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Stevenson, Washington's Thunderbolt

Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2018 10:33 pm
by SiroRailfan
In late July, (7/31/17 to be exact) I went with a friend to railfan the Columbia River Gorge, and one of the places we stopped at was Ruston Way in Stevenson, Washington. While we were waiting for a train to pass, I happened to get a picture of the siren that is still there. A Federal Signal Thunderbolt 1003 siren. I'm wondering if it's possible to see it in use, and if there just so happens to be any videos on the siren in particular. Also, are there any other Thunderbolts hidden in the Gorge on either the Oregon or Washington side (Longview and Yakima I already know about) that aren't very documented?

Oh, also, here's the picture:
Image

Re: Stevenson, Washington's Thunderbolt

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 5:16 am
by coastalsyrolover
You know my answers. Lol. Yakima has the Jailbar thunderbolt that they occasionally use but they need to get a noise permit from the city and they haven’t even had the guy come in to re do the wiring work yet. Last I called Stevenson they said it wasn’t used but I’m starting to suspect they might be changing their minds on that. Perhaps i need to follow up.

Re: Stevenson, Washington's Thunderbolt

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2018 2:01 pm
by SiroRailfan
Well, where do you think I got 'em? ;)

I guess that makes sense about Yakima, I could see a noise permit being needed, but then again, isn't it owned by a fire department? If it was, couldn't they use it at their own discretion? Wasn't there another siren in Yakima?

With Stevenson, I'm betting it's used. Because different railfan videos I see, the siren seems to be rotated differently in each one, and usually they're around the same year...but one could only guess.

Re: Stevenson, Washington's Thunderbolt

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 5:08 am
by coastalsyrolover
Yea... or again I say... call? Lol. The building that owns Yakima’s jailbar bolt WAS a fire department. But it’s not anymore. Yes there is also a hornless one there (which of you type “Yakima thunderbolt” into the search bar, you can probably find the massive magnitude of topics that I and a few other members made on here... one of which mister Ian “murrfarms” found the hornless one and there are pics of the jailbar one.) but yea I’ll call Stevenson and see... if they use it we can maybe go film it or maybe see the jailbar one in Yakima or both (yes outside people reading this I’ve known him for years.)

Re: Stevenson, Washington's Thunderbolt

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 1:58 pm
by SiroRailfan
I don't think I wanna call them, I think I'll have you be the one who does that. lol And of course, you'd have to ask when they test it and have them be 100% sure they'll test it. :P

I've seen the hornless one on Google Maps. It looks interesting.

Re: Stevenson, Washington's Thunderbolt

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 3:19 pm
by coastalsyrolover
Well... I have to be respectful. If they say they test it and they don’t well... that’s a shame but we can’t go around yelling at people for things like that... lol.

Re: Stevenson, Washington's Thunderbolt

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 2:05 pm
by SiroRailfan
lol that's equally true. I do think they test it, but it would be hard finding when. Just be careful about it.

Re: Stevenson, Washington's Thunderbolt

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 12:07 am
by Daniel
The last time I drove through Stevenson, the horn was facing in a different direction. I don’t know of any other Thunderbolts in the Gorge, but on the Washington side are several sirens, including a 2T22 in Carson, two STH-10s in North Bonneville, 2 Model 5’s in White Salmon, Model 2’s in Bingen, Paterson, and Roosevelt, an SD-10 in Underwood, and Model 5’s in Skamania and Washougal. On the Oregon side are very few sirens: Model 5’s in Arlington (noon test only), Boardman (unused), and The Dalles (one removed, one unused), something like a Model 3 in a box at Rufus, and a Sterling Little Giant in Mosier.

Re: Stevenson, Washington's Thunderbolt

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 2:17 pm
by FedTB
Officials in Yakima need a "noise permit" to activate the siren?! Now THERE are a bunch of snowflake liberals!

Re: Stevenson, Washington's Thunderbolt

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 3:24 pm
by SiroRailfan
Daniel, wow! I didn't know there were so many out there, and I know for sure Cascade Locks has a yellow siren (looks like a Darley, unsure if it's used or not) and Camas also has a Whelen. But other than those, I had no clue (except for Arlington) that those ones were out there!