Operating HO Scale Air Raid Siren

[maxman]

Southwest Chief

But I can't seem to find a working website for Ratcliffe models.

Well, since this topic has been re-animated, there is a working website: http://ralphratcliffemodels.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=65

That siren is listed at $14.  If I could find a sound board, I think I would want to buy one of the sirens.

[spyrocynder]

we live in washington state. and we have this volcaino neer us mt. rainear. 

and we have lahar sirens in our valley all thow we live on a hill in kent/renton and the neerest one is in tucwilla on a fire station its a modlator 6048. sadly you cant hear it were i live wich is odd becaus we also have the sounder train and some other cargo trains. and you can hear them. bye the way if your a sirenethusiest like me check out verious sirens in and your state and it is a google map like thing were it will tell you were sirens are what type they are and facts about them.

for exsample heres one for washington link: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?msa=0&mid=1_9a5UXU8B7pT_QKQ7cFH3zxfcSQ&ll=47.33140260595872%2C-120.95779000000005&z=7 

[spyrocynder]

Nice thunderbolt siren. sounds like the real thing. i love how it also spins like the real siren too.

[Southwest Chief]

Ray Dunakin

BTW, I like the photo backdrop. What is the town in that photo? Looks vaguely familiar.

 

Goffs, CA

[Ray Dunakin]

Very cool and unique! I remember air raid sirens and doing "duck and cover" drills in elementary school back in the '60s. 

BTW, I like the photo backdrop. What is the town in that photo? Looks vaguely familiar.

 

[archy]

Pretty near the sound of the *wolf whistle* sirens we had growing up in a series of refinery towns- kind of like being an Army brat, but it smelled worse. But if you heard that whooping siren [the whoop may have been made as it rotated like yours does, I never thought about that before] you knew that there was a fire getting out of control at the refinery, and it was a good time to go visit grandma at her place at least 15 miles away. Kids who grew up around refineries were a LOT less likely to want to be firemen when they grew up.

[cv_acr]

In my hometown there is a lot of oil refineries and chemical industry, and there are warning sirens associated with those for emergencies, and they test those every week, at 12:30PM on Mondays.

[hornblower]

Along with animating the people outside the building, don't forget to animate the lovestock freaking out under the tree!

[wjstix]

That is very cool! Around here (Mpls-St.Paul) they blow the sirens at 1 pm the first Wednesday every month. IIRC my first couple of years in school we used to at least once a year use that test for an "air raid drill" where we all lined up and went down into the basement. We do something like that in March or April now at work, but it's a 'severe storm drill'.

Otherwise, we hear them once or twice each summer as a tornado warning. The up-and-down wail is for a tornado, at one time a long, continuous tone was for a severe thunderstorm, but that one is rarely used now. (They generally blow all the sirens in the county if a funnel cloud or tornado is spotted, so usually the actual tornado 'event' is many miles away from us.)

[ricktrains4824]

maxman

Also, before the invention of beepers and text messages, all the local volunteer fire companies used them to notify the firefighters were needed.

They still do in my area. Test it once a week. (Thursday evening at 7pm.) It doubles as a Tornado siren. (They will sound, shut off mid-sound, sound full cycle, then continuously sound for Tornados at that station. We are in the country, so, if we ever are outside and hear that pattern.....)

The one downtown however, is strictly emergency use only. (Manufacturing plant issues, and Tornados.) They tested it once every two months. (Always first full week, usually on Wednesday. Always after 1pm, but before 5pm.)

One time, they made the mistake (well, had the misfortune) of testing it on a day we actually had bad weather in the vicinity..... Boy did that ruffle feathers! (They now test it every two months, same schedule, first full week, on Wednesday, now at 2pm, unless there is inclement weather in the area. Then they announce they will test it the following week, on the next Wednesday, at 2pm.)

Then the time that the power went out, and the safety switch was burnt out. Caused it to start sounding, and they could not get it shut off.... Worried several people until the announcement was made that the plant was not going to blow up, that there was no bad weather, and that it was a technical issue that was the problem. Then everyone just got mad....

But, nothing beat the local emergency response team for the county running a drill, starting at 5pm, that a Tornado had touched down in the largest town in the county, and running a test response to it, and running it on a day we had a Tornado warning! Without announcing it was a drill!

Even the emergency responders thought it was real. That really ticked off everyone. Big time.

They no longer run that drill in the springtime..... Now they run that particular drill in the late fall. When it is far too cold for it to be real.

[chutton01]

Southwest Chief

chutton01

Possibly the Ralph Ratcliffe model?

Yes that's it.  But I can't seem to find a working website for Ratcliffe models.

The only real info I could find was this page

So I have come to the very difficult decision to shut down RalphRatcliffeModels.com and concentrate on building the custom models, and master patterns that I have been putting off for far too long.
I have many, many loyal customers, and it’s been a pleasure to provide the top quality products that I have for the last few years. I very much appreciate each and every one of you for your patronage.

From that it seems he's doing custom work only now, which is what you find on his Facebook page.

[maxman]

Don't know if it is the same individual, but there is a Facebook listing: https://www.facebook.com/Ralph-Ratcliffe-Models-142089775856001/timeline/

Some nice HO scale truck models there.

[maxman]

rrebell

Remember those from the "kiss your ass goodby" days, they are long gone from my area.

Lots of them around here.  They test them first Monday or Tuesday of the month.  They go off any other time and we're supposed to look and see if there is a plume coming from the local "steam electric station" (otherwise known as the nuclear power plant).

Also, before the invention of beepers and text messages, all the local volunteer fire companies used them to notify the firefighters were needed.

[Southwest Chief]

chutton01

Possibly the Ralph Ratcliffe model?

Yes that's it.  But I can't seem to find a working website for Ratcliffe models.

[chutton01]

Southwest Chief

The air raid siren (a thunderbolt) was a resin kit I found online a few years ago.  Unfortunately the bookmark I have no longer works so these may not be made anymore. 

The kit came with the siren and boxes.  It might have also come with a mounting pole, but I made my own.

Possibly the Ralph Ratcliffe model?

[tomikawaTT]

Very nice.  Next trick is to animate the two military types to do a disappearing act...

Slightly O/T.  A similar siren was installed at a Titan silo after residential development closed in on what had been empty desert, to warn the locals when the beast was about to fire.  It was tested weekly - and the NIMBYs complained.  Loudest squawks came from a bunch of teachers at the elementary school located between the silo and the rails - somewhat closer to the rails.

So we went out and tested sound levels.  The siren registered 63 decibels.  The air horn of an SP freight registered 72.  The passing train, at closest approach, sustained 65-67 decibels (with higher spikes) for two minutes.

Sent the report to Public Affairs, copies to the school principal and the TV reporter who composed the local station sound bite.  The return silence was deafening.

Good thing the Titan never fired.  If they thought that siren was loud...

Chuck (Ex Missile Wing statistician modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[Southwest Chief]

Thanks all,

The air raid siren (a thunderbolt) was a resin kit I found online a few years ago.  Unfortunately the bookmark I have no longer works so these may not be made anymore. 

The kit came with the siren and boxes.  It might have also come with a mounting pole, but I made my own.

To make it spin I used a spare Walthers motor I had.  The motor Walthers uses for their oil well.  I mounted the siren on a piece of brass rod and this rod is in a tube.  The tube is glued but the rod is not so it can spin freely.

[rrebell]

Remember those from the "kiss your ass goodby" days, they are long gone from my area.

[jeffhergert]

Not uncommon to hear them during severe storm season around here.  Many places test them once a month.  Some towns used to sound them at noon every day, except maybe weekends.

The town my uncle lived in had the siren go off at noon and 6pm during the work week.  They lived next to it.  (A different style mounted on the town's water tower.)  I remember it going off at 6pm one day when we were visiting.  Scared us kids and was it ever loud.

Jeff

 

[7j43k]

I fondly remember the Red Alert signal: a continuous tone.  It certainly got a person thinking.  Especially when it was unanticipated.

 

 

Ed

[hon30critter]

Boy does that bring back memories! Gave me goose bumps!

Very well done indeed. Did you build the siren or was it a kit? If you built the mechanism a 'how to' post would be really nice.

Also, where did you get the recording of the siren?

Dave

[gmpullman]

Very clever, indeed, Matt!

I'd like to have one rigged up so that when little hands (or big ones for that matter) reach in to touch something on the layout it wails like a banshee!

I recently had the opportunity to communicate with George Solovay at ITTP and found him to be a great person to deal with and an asset to the hobby!

Thanks for posting the video, Ed

["JaBear"]

That’s very Matt, though I can only hope those two chaps outside the barracks door aren’t members of the antiaircraft unit!!

Cheers, the Bear.

[Southwest Chief]

BATMAN

How is the sound made, a real air raid siren under the layout?

The sound is a custom run HQ sound module by ITT Products. 

I provided the sound clip and they made the sound board for me.  The sound board is under the layout and the speaker is in the military barracks.

[BATMAN]

Now that is something different and very cool indeed. How is the sound made, a real air raid siren under the layout?

[Southwest Chief]

I hooked up the air raid siren on my HO scale layout.  It actually operates.

Here's a YouTube video link to see it operate: