All went as planned, after 6+ years, the Sherman 1003

[CDV777-1]

After 6+ years, numerous letters, phone calls and general bugging of various Sherman Texas officials I finally have the 1003. The city loaned it to me permanently as long as I removed the thing. I explained to them that I was only interested in the horn/rotator and not the other stuff on the pole. The control boxes are empty and the blower is gone. Here's a photo account of the days events.


At 9:30am North Texas Signs arrived with 2 trucks to remove the thing.



Strapping onto the horn after unbolting the pipe flange and disconnecting.



The moment it lifted off of the standpipe.



Now hanging free as the 2001 and Moon look on.


Strapped in the back of my truck 1 hour after they arrived to remove it.
Thankfully no damage.


The forlorn headless pole/platform. The 2001 is alone now.



About an hour ago I got the box and solenoid housing open. Everything
is surprisingly clean. The rotator gear is still heavily greased. The only
gear reducer oil leak is what dribbled out of the vent while the thing was sitting
at an angle in my truck.


Here it is in the garage after all this time. The chopper motor works and the solenoids move freely.

[Gil]

Very nice! Where's it coming from?

[Trey]

Excellent Eric, congratulations to you. I've wanted a 1003 for years now but there are none in my area and didn't know there were any up in those parts either. Can't wait to see the restoration on that baby.

[hobbeekid]

Very nice! Where's it coming from?

"Sherman Texassssss"

[hobbeekid]

777,
Do you have a blower and controls lined up for it?

[kx250rider]

Congratulations on getting the 1003, and above all, my compliments to you on all that effort! I know how it is to deal with a local government trying to get an obsolete siren...

Did you have any issues with the sign company being unwilling to do this, or did you need a permit from the county or city?

I'm in a letter writing campaign trying to get the gas-powered T-bolt 7000 from an abandoned Los Angeles County Sheriffs station... Lots of letters written, none answered yet

Charles

[bwillcox]

Victory at last!

-b-

[JasonC]

Oh I'm so jealous! What happened to the blower and the controls? You should have saved the standpipe flange!

[Justin]

I'm in a letter writing campaign trying to get the gas-powered T-bolt 7000 from an abandoned Los Angeles County Sheriffs station... Lots of letters written, none answered yet

Good luck with that.

Have fun with your new 1003, Eric.

[CDV777-1]

Excellent Eric, congratulations to you. I've wanted a 1003 for years now but there are none in my area and didn't know there were any up in those parts either. Can't wait to see the restoration on that baby.

This is the only 1003 I have ever seen. In all my years of siren "awareness" I've never seen another one.

Do you have a blower and controls lined up for it?

No.

Did you have any issues with the sign company being unwilling to do this, or did you need a permit from the county or city?

No. The crane guys were surprised when I asked them if they wanted to see the letter the city gave me. They guy operating the crane said "Huh? You have a letter from the city? Who would even care about this old thing?" One of the guy's with the fire dept. met me at the site to give me the letter from the city but he took off as soon as the sign guys showed up.

What happened to the blower and the controls? You should have saved the standpipe flange!

Jason
I might try to get the pipe when the city takes the platform down. But who knows when that'll ever happen. I thought about having them take the other stuff down but it ran right at an hour so I didn't want to stretch their time out. The blower frame's still on the platform and the control boxes are empty. The hour rate was right at the max I wanted to pay for it. As far as the blower and controls... remember that guy that you talked to about this thing way back when? That Jackie guy? I think it was you who gave me his name. You gave me his name back in 2000 or 2001. He's the guy who put up the 2001s in Sherman back in 2000 or was it 1999. I can't remember. Anyway. He had a bunch of the controls to the Sherman sirens. I got a couple of RCMs from him. He had them laying on the ground around his house. I guess he brought them home and just threw them on the ground. He gave the sirens back to the city and kept a bunch of the control boxes when he took the old sirens down. I never found out from him why he never took down the 1003. Anyway. He had the RCM 3 and like a complete dumba$$ I didn't get the thing from him. It had about an inch of water standing in it. Thinking back now it really ticks me off that I didn't get it. An inch of water wouldn't have hurt that RCM 3. He's long gone now. I don't know what ever happened to him.