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Gents siren

Hi Jason this is my next project.
This one also came from london and has a brooks compton motor,

It is the first of the direct replacements for the gents sirens.

Regards phil
 

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Hi Phil,does the nameplate have a date on it? I'm guessing that it is coldwar then? How did you aquire it? A museum not far from where i live has one just like that in unrestored condition.I'm intrigued by how you manage to aquire these sirens! Have you had to get any of your sirens rewound? I'm still drooling over the pics of your Gents WW2 siren,i hope i can get mine to a similar condition.I've been told that the windings would be destroyed if i take mine right apart,don't know if that is true.Thanks for posting the photo.Will you paint it in the same colour as your Gents WW2?
Regards.Jason
 
Jason said:
Hi Phil,does the nameplate have a date on it? I'm guessing that it is coldwar then? How did you aquire it? A museum not far from where i live has one just like that in unrestored condition.I'm intrigued by how you manage to aquire these sirens! Have you had to get any of your sirens rewound? I'm still drooling over the pics of your Gents WW2 siren,i hope i can get mine to a similar condition.I've been told that the windings would be destroyed if i take mine right apart,don't know if that is true.Thanks for posting the photo.Will you paint it in the same colour as your Gents WW2?
Regards.Jason
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Hi Jason
I have quite a few friends and contacts in local authorities and the word sorta goes out amongst various grapevines Including the MOD so with all
additional info and a lot of groundwork i sometimes get lucky.
My Guy rewinds sirens in star delta for 250 but unless you have a source of three phase power they will not work on anything else.
Phase converters need a big single phase supply and are costly.
I am limited to borrowing a three phase outlet and am still waiting to get mine hooked up at my mates place soon as i can lug it down there.
If you take yours apart the armature will come out in one peice and you will see how the windings are made up,they wont be destroyed.
This one i am doing has a pretty good motor but needs a terminal box,
and a strip and re paint.
The paint is slightly lighter in colour on this one, as i had a good colour sample from behind the rotors on the Gents and had it matched.
But asually local councils painted the sirens in the colours most comonly used in respective boroughs.

regards phil
 
I've just located a Gents air raid siren for sale which has got 2 sets of impellers either side of the main motor,from the photos that were emailed to me it looks very original.Would have really liked to have purchased this as it is up for a very reasonable price but can't buy iy myself as it's in Scotland.Anyone got a van i can borrow!!
 
As an avid siren fan have taken some pictures of the flood warning siren in Gainsborough it is on top of the fire station and seems to be a castle castings from around 1987ish I think.

Chris
 
Sirens!

Finally went past Crowthorn Railway station this morning at 10-00 am.
What is significant about 10-00 am ?
At 10-00am Broadmoor tests all of its alarm systems which include this one and another in Wokingham town centre plus many more dotted around the Broadmoor area.
Standing on the station it is easily visible even with the tree growth around the mast.
Picture 1 is the mast with the siren on top.
Picture 2 is a close up of the Siren itself
Picture 3 is a picture of the pole the Siren used to be on to call the part time Firemen for Sonning village.
 

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Chris 42 RQ said:
Finally went past Crowthorn Railway station this morning at 10-00 am.
What is significant about 10-00 am ?
At 10-00am Broadmoor tests all of its alarm systems which include this one and another in Wokingham town centre plus many more dotted around the Broadmoor area.
Standing on the station it is easily visible even with the tree growth around the mast.
Picture 1 is the mast with the siren on top.
Picture 2 is a close up of the Siren itself
Picture 3 is a picture of the pole the Siren used to be on to call the part time Firemen for Sonning village.
Click to expand...

Nice pictures Chris

This is a castle castings siren with two attachments for different signals.
In post war years some of the sirens were fitted with shut off cowlings
called the cookoos which gave a more muffled note and i beleive signalled
the grey warning for a nuclear attack on the UK.

There are still a few around today but the majority were dismantled back in the early 90s.

Best phil
 
Thanks for the info Phil.

satan18 said:
Nice pictures Chris

This is a castle castings siren with two attachments for different signals.
In post war years some of the sirens were fitted with shut off cowlings
called the cookoos which gave a more muffled note and i beleive signalled
the grey warning for a nuclear attack on the UK.

There are still a few around today but the majority were dismantled back in the early 90s.

Best phil
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info Phil, when you say two different signals do you mean two notes or something else?
I made the assumption that with it being a double ended siren it would just be double the noise-when they go off you can hear them at my home location and that is some 5 1/2 miles away when the wind is in the right direction!
Best regards
Chris
 
Chris 42 RQ said:
Thanks for the info Phil, when you say two different signals do you mean two notes or something else?
I made the assumption that with it being a double ended siren it would just be double the noise-when they go off you can hear them at my home location and that is some 5 1/2 miles away when the wind is in the right direction!
Best regards
Chris
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Hi Chris
They had all types of sound devices fitted to the siren ends and they were usually the same notes for each end.

Utube has civil defence bulletin no 5 which has a lot of cold war siren signalling with the attachments fitted,look it up its worth a watch.

Best phil
 
Thank you Phil

satan18 said:
Hi Chris
They had all types of sound devices fitted to the siren ends and they were usually the same notes for each end.

Utube has civil defence bulletin no 5 which has a lot of cold war siren signalling with the attachments fitted,look it up its worth a watch.

Best phil
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Phil I will have a look see!
All the best
Chris
 
Air raid siren

Hey people.
Im from kent and have been looking for a gents/castle castings/klaxon cs siren to restore for a good 3 months now and i cant for the life of me seem to find any. The last time i saw a gents siren it was next to waterloo bridge in london and when i went there last week to enquire about it it had gone. I am gutted haha. Could anyone help me and let me know if they know of any in kent/essex or london.
By the way to the previous people on here, from what i have seen you have done a wiked job on the ones you have allready found.
Cheers
Azz
 
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