Scottsbluff, Nebraska Thunderbolt pictures.

[Thun-1003guy]

Good evening all, not terribly active on the board but would like to share some siren photos from my hometown. The original system consisted of 3 Tbolts installd in 1976, 2 more were added in the mid 80's. They were also used for fire calls but in the late 80's the fire department opted for pagers. All but one of these Thunderbolts are still active, and two have been relocated. These are older pics from early 2000, anyway... Enjoy! :TBolt:

First Thunderbolt, formly located by Western Nebraska Community College. This was the original installation, it has since been relocated about half a mile due to residence hall being build thus reducing coverage. When this siren was relocated, it was refurbished and installed in a single pole style. This one is still active.

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Control Boxes

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Second one was formally located behind the Lakota Lutheran Center, it was relocated due to in being in a railroad right of way. Moved about half a block into the Public Works department. No pictures of the control boxes due to them being locked up inside a tamper proof building at the base of the siren. This one was refurbished when relocated and was installed using the single pole mount style. Still active, it did malfunction during the annual test this year but has since been fixed.

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Third one located in East Overland Park, original install, controls are in a tamper proof building at the base of the siren. Still active.

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Fourth one is located in the Westmoor neighborhood, one of the newer areas in town. Original install and is located right in someone's back yard. Still active.

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Control boxes

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Finally one was located in Northwood Park, original install. In 2011 this siren malfunctioned during the annual test and shut off half way into the test. It was fixed but once again malfunctioned the same year during a tornado warning on the 4th of July, it stopped rotating, technicians fixed it but about a month later it was replaced with a Whelen Omnidirectional. It's been stored at the city garage and will be pieced out to keep the other Thunderbolts running.

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The newly appointed EMA director is in the process of attempting to purchase new sirens to replace these. However he does have plans to relocated the Thunderbolts to outer city limits to expand coverage. Due to the lack of funds, I'm sure we won't see these beasts replace for quite a few more years.

[flatlandsparky]

The second Thunderbolt you mentioned, is this the one by Kriz-Davis electrical supply? For some reason I thought that there was a "N" painted on the horn.

[Thun-1003guy]

Yes,,that is the Thunderbolt that sits in the Public Works department lot now, it was repainted when they relocated it. I wish they would've kept the double pole mouth style when they rolocated the two of them.

[Thun-1003guy]

Also found this picture of a Federal 2001 siren in the neighboring town of Gering, which had 3 Thunderbolt 1003s replaced in 2002 with 2001 sirens. All that's left is the two pole stubs from the Thunderbolt mounting next to the 2001.

[Thun-1003guy]

Bumping this thread I created, because I have relevant post. I was able to find another photo one of our Thunderbolts where it was originally located in Scottsbluff this photo is more than likely from the mid to late 80's. It was relocated to the city shops building due to it being in a railroad right of way. This particular unit is scheduled to be replaced soon, such a shame as it was refurbished in 2006, and remounted on a single pole

[flatlandsparky]

I was in Scottsbluff a few weeks ago, and on my way into town going through Gering noticed a Sterling siren near M and 10th street, (cool coincedence). Anything sirenwise near there? Cool photo by the way.

[Thun-1003guy]

That building actually used to be the old city offices for Gering. There was a Thunderbolt 1003 on top there too at one time, you can see some of the standpipe still in the tower the Sterling is mounted on. When Gering purchased 2 more Thunderbolt 1003's they moved the one from the city offices to the Junior High, then installed one at Northfield Elementary and the other one Geil Elementary. According to the former emergency management director she said the Gering Tbolts were unreliable and malfunctioned a lot. They used to fail to activate during tests or turn on by themselves. The Junior high one was replaced in 2000 with a Federal 2001 siren and the other 2 were replaced in 2002 with Federal 2001 sirens. Here's is a picture of the that was by Geil Elementary.

[Tyler]

...According to the former emergency management director she said the Gering Tbolts were unreliable and malfunctioned a lot. They used to fail to activate during tests or turn on by themselves. The Junior high one was replaced in 2000 with a Federal 2001 siren and the other 2 were replaced in 2002 with Federal 2001 sirens...

Siratrol radio issues if I had to guess. Thunderbolt controllers aren't known to ever activate themselves without the radio or a relay to trigger the timer, but do have the tendency for the Agastat relay to go bad and do funky things, like disengaging the blower and rotator contacts in attack mode when they should remain on while the chopper winds up and down. With a good radio installed and maintenance every now and then, Thunderbolts are totally fine and reliable sirens. There are quite a few cities with Thunderbolts with newer radios on them, mostly FCs, which typically work perfectly with legacy models if configured correctly for the units you have. If I'm not mistaken, you can program FCs to activate the fire signal for 1003 and 3T22 models as well.