GAS THUNDERBOLT and another siren near Los Angeles

[kx250rider]

I went to a car show in La Verne, CA, which is about 40 miles East of Los Angeles but is still within Los Angeles County. But more exciting than the cars were two sirens that I had never noticed!

First one is a "naked" one mounted on the roof of the La Verne Fire & Police building at 3rd & C streets in La Verne. Then I found this T-bolt painted LA County Sheriff Green, and mounted on a pole in the back of the (RECENTLY ABANDONED!!!!!!) LA County Sheriff San Dimas substation. This is located at San Dimas Avenue at Bonita St. The siren is in the alley where you can walk right up to it (fenced though.) It seems to still be hooked up and has a power meter on it! Wonder if it still works??? An interesting thing is that the Sheriff green paint appears to be original because the remnants of the THUNDERBOLT decal is still on the blower box. If anyone in that area (Soundoff?) might get a chance on a business day, a visit to that old sheriffs office might be a good thing. It's definitely not occupied anymore as a regular station, but there is one car in the lot and there were lights on in there.

Charles

[SirenMadness]

Very nice! I feel as if I'm back in Germany! Sorta, actually! Good pics, and I hope that one of us gets a hold of that small siren.

[C. Bryant]

I thought they had a County Siren Beyond the one in La Puente to
the East . Note:the power feed is 117 Vac therefore its a Gas powered
converted to propane I suspect in 1972 just as they did with the
Chryslers and other L. A. County T-bolts . Reminds me of the
T-bolt on the Los Angeles County Alondra park
Golf course dismanteled, ( west of El Camino College )
April 1991,
because one of those guy wires had broken several years before!
Could have been repainted and saved with fresh guy wire. Even
more vintage prehaps is the Decoder and Radio Controls ,tube type,
in the box right of the blower and compresser. I suspect if it was
converted to propane the vapor has long leaked off due to the age
of the Flex hose. This T-bolt, Single Tone LOW Frequency
would be a big hit to have because.....
No three phase is necessary and only a small car size 12 Volt Battery
is needed to
crank it but a Size 27 Truck battery is Preferred. IE: Your bolt sounds
during a power emergency or after a First Strike H-Bomb this
was a Big Step Forward for a 1955 installation With Radio Command
and Control , I think Pre Federal Si-ratrol
radio receiver ,SeeCode
decoder pehaps.

[Castlevania2006]

is that the blower? seems smaller then the others dat I see on Thunderbolts

[Trey]

is that the blower? seems smaller then the others dat I see on Thunderbolts

Weird. Looks wider to me. There are more air holes as well in that blower.

Also, could somebody tell me what in the hell "dat" means? I'm not kidding I've never heard of it.

[500AT]

This might be a from a converted Thunderbolt Model 2000. Several of them were ordered for the LA area in the mid-1950s, but none of them are known to survive today. It would be interesting to inspect this unit much closer, and see what might be discovered.

[kx250rider]

Come to think; it IS a weird looking housing.

GAS?????????????????????? I didn't know they had a gas version of the t-bolt I gotta have one!

Charles

[Trey]

This might be a from a converted Thunderbolt Model 2000. Several of them were ordered for the LA area in the mid-1950s, but none of them are known to survive today. It would be interesting to inspect this unit much closer, and see what might be discovered.

Wasn't there also a Thunderbolt 7000? I know I saw one of those two in Amarillo, TX in downtown. It was on a building. Big box enclosed around the blower.

[Adam Pollak]

The Thunderbolt 2000s that I have seen before had an exhaust pipe coming out of the blower box itself.

[Gil]

Also, could somebody tell me what in the hell "dat" means? I'm not kidding I've never heard of it.

Its an uneducated an immature way of saying "that." I don't understand
why they don't just say "that," but kids are stupid these days.


Very nice pictures. That first siren is interesting. Love the thunderbolt.
I havent seen one with that many blower holes. In the first Thunderbolt pic, is that a generator?