New Member, and my Sirens

[Jon4ford]

Hello from Eastern NC, thought I'd share my two sirens with ya. Been enjoying this site, especially the NC map.

1st siren is my all time favorite model. Federal Thunderbolt Model 1000AT. This siren came from the Belgrade Fire department in eastern NC. I acquired it back in April of 2014. Long story short, while travelling through the area, I spotted this siren, and couldn't wait to get back home and tell my dad that I saw a Thunderbolt Siren. The two of us went back, and spoke with the chief of the station, and said it was no longer in service, that the last time they tried to sound it, bats flew out of the horn haha. My dad asked him if we could get it, and the chief simply said "make a donation to the fire department" and we did. Luckily my dad knew someone back home who had a big enough crane to handle getting it down. So another trip to the station, along with the guys with the crane, she came home with us that day. Later on, we went back to the station to get the control panel, but didn't get the AR timer (it was long gone by that time). The control panel, if I remember correctly is not the original one to the siren, it's tag is stamped RCM3, but has the RCM1 internals.

The 2nd siren is a Federal Model 5 type C 3-1/2 7.5 HP.
This siren was located on top of a light pole in Greenville, NC off of Portertown road, and to my understanding was an auxiliary siren for the Eastern Pines Fire department. We acquired this siren not long after the Thunderbolt. We even got the pole mount for it. This style siren is all over the area where I live, but sadly most have been took down or still standing and no longer in service. Even the volunteer FD down the road from me took theirs down (people kept complaining about the noise). So I figure it's up to me to sound a siren

Anyway hope you enjoyed the history behind them

Thunderbolt Crane 2.jpg (40.74 KiB) Viewed 12555 times

Thunderbolt Crane 3.jpg (36.99 KiB) Viewed 12555 times

Thunderbolt Crane 4.jpg (53.91 KiB) Viewed 12555 times

Thunderbolt Crane 5.jpg (51.26 KiB) Viewed 12555 times

Thunderbolt Loaded.jpg (89.61 KiB) Viewed 12555 times

Thunderbolt Loaded.jpg (89.61 KiB) Viewed 12555 times

Thunderbolt 2.jpg (4.4 MiB) Viewed 12555 times

Chopper Tag.jpg (2.03 MiB) Viewed 12555 times

Blower Pulley side.jpg (4.07 MiB) Viewed 12555 times

Thunderbolt Blower and motor.jpg (3.48 MiB) Viewed 12555 times

Thunderbolt 1.jpg (4.43 MiB) Viewed 12555 times

RCM tag.jpg (2.54 MiB) Viewed 12555 times

Control panel RCM1.jpg (2.78 MiB) Viewed 12555 times

Thunderbolt Crane 1.jpg (48.23 KiB) Viewed 12555 times

[Jon4ford]

Siren Portertown.png (774.17 KiB) Viewed 12552 times

Model 5 tag.jpg (2.07 MiB) Viewed 12552 times

Model 5 motor.jpg (4.89 MiB) Viewed 12552 times

Model 5 Chopper.jpg (4.93 MiB) Viewed 12552 times

Model 5 Mount.jpg (4.42 MiB) Viewed 12552 times

Model 5 Lower Shroud.jpg (5.17 MiB) Viewed 12552 times

Model 5 Top.jpg (4.98 MiB) Viewed 12552 times

Federal Model 5.jpg (2.86 MiB) Viewed 12552 times

[Non-Zero]

That is really cool! I rescued a unit that was at the Back Swamp VFD, it was a 1000 back in December of 2022. It was in overall rough shape and a lot of the siren needed to be rebuilt.

[HDN]

Thanks for sharing your sirens and how you got them! I really like how you were able to get a crane to take the Thunderbolt down on its base in one piece. But how did the guy get up there, ride the hook up? Don't tell OSHA The trailer setup for it is slick!

Do you have some military stuff there too? I see something in olive drab with non-directional tires...

[Eclipse DDS]

Heck, that's really nice! Thanks for sharing your sirens! Although I love my sirens, the American models always seem so much more exciting and impressive to me! There's something very striking about the Thunderbolt especially. Have you ever tried running either of them up?

[LukeH]

Welcome from Michigan. My 1917 Denver Quadruplex siren actually came from Albertson, NC. It will hopefully make its first run since 2016 next year.

Snapchat-287261834.jpg (1.06 MiB) Viewed 6577 times

[Jon4ford]

That is really cool! I rescued a unit that was at the Back Swamp VFD, it was a 1000 back in December of 2022. It was in overall rough shape and a lot of the siren needed to be rebuilt.

That's awesome, that not to far from me. Hopefully you can get it up and going soon.

[Jon4ford]

Thanks for sharing your sirens and how you got them! I really like how you were able to get a crane to take the Thunderbolt down on its base in one piece. But how did the guy get up there, ride the hook up? Don't tell OSHA The trailer setup for it is slick!

Do you have some military stuff there too? I see something in olive drab with non-directional tires...

Yeah, he put a harness on, and rode the hook up, shhhhh don't tell anyone haha. Still have the pole mount bracket, and base for the Thunderbolt. Thanks, I had that trailer already and thought that would be a neat setup.

Yes, I have several Military Generators, the tires you see in the pic, is a Genset, I can't remember the model #, but it has a Hercules Diesel engine. Also have 2 Onan Military gensets, one is from WWII ( Onan OFA-2), the other from the Korean war era (Onan 3-ABG).

[Jon4ford]

Heck, that's really nice! Thanks for sharing your sirens! Although I love my sirens, the American models always seem so much more exciting and impressive to me! There's something very striking about the Thunderbolt especially. Have you ever tried running either of them up?

I do love a Thunderbolt Siren, Yes I have sounded the Thunderbolt several times, I even take it to the local antique tractor show where I demonstrate it. The Model 5 I have sounded a few times too.

[Jon4ford]

Welcome from Michigan. My 1917 Denver Quadruplex siren actually came from Albertson, NC. It will hopefully make its first run since 2016 next year.

Snapchat-287261834.jpg

WOW! I bet that will sound amazing. Hopefully you get it going soon.