Big Ole Steam Whistle test at WWU

May 4 2008, I biked up to campus with my camera. Waited and watched for several test blasts of the historic steam whistle called Big Ole.

Built in the 1890s, it served on Bellingham's waterfront at 2 different mills. Then moved to Port Alberni, BC. in the 1940s.

Modified in Port Alberni as it was so loud it broke windows.

In 1997, Big Ole came back to Bellingham as a historic artifact. A year or so ago, it was tested at the Encogen Power Plant on Bellingham's waterfront.

Still works, but has a strange moan after it's modification.

Recently installed on the steam heating plant at Western Washington University. They plan to use Big Ole as part of a campus emergency warning system. I read that it's not as loud as they would like it to be.

A few people came out of nearby buildings wondering what the sound was. One person thought it might be a line break at the boilers.
More information in both Herald and Western Front articles.

This is definitely a unique sound. I wonder if emergency warning sirens would work better if they had a standardized sound? Is there a protocol for emergency sounds, like the standardized number of 911?

On the other hand, maybe a unique sound gets more attention?

Is it better used for ceremony? Announcing a big festival on campus? At least festivals are pleasant events rather than than emergencies.

Of course there are things like fire drills, where one can experience the sound without having to have an emergency. It's usually hoped that an emergency will never happen.

Pullman's old fire siren

When I was a child growing up in Pullman, WA. there was the fire siren. A mournful wale who's pitch would go up and down if fire was in town. The wale was continuous if fire was rural.

Pullman's old fire siren was an eerie sounding thing. One thinks "air raid siren."

Our neighbor's dog, named Duke, would howl when it was running.

From the dentist chair in Dr. Bardwell's office (a scary place to be, on 2nd floor of Old National Bank Building) one could see straight across to the roof of the old police station where that siren was located. A drum full of fins that would howl as they spun through the air. There was a big motor to turn the drum.

That was memories of another siren in Pullman.

Back to the topic of Bellingham's Big Ole.

My camera didn't pick up the sound very well. Video 20 seconds.



Below sandwich board on High Street the day of the test.