The Siren Board

Back in September, I picked up a 74-year old Sterling Model M48 from a fire station near Avon Park, FL. It is a 5HP, 220V Single Phase model made in 1948 (Hence "M48").
My Grandfather, his friends and I have been working on restoring it for the past 3 months. It is almost ready to be sounded off, and I thought I'd like to share some pictures of the siren before then.

Looks great! Did you fully disassemble and replace bearings, or gave it a good paint job only? Man, it's gonna sound nice.
I especially like the new oiler cups! Nice touch

I remember when I first spotted a Sterling on the ground. They are surprisingly small but make alot of noise

One of our friends, Doug, works for a huge motor repair shop in Tampa, FL. The bearings in it are bronze sleeve bearings, and the guys at the motor shop were able to keep them, and the siren had a full rewind done to it. Thanks to our connection it was actually done pretty cheap (as in 100 dollars cheap).

As for the work I did, I was responsible for orchestrating the aquisition, directing the disassembly, and sandblasting/repainting the the parts that were not the motor (that was handled by the motor shop. I'm very excited to finally let this thing rip for the first in over 20 years.

Nice siren! I look forward to seeing its restoration completed

amazing work on the unit i tried to get a hold of one my self we called the fire department they Sayed they ware going to "make it an display"
around a year ago now they still haven't done it

duckwaddledup wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 20, 2022 1:57 am

amazing work on the unit i tried to get a hold of one my self we called the fire department they Sayed they ware going to "make it an display"
around a year ago now they still haven't done it

If its been a year, it might be time to give it a second look. Or perhaps, offer a hand in preparing the display siren?

Oh, wow she looks nice! I can't wait to see it when it's done!

M48? Huh that's interesting. Does the ID plate name it as an M48?

Tyler wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 22, 2022 2:04 am

M48? Huh that's interesting. Does the ID plate name it as an M48?

Probably. Caledonia FD in NY used to have a Sterling that had a model number of "M45" on its tag. Based on what @SunshineStateSirens said, that means it's a Sterling Model M siren built in 1945.

Tyler wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 22, 2022 2:04 am

M48? Huh that's interesting. Does the ID plate name it as an M48?

Indeed it does. An M48 is a Model M made in the year 1948. They usually would stamp the siren as just "M", though for a short time, they would stamp them as "M", followed by the last 2 digits of the manufacturing year. I'd imagine this was from 1945 - 1960. The latest date I have for this is 1958.

Many believe the sirens to be Models M3, M5 and M10, but they never bothered stamping the horsepower in on the model name, nor have I seen a normal Sterling with a 10hp motor.