old system either. All I know is that their old system contained Model 2s, Model 5s, Altecs, and at least one Sterling M-5 (which sat abandoned for several years before it was removed about 2 or so years ago). The Altecs were clustered around the are of Redstone Arsenal where NASA is located and the Model 2s and Model 5s were spread around the arsenal. I assume the Altecs were installed around the same time that Madison County installed theirs. I only know of one original siren that still stands, and it is out of service. All of the Altecs had their original horn arrays replaced with Altec Lansing horns, and most of those have been replaced with newer ones. Here's a list of al of the known siren locations for Redstone Arsenal:

• Building 4200 (Altec)
• Pioneer Road and Rideout Road (Altec, still had the Lansing horns last I checked)
• Martin Road and Beacon Street (Altec)
• Centaur Street (Altec, only had three horn arrays instead of four)
• Morris Road and Digney Road (Altec)
• Saturn Road and Ranger Street (Altec)
• Apollo Street (Altec)
• The public test stand off of Dodd Road (Altec, you can go visit this siren without any special permission because the US Space & Rocket Center gives tours to the test stand)
• Gray Road near Ajax Road (Sterling M-5, removed and replacement is a 2001-SRN just down the street)
• Buffington Road near Hof Circle (Model 2, replaced but never removed)
• Snooper Road (Model 5, removed, replaced with a 2001-SRN at the intersection of Snooper Road and Little John Drive)

That's all I have on Redstone Arsenal. Now it's time for the pictures.

First off, here's a map I made of the old system:

Old Madison County, AL Siren Map by freebrickproductions, on Flickr

Old picture of Huntsville High School from one of my mom's yearbooks showing the Altec on top of it:

Altec Giant Voice Systems Siren by freebrickproductions, on Flickr

The abandoned Model 2 on top of the Triana, AL town hall:

Abandoned Model 2 Siren by freebrickproductions, on Flickr

Abandoned Model 2 Siren by freebrickproductions, on Flickr

Abandoned Model 2 Siren by freebrickproductions, on Flickr

The abandoned Model 2 on Buffington Road on Redstone Arsenal:

Model 2/2t siren by freebrickproductions, on Flickr

Model 2/2t siren by freebrickproductions, on Flickr

Model 2/2t siren by freebrickproductions, on Flickr

Model 2/2t siren by freebrickproductions, on Flickr

Here's a photo of Blossomwood Elementary school showing the Altec that used to be at it (on the right-hand side of the photo):
http://digitalarchives.hmcpl.org/cdm/si ... 230/rec/32

I'm going to borrow the next few photos from alineber's thread.
Altec at Chapman Elementary/Middle School:


Altec Giant Voice System control instructions:


The Altec Giant Voice System control stand:

Another photo of it from the EMA's website showing the map of the Altecs as well:


And finally, a photo of the Model 2 at Calvery Hills School, taken back in 2010 (siren is on the right-hand side of the photo, above the second person on horseback on the right):


That's all I have on the old systems of Madison County and Redstone Arsenal, AL! I hope you enjoyed it!

These are the kinds of topics we need more of. This is incredible. Thank you so much for your rich research and interesting write up

uncommonsense wrote:These are the kinds of topics we need more of. This is incredible. Thank you so much for your rich research and interesting write up

Thank you! :thup:

Wow, this is great! Like uncommonsense said, we need topics like this more often. Awesome work! :thup:

Wow. Great read. Good work!

Great read, thanks for the info. Those Altecs look complicated as hell to actually operate, by reading the instructions. Reese AFB in Lubbock, TX used to have one of those units mounted on the roof of the admin building. As of the most recent streetview data, they appear to be gone.

So Model 2's were used more than I thought. What were the original boxes used?

By the way, those altec's wouldn't have lasted long at all. There are so many wires ect exposed to the elements.

Fearguy1234 wrote:So Model 2's were used more than I thought. What were the original boxes used?

By the way, those altec's wouldn't have lasted long at all. There are so many wires ect exposed to the elements.

IIRC, the Model 2s and Thunderbeams were controlled by AR timers. Everything except for the Sentries, ASC E-classes, and (former) Altecs is hooked up to a FC controller now.

I know that this thread is just over 2 months old, but I thought that I'd add in a few more photos of some of the old sirens, all of which are Thunderbeams this time around. I hope no-one minds this.
The Thunderbeam on Meadowbrook Drive before the motor was removed from it:
Meadowbrook Drive Thunderbeam (RSH-10) Siren by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
Meadowbrook Drive Thunderbeam (RSH-10) Siren by freebrickproductions, on Flickr

The Thunderbeam on Slaughter Road:
Slaughter Road Thunderbeam (RSH-10) Siren by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
Slaughter Road Thunderbeam (RSH-10) Siren by freebrickproductions, on Flickr

The Thunderbeam at Chafee Elementary School:
Chafee Elementary School Thunderbeam (RSH-10) Siren by freebrickproductions, on Flickr
Chafee Elementary School Thunderbeam (RSH-10) Siren by freebrickproductions, on Flickr

And the Thunderbeam at Fire Station 3:
Fire Station 3 Thunderbeam (RSH-10) Siren by freebrickproductions, on Flickr

We should also have a Thunderbeam at Davis Hills School. The one at Fire Station 14 was replaced by a 2001 several years ago. The Thunderbeams have a problem with seizing up and we can't get parts or they are too costly to fix. They are replaced when they totally fail. I had to haul the last one to fail (Meadowbrook) off to the metal scrap dumpster. They are heavy!

Enjoying the pictures! Good job!