Horn and Whistle Forum International

Interesting, I've always been asked about where the RS name comes from, now I know!

One thing I'd like to mention about this document. Yes it makes mention of the S3E and S5A, both of these horns would have used the 247 bell which is lower pitched and longer than a modern day 25 bell. To date I have never seen any evidence that either of these horns ever actually existed or were pr...

Another one I've never seen before, this helps with the names of the very Wabco horns.

One I haven't seen before, thanks!

Most locomotives with dual horns had a valve for each horn. The idea being you have a separate horn for forward movement and reverse movement/signaling the crew. So two horns, two valves, and two pull handles. The Joe/800 electrics as built had two cabs and two control stands, each one having its ow...

Ted, The E2's did go through a few changes over the years. They do not have any date stamps or other markings to indicate a year of manufacture. First off, marine service E2's were always bronze. Incredibly HEAVY! I've only seen one in collector hands and it's on Dana Dolfi's horn machine. It has tw...

Here’s a whistle on compressed air. Not very impressive.

https://youtu.be/3YiAcrxnu2E

A whistle uses a HUGE volume of air. A regulator would restrict the flue so much you probably wouldn’t get any sound. These normally operate off a 1.5” or 2” steam pipe, with steam that’s 200 PSI or more. Steam is denser than air so you’d need even more airflow than an equivalent volume of steam.

I’d love to see those photos.
The Prime five chime was never built so there are no photos of the manifold or the 55 equivalent bell.

Most folks are familiar with Prime locomotive horns, and know they offered the 920 and 9920, copies of Leslie S3L and S3K respectively. There is also mush talk online about the offered but never built prime 5 chime horn with several videos on YouTube of recreations of this horn. However what is less...