OK I finally have an adapter for my phone’s SD card, so I should have pictures up later tonight. For those who don’t remeber, this is the system I’m talking about:
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A few months back, my mom was in the hospital for surgery. It was a smaller Cleveland Clinic branch. I took some pictures on my cell phone, but I can't post them until I get wireless internet back (which probably won't be for a while). Anyways, I'll try to describe the system.
The panels were behind the receptionist’s desk. At first, I didn’t recognize the main panel, but now I think it was a 2120. It had a 2001 and a small, red panel tied to it.
Most of the alarms were vertical mount speaker strobe versions of these in about half of the building along with TrueAlert speaker strobes in 1 or 2 wings and Federal Signal speakers (some with red remote 2903 lights under them) in the other half. Either the original alarms were Federal Signal speakers, which all had remote lights, or all of these replaced LifeAlarm speakers on 2903 plates.
The pulls were all 4251-30s.
Most of the smokes were modern ionization detectors on TrueAlarm bases. However, there was one smoke by one of the elevators that was absolutely MASSIVE! It was made by Simplex and was the biggest smoke I’ve ever seen. It had no discernible base or head and had large slots.
The building also had a Grinnel sprinkler system (I’m 100% certain).
OK, here’s the pictures I took at the hospital. They were taken with a cell phone, so the quality isn’t too great. Also, there are only 3 pictures. I didn’t think to get the panels (the secretary was right there), or the truealert and 4903 speaker strobes. There was also a fourth picture (one of the ion detectors with a truealarm base), but I accidentally deleted it. Anyways:
This is the ginormous smoke I was talking about. As you can see, it’s clearly not a wiffle-ball or another smoke on a truealarm base. Has anyone ever seen one of these?
One of the Federal Signal speaker strobes with a red 2903 light under it. Most of the ones I saw had lights
Another Federal speaker. This one had no visual signal. A few others were by themselves like this one.
That’s exactly what my MS has. It just looks older. My MS has the slanted ADA screw-on strobes, with ceiling mounted ones being just the speaker with a 4904 strobe next to it. Federal signal devices usually have screw-on strobes. Either the Wedge non-ADA ones or the slanted ADA-ones.
Actually, I’ve got a story about that. Last summer, I was outsde with some friends, who had convinced me to play football with them (I suck at football). Thing is, I forgot to take my phone out of my pocket. I ended up falling just te right way on the edge of a nearby driveway. When I took my phone out of my pocket, the camera lense had shattered! The camera itself still works, but the quality suffers and it needs to be cleaned much more often.
Overall, the phone still works fine. That, and my parents would be like “OK, buy it yourself”, which I just don’t have the money for right now. Now, if it was totally destroyed, that would be another story.
OK, so today my brother and I went into Boston. Here are the alarms I saw:
The Quincy Adams MBTA Red Line station has Wheelock MT-24-LSM horn/strobes for the most part, and a few Wheelock MT-24-MCW horn/strobes in the parking garage as well. Most of the pull stations are Notifier BG-8s, but I also saw a BG-10 pull somewhere on the fifth level of the parking garage, and there were also a few Notifier BG-12 pulls behind Stopper IIs.
The Quincy Center MBTA station had unknown horns behind SAE V33 strobe plates.
Wollaston, North Quincy, JFK/UMass and Andrew had Wheelock AS and/or MT horn/strobes for the most part, and Broadway had SpectrAlert horn/strobes covering up where larger alarms probably were. Pull stations were mostly BG-12s.
The Downtown Crossing MBTA station had Wheelock MT-24-MCW horn/strobes, FCI-branded BG-12 pulls, and at least one FCI MS-2. One of the Stopper IIs (I think it was here) was really dirty and was hard to see the BG-12 pull underneath!
The State MBTA station also had an interesting setup; unknown horns behind SAE V33 strobe plates, but the pulls were BG-12s! There was also a Wheelock AS horn/strobe somewhere.
The Aquarium MBTA subway station had SpectrAlert horn/strobes, and Notifier smokes and I think BG-12s.
The New England Aquarium itself has an interesting system. In the main lobby, gift shop and the newer jellyfish exhibit wing, they have horizontal 4903 rectangular Simplex signals. I managed to see through a couple of the grilles, and they looked something like this:
with the silver metal circle in the middle of another flat black circle. So this means they are most likely speaker/strobes. They also had one of these in the men’s room! Right at the main doors are two remote 4903 strobes as well.
The main aquarium tank area doesn’t have a lot of signals. I saw those two Edwards Adapt-a-Horns that Firefly mentioned. One of them was tilted to the side. I don’t know if they are still connected or if they are even part of the fire alarm system. At one doorway I saw what appears to be a Wheelock NS horn/strobe. On the top level of the tank, I saw that Simplex 4030 flush-mount horn several members reported seeing. I highly doubt it’s still active, because there is a Wheelock NS horn/strobe not too far from it. I think they also might have voice-evac on the PA system for that area, and the Wheelock NSs are for additional coverage where voice-evac wouldn’t be enough.
The pull stations are mostly Simplex 4251-30s with Stopper IIs over them. At the main entrance, in the gift shop and the new wing, and a couple of other areas, the pulls are Simplex 4099-9002s, also with Stopper IIs over them. A few have the glass missing, and one had the hammer broken off!
The smoke detectors were mostly what appear to be Simplex 2098-9201 smoke heads on the newer-style TrueAlarm bases. I think this was the late 1990s version. There were also a couple of newer-style TrueAlarm smokes in the main lobby.
I recall when I went here in the mid-1990s, they had Simplex 4050 or 4051 horns on 4050-80 light plates with “FIRE” on the lens. I think they might’ve had a couple of other different kinds of Simplex alarms too, but I can’t remember. I know the 4051+4050-80s were definitely not original either because the aquarium was built in 1969 (which was when the 4030s were put in). It seems similar to the system at Firefly’s elementary school, they used to have Simplex 4051+4050-80s and then replaced them with the rectangular 4903 speaker/strobes, but the pulls were different; they used to have 4251-20s but replaced them with 4099-9003s.
There is a graphic annunciator in the main lobby, with just “Fire Alarm Annunciator” on top, and no LCD display or alarm company logo. I think it might be a Simplex graphic annunciator, but I am not sure (cause Simplex graphic annunciators I know, like the one at the Davis K-8 school, have the Simplex logo on the bottom). I think the original panel from 1969 was a Simplex 4245 or 4246, which was then probably replaced with a Simplex 2001 or something, and I think they now have a Simplex 4100 or 4120 panel.
The IMAX Cinema nearby has a Wheelock MT4-24-WM horn/strobe outside, but inside they have a Simplex 4100 system (I saw the annunciator and it said it went to a 4100), and they have the rectangular 4903 signals (I’m guessing speaker/strobes), and 4099-9003 pulls with the Sigcom covers over them, and the same smokes mentioned as the aquarium head (2098-9201 heads on the newer-style TrueAlarm bases).
The North Station has a neat system; the subway station area had Wheelock MT horn/strobes. But the main station area has mostly Simplex TrueAlert speaker/strobes, and at least one unknown electronic-looking horn or speaker behind an SAE V33 strobe plate. (So THAT must be what the alarms in the Simplex 2001 system at the Shaw’s near my college are!) Some of the TrueAlert speaker/strobes are mounted so that you can tell they are replacing an older alarm (at first I thought they were replacing Simplex 4050-80s until I saw that SAE horn/strobe.) The pulls are Simplex 4099-9001s behind Stopper IIs. In the train station platforms, they have Federal Signal “loudspeaker” alarms with the pre-ADA wedge-shaped strobes on them. They reminded me a lot of what TrueAlertSpeakerStrobe’s middle school had, but the strobes are different. (Most of the MBTA commuter trains there had the crappy 1980s/early 1990s-era single-level cars and mostly the GP40MC locomotives, and at least one older-style 1980s-era F40PH.)
A Bank of America ATM center nearby has an odd setup: I saw a Simplex 2903 speaker/light, and underneath it was a Fire-Lite BG-12! I think there used to be a Simplex pull there.
South Station has the following; the subway system has Wheelock AS horn/strobes and Notifier BG-12s. There are three doors with sprinkler/fire suppression signs on them, and next to each one is a remote SpectrAlert strobe! I guess those strobes go to whatever halon/suppression system is in there.
In the main train station section, they have the Wheelock ET speakers with 7002T-style strobes on top of them! These are the main signals, but near the restrooms were Wheelock E70 speaker/strobes. In the men’s room is a Wheelock RSS strobe. At one part I also saw an SAE VA4 signal, I think it might be a speaker/strobe since it’s right near the main train station section.
Most of the pulls are these Kidde lift/pull models, they reminded me of Edwards 278B-1110s or FCI MS-2s in design. Near one exit is an RSG metal T-bar pull rebranded by Grinnell. Outside on the train station platform is that red-and-black Kidde smoke that resembles a BG-12 a bit (Firefly has one like this in his alarm collection). (The trains here were mainly MBTA commuter trains with the newer F40PH locomotives and bi-level cars, the same kinds that often go through my town, and I also saw at least two Amtrak Acela trains and one of those Northeast Corridor trains, which also had some kind of electric locomotive.)
I think the South Station, North Station and the New England Aquarium had the most interesting systems.
Once again, you are lucky you get to see the other end of the red line. I live near the Belmont Commuter Rail stop (about a 20 minute walk), which has no alarms. The stations I use most are Harvard (which has buses to Belmont) and Alewife (about a 10 minute drive from me) on the red line. Harvard has Wheelock MTs and BG-12s, but they used to have Edwards 270-SPOs and SAE AV32s. Alewife I also remember having MTs and BG-12s, but Bertucci’s has FCI MS-2s and SAE AV32s.
It seems Wheelock is VERY popular for MBTA’s stations. Besides that, in Brockton we have three commuter rail stations, all of which have no alarms. The closest to our house is the Campello station, and then there’s the Brockton station near the Bat Bus terminal. After that comes the Montello station. The latter two stations both have pedestrian-only railroad crossings. I recall they were going to install gates for them, but wound up only putting up the crossbucks, red lights and bells. (One day after school I passed by the Brockton station just as a guy from the railroad signaling division was testing the crossing signals; I figured something was going on when I heard the crossing bells go off at 2:30, which is 20 minutes before the next train approaches.)
As for the Red Line, unlike the Commuter Rail, the fleet they use is the same for both ends. They have the older subway cars made in the late 1960s-late 1980s, and the newer “Bombardier”-style cars made in 1994. I also got to ride on one of the newer Siemens-manufactured Blue Line trains. They seem to have been mimicking the Red Line Bombardier trains!
I am a fan of the MBTA, so I know a lot about it. As for Belmont, there are two stations, neither with alarms. Belmont station is near Belmont center, and that’s the closest to me. There is also Waverley station in Waverley Sq. Both are basically outdoors, so no FAs are needed. The red line goes out to Alewife, and pretty much all the stops have Wheelock MTs and BG-12s. In fact, I don’t think most commuter rail stops have alarms, but overground subway stops do. I know North and South Station have alarms. I am also guessing that major stops like Back Bay, Route 128, and Anderson RTC probably have alarms too.
As for the stations in Belmont in general, they are in horrible condition. The Middleboro/Lakeville line that runs through Brockton is more recent and has modern wheelchair accessible stations. The stations in Belmont date back to the 70s and have no parking, no wheelchair access, and very few shelters. Also, the yellow line is only painted at both stations, it doesn’t have texture like the modern commuter rail and subway stops have. There are only two signs at Belmont, and a few at Waverley. Neither station has maps. The Fitchburg Line, which runs through Belmont, in general is the worst condition of any commuter rail lines. Also, the cool bi-level Kawasaki trains do not run on the north side. Unlike the commuter rail stops in Belmont , Alewife is a very nice station. It does have a FA system and is wheelchair accessible. The red line trains are the same ones that run on the south side of the red line.
Overall, most commuter rail stations don’t have alarms, except for the most important ones.
So am I! I know the Bridgewater State College train station also has no alarms. All the other buildings on campus do, obviously. Virtually all the academic buildings have Simplex systems, and many of the dorms have EST systems.
The only relatively large commuter station I have seen outside of North and South station is a really old train station in Stoughton. I don’t know what alarms it has, but I assume it does, since it has a fairly large old building with a clock tower. And there is a railroad crossing next to it with no gates; just the lights and bells. The trains are supposed to stop a certain position so they are not blocking the crossing, and the crossing signals are programmed so when a Southbound train stops at the station after clearing the crossing, the signals deactivate and traffic can pass through again. With Northbound trains, it’s vice-versa (the signals do not come on until the train is about to depart the station). My brother once reported he actually saw people trying to beat the train at the crossing! If this keeps up, I sense a major accident coming, and then they’ll probably install gates at the crossing (since virtually every railroad crossing I see in Massachusetts has a gate setup).
Here’s a picture of one of the two annunciators at the Student Union where I work. As you can tell, it was a retrofit into an old panel. We have a lot of old unused enclosures like this throughout campus. They have standardized on these annunciators for every building.
Cool! That’s a 4603-9101 annunciator installed onto an annunciator for a Simplex 4208 or 2001 system! I bet their panel is probably a Simplex 4120 or a 4100U. What’s the rest of the system like? I’m willing to bet they have either most of the old stuff intact, or it’s now some kind of voice-evac system or a newer TrueAlert horn/strobe system.
My dentist office was built sometime in 2006 or 2007. It is a two story building. The first floor has 2-3 suites, and the second floor has one. There is an elevator and a stair case in the main lobby. Anyways, the panel is a Simplex 4010, gray and white cabinet. On the front of it is “Elevator Control Panel”. There are no pull stations or alarms. The only thing that could trip the system are 1 or 2 Simplex 4098-9601s
Photo credits: dan.calvinet.com located by the entrance(s) for the elevator.
At our local zoo, there is new building in a new extension of the zoo. Because the zoo is on the edge of a mountain, the building looks like it’s one story from the south, and 2 stories on the north. Anyways, when I first saw the building, I saw an outdoor MT (newest version). Inside, there were t-bars (single action, or dual action, I don’t remember ) The alarms inside were white Simplex TreuAlerts, and I’m guessing that there’s white TrueAlert strobes in the bathrooms. The panel was a Simplex 4010.
At a Marshal’s, there used to be a Wheelock MT in the back of the store, but now there is a SystemSensor SpecterAlert advance.
Are you sure that’s the right smoke? The 4010 is addressable, so unless they’re using monitor modules so it’s set up as a zoned system, the smokes should look like this:
) The alarms inside were white Simplex TreuAlerts, and I’m guessing that there’s white TrueAlert strobes in the bathrooms. The panel was a Simplex 4010.