Federal Enterprises Thunderbolt 1000T |1-Minute Alert | Evanston, IL | 7/2/19 | 

Thanks! Yes, the sound was for sure increased when it faced the chimney (it caught me by complete surprise when I heard it). Its actually not in the best condition. Rust is becoming an issue, and the fact that its reverse wired really isnt good. It will be going down soon

@@thespiritstingray9359 that's very sad, but hey, you might get it if you ask

@@Thunderbolt1000AT I could get it, I just do not have the space or time for it

@@thespiritstingray9359 gotcha, the thought counts though

Old age, and a few of the thunderbolts have a lot of issues. Rust is becoming an issue, having to replace the choppers because they're malfunctioning, and a multitude of other issues

@@thespiritstingray9359 Damn! Well that's a huge bummer, but if I were them I would do the same thing by replacing them because of what you just said

They got rid of them likely because it costs a ton of money to maintain these and run them. The power bill is also quite expensive too. These things were from 1954 so its a surprise they survived all the way to 2020

@@thespiritstingray9359 yea I get it now

You too! Thanks bro

It's reverse wired, you can tell because as the blower shuts off, the sound from the siren gets completely muted for a split second due to the suction from the blower and chopper becoming equal.

I'm certain its reversed. I felt a bit of pressure in my chest when that thing was pointed at me, and the blower was really loud, unlike a correctly wired 6m

Thank you!

Yes, I liked the sound a lot, but it wasn't that loud either

I cant hit Evanston in august due to complications with my family and their plans, but I am for certain going in september. Yes, as far as I know, the blower on station 2s still runs, and yes, 5 of the 6 thunderbolts in Evanston have 6ms. Fire station 3 was converted to a 4m not to long ago, fire station 5s is reverse wired and so is this one. The one by the high school has a faulty blower and it is the most underpowered thunderbolt in existence, and the 1000T south of it (the one in my pfp) runs for a full 3 minutes

TheSpiritStingray I thought the 1000T that ran the full signal as already fixed...

@@MidwestSirenProductions no I dont think so. I'm not 100% sure if they fixed that, but I need to check

@@MidwestSirenProductions I was just told it's a go ahead for Evanston. I will meet you and one other enthusiast named milo over there.

Are you Ray by chance?

Thank you! Yes, it was a pretty awesome test, even though it was reverses

Yep still healthy despite the reverse

Nice! I love sentry sirens, I just dont have any close to me. Good luck out there!

It was pretty hot and humid out there not gonna lie. I know what you mean, thanks man

Why is every video I say it's hot it actually was hot when recording?

@@iowansirenrecordings2454 idk man. Good job predicting it though

Agreed. It was surprisingly loud for being reverse wired. Nothing compared to a normally wired thunderbolt though

Jeez if you don't mind me asking, what state are you based out of? There's gotta be more

TheSpiritStingray West Virginia l

@@IanTheRabbit oh jeez yeah I don't know of much out there lol

TheSpiritStingray there is a website called various sirens of West Virginia

There was a newspaper article on the Chicago Tribune in 1954 saying that 3 new sirens were installed in Evanston. Their addresses were mentioned as well, and the address for this siren was on the list. Evanston has 2 reverse wired thunderbolts, this one and fire station 5

They just bought a chopper that was compatible with the siren and called it a day. Dual or single tone cities just get a part and as long as it does the job then it works

Yesh

Series A1. The series (variant) of the thunderbolt seen here

Yes

Thanks man

All but 2 of them have been removed and replaced. One has been replaced and is still standing, the other has yet to be removed and replaced

Nope, I'm pretty sure it was normally wired for some time

@@thespiritstingray9359 it was still reversed at least a few years ago when Bill recorded this when it was still a 1000. Thanks for getting all 6 on film though.

@@TheSleepyMechanic0524 actually no, this is the first and only recording of this siren, the one bill recorded was located at fire station 5

@@thespiritstingray9359 oh I gotcha. Man, they sure do look similar. Is the one Bill recorded still a 1000?

@@TheSleepyMechanic0524 as far as I'm aware, yes

Its 5/6 on level 2 or 3. It sounds like 6 because its reverse wired

Thank you!

@@thespiritstingray9359 You're welcome!

Thunderbolts were never fitted with 10/12 choppers. This thunderbolt has a 5/6 chopper.

I knew that I was referring to how raspy it sounded, I feel like I’m one of 3 people to know what they were fitted with

There were 6 thunderbolts in Evanston's system. All removed and replaced by 2001-130s. I contacted the city multiple times in an attempt to save them from scrapping, and I coordinated an effort with the city and the contractor who was removing one of the thunderbolts to arrange for someone (at first, me) to save one of the thunderbolts. It worked. One of the 6 that was removed and replaced is now in private possession thanks to me and a few others who worked to save them. The rest were presumably scrapped. If it were up to me, I'd keep them up and running

@@thespiritstingray9359 ALL FROM 2001s! man im probably gonna pass out of this

@@trainsandsirensofilinmiwi2080 I can't blame them, 2001s are some of the best sirens on the market these days. Overall, they're much more reliable than thunderbolts. Still, it sucks to see thunderbolts being replaced but, it is what it is

@@thespiritstingray9359 they are. no way. they replace everything but i know what your sayin

@@trainsandsirensofilinmiwi2080 I just remembered, the 2001 that replaced this thunderbolt was recorded yesterday. Even though it's a 2001, you gotta admit, it looks really cool on a roof mount. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IZRLcIQAMkw.html

Nice! Have fun!

Wasn't braniff's choice, the city wanted to do it and braniff was contracted for the job

@@thespiritstingray9359 no they scrapped them instead of giving them to cities in need

@@1000BT it was determined by the workers of braniff that the sirens were past their usable lifespan meaning that they would not work anymore no matter what they tried (which is wrong by a long shot), but since that's what was determined, they needed to scrap them

@@thespiritstingray9359 not all of them were

@@1000BT most of them, if not all of them were perfectly capable of operating correctly. Unfortunately, since the city of Evanston doesn't do their research and braniff is a tiny bit money hungry, both evanston and braniff decided that it was time to replace them. Hard to blame them though, 2 of them were reverse wired and the rust was beginning to become a problem

Yeah its not the best when they run reversed. But hey it was still decently loud for being reversed