Leslie S-3B Standard Arrangement

[moogman1978]

Hello everyone,

Does anyone happen to know what Leslie's standard arrangement is for a S-3B horn. I am guessing it might be from left to right order: 37, 55, 44?

Is there any documents or drawings somewhere to where I can understand Leslie's standard arrangement for other horns. I have only been able to find some of the more common horns. Any help would be great. The reason I ask is because I have some recordings I need to do for ESU LokSound. There are some new model train locomotives coming out in the near future that I need to get some fresh horn recordings for. We are needing a lot of split manifold horn recordings plus other unique leslie horns. I have most of the horns in my collection to do all of this but just want to understand the arrangements so I can get them done correctly. A rare horn I don't have is an S-3E or S-3J. I understand that there are replica bells out there of these. Does anyone know where I can buy the replica bells to make these?

Have a good one,

~Ted

[C A WALSH]

Hi Ted I Built a replica S-3E and S-5A if I can help. Can also do any Leslie split manifold combo ya like. I have built 1 of every Leslie model.
My youtube is C A WALSH
Good luck Chris
Leslie S-2A and S-3B= Split manifold S-5T
Replica S-3E
Replica S-5A

[Mafarnz]

Generally speaking the standard arrangement for Leslie was largest bell on the left, shortest bell in the middle and middle bell on the right when looking at the horn from the front. Bell arrangement won’t affect the sound though.

S3E &S5A were catalogued but never produced by Leslie in the three digit bell era, 1951 & 1952.

S3J uses bells 277, 332, and 440. These are extremely rare pre 1952 bells. Only the 440 has a two digit equivalent, the 44. The others do not. I have an actual S3J if you want a good recording.

[moogman1978]

Hello and thanks for the replies!

@Chris I like your videos on YT. Very neat combos you have. I am a big fan of your YT site. You've got some really neat rare horns. @Maddie I am also a big fan of your YT site. You have some really cool rare horns as well.

There are a few combos that would be great to get. Are you all into model trains at all? I can send a couple free decoders for helping us out with the recordings? For the recording process we like to record the horns pretty close around 50 to 100 feet feet stationary. That just would depend of your recording device. Close is good for us because we try to get a lot of gain but not too much to where you get distortion in the recording. The sequence would be a long full horn blow 6 to 8 seconds long, a short, and then a half quill long blow 6 to 8 seconds. One thing I have been dong is recording the horn from the rear as well 50 to 100 feet using the same sequence. I do this so in the future we can have a doppler effect or reverse direction effect. We don't do this currently with the V5.0 decoder projects but I hope in the future I can add this feature in. That is pretty much it and enough to usually make a good horn for the sound decoders. Here is an example of one of my recordings for the sequence. Sorry that the video is not that great.

What we really could use is:

Leslie S-3E all bells forward
Leslie S-5A all bells forward
Leslie S-3J all bells forward
Nathan M3HR2 reverse #2 bell
Nathan K3LR2 reverse #2 bell

Some combos would be:

Leslie S-3BJ-R + S-2A combo with aluminum tab backs. For the S-3BJ would be horn facing forward left to right order bells 37, 44, reverse 55 for S2-A 31, 25 This would equal an S-5T with a reverse 55 bell NW had this combo sometimes.
Nathan old cast P4R24 + Nathan P1 combo. Not sure the order of bells that it would have. But it would equal a P5R24. Some ACL GP30's had this combo. I figured it would be really neat to have this for the decoders as well.

Most of the other more common Leslie combos like S2-A SU-3B I should be able to get myself when I do my next horn honk on the 14th. Unless that falls though I might ask for some of those. Being that it is hard to find a good area to blow horns where I live. lol

@Maddie I think your right. However, for the S-3L the standard arrangement I have found that it should be looking at horns facing forward left to right order 31, 44, 25? I found this through drawings, Leslie catalogs, other websites. Is this correct order? I know 5-chime Horn Consultants website has some standard arrangement info about this. I am guessing that Leslie really didn't have much info out there about this over the years. I know in most cases for sound it won't matter but I guess I am a textbook nerd about things and like to learn. lol I do remember on the old horn whistle board site you shared some documents about the SU manifold and combos. I think it even had SU-3B's in it. Do you happen to still have those documents? I never became a member of that site because right when I tried to join the site pretty much ended. I wish all the documents and posts were still available somehow.

@Chris Do you work for Mass Coastal? I have been thinking about trying to get in there to record some locomotives. They seem to have a nice selection of vintage power.

Thank you both for all your help/knowledge with this. It means a lot! If I should get a chance to record some combos on the 14th I'll post some videos.

Have a great day,

~Ted

[Mafarnz]

Ted,
I do still have those documents I’ll just have to find them. I can put together just about any Leslie combo you want. I have every type of other horn too except an M3H and Prime 920. On the Leslie’s the bell arrangement in the manifold and type of manifold won’t affect how the horn sounds, and there isn’t a huge difference among the different S chambers either. The era of the bells has the biggest effect on the sound.

Please be aware that the S3E and S5A never existed, so I personally don’t think there is a reason to offer them in a decoder since that’s not prototypical. But to each their own.

I have had another DCC company record a few of my horns but they never had me sign anything saying someone else couldn’t record from me and they didn’t end up using very many of the recordings they got. I am at least familiar with what the recording needs are.

Send me a message if you’d like, I’d love to help you out!

[C A WALSH]

Hi Ted. I dont work for Mass Coastal. Just worked on some of there horns and lucky enough to have mine on there locos at times. How close to Cape Cod are ya? Ya could visit and pick the horns and record them. All I got is a GoPro.
Happy Day Chris

[moogman1978]

Hello Maddie and Chris. Thank you for the reply and sorry I didn't write back sooner. Been very busy traveling and recording. I did a honk horn last week. Was very fun doing some combos. It was pretty much all aluminum tab backs used! Can't wait to get back out and do some more!

@Maddie That would be great if you can upload those documents or even if you have other Leslie horn drawings. Yeah your right for sure on this stuff. The era of bells definitely makes a difference. I would like to learn more about the era of bells for leslie. Trainhorns.net has some info but it is very generic. Because I know that for a #25 bell they are many variations. For instance my 65 S-3L has a close circle. Where my RS-5T #25 bell is not close. Also, I have a really rare #48 bell that does not even have a number on it. It was said to be one of the first 48 bells made. I might consider trading it being that it is so rare. I don't have anything era correct to match it up with. I am using it to make SL-4T and S-3K sound recordings with for now. Is there any place where I can get more detailed info about the era of bells? I would love to learn especially being that I have parts as well that I'd like to try to match up correctly to complete some horns in my collection.

Somehow for our older V4.0 decoder they had an S-3E used for some reason. Even though it's not prototypical it's on our horn lists. I have mentioned this before that it is extremely rare not prototypical but I think they still want to use it. In fact, all the other rare horns are on the list as well. S-5A, S-5D, etc. I suppose it would be fun to have them in a decoder anyway just for kicks. But yeah I agree 100%.

@Chris That's really cool you work on their horns. I am pretty far from Cape cod. I think 13 hours or so. I live in northwest Indiana not far from Chicago. However, sometimes I do some traveling out east to do recordings. I do not have anything booked out your way yet. Perhaps if I can get some recordings setup for some railroads out there, we could meet up and do a horn honk. That would be very awesome! That might not be for a while though. A GoPro would work for the recordings. I will send you a PM as well.

Here is what I have on the list needed.

Leslie A-75
Leslie S-3J
Leslie S-5D
Leslie S-3E
Leslie S-5A
Nathan K-3L-R2
Nathan M-3H-R2
Nathan P01235

These are for Australian locomotives not sure if you have them or not.

Wabco AA BB#1
Wabco AA BB#2
Wabco AB

Some neat split manifold combos would be:

Nathan P-4-R24 + Nathan P1 Combo
like is this photo: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2384569

Leslie S-2M-R + Leslie A-200 Combo
#44 reversed

I believe that is everything we are looking for. Thank you both very much for all your help!

Have a great day,

~Ted

[C A WALSH]

Hi Ted Ill see what I can get recorded for ya. Sounds fun.
See ya Chris

[moogman1978]

Sounds great Chris! Thank you