siren hunting.

[Robert Gift]

I'd go check it out and do lubrication if the bearings permit.

I discovered a tower clock which had not been serviced.
I lubricated it just as the bearings were beginning to destruct.
Too bad I did not catch it earlier before damage, but I stopped
damage progression and it is still working well.

[Daniel]

Robert, thanks for the heads-up on Tower, but we don't have that chain in Oregon. I love "Wachet auf," but the finest version I've ever heard of it was in an old recording from Bok Tower Gardens in Florida, played on a carillon! This, of course, was not Bach's version, but the original hymn "Sleepers Awake," played fairly straightforward at first, then a second verse of rapid-fire treble work and the melody played on the bourdons. It sends a chill down my spine just to hear it.

That Silverton siren is only sounded about 10 seconds each day at noon. Here's the YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erW7nwpvZqo

On rare occasion it is given two or three blasts of this length for serious fire calls.

Also, there is an interesting tower clock I would like to visit at the Crook County Courthouse in Prineville, Oregon, in which the whole mechanism is still powered by a rock-filled bucket for a weight. No bells, though.

[Robert Gift]

Robert, thanks for the heads-up on Tower, but we don't have that chain in Oregon. I love "Wachet auf," but the finest version I've ever heard of it was in an old recording from Bok Tower Gardens in Florida, played on a carillon![/quote]
That is interesting.
Would never have expected it on carillon.

This, of course, was not Bach's version, but the original hymn "Sleepers Awake," played fairly straightforward at first, then a second verse of rapid-fire treble work and the melody played on the bourdons. It sends a chill down my spine just to hear it.

That Silverton siren is only sounded about 10 seconds each day at noon. Here's the YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erW7nwpvZqo

On rare occasion it is given two or three blasts of this length for serious fire calls.

Also, there is an interesting tower clock I would like to visit at the Crook County Courthouse in Prineville, Oregon, in which the whole mechanism is still powered by a rock-filled bucket for a weight. No bells, though.

Wonderful.
Hope you can post photos.

Some clocks' weights have fallen and gone through several floors of the town halls housing the clocks.
I saw patches to a town hall/courthouse from where a weight crashed through several floors. Fortunately the weight went through the floors right at a corner of the buildings, so no one was hurt.