Kahlenberg D-2

[WeGotAir]

G'day mates,

Here's my little Kahlenberg honker, I've mounted a Graham White 353-100 valve to it and set it on a chunk of hardwood as a base.
It also has my standard 3/4"bsp cam lock fittings as quick couplers.
I got this horn from a marine collector in Tasmania via a 2nd hand dealer a few years ago and internationally it was pristine, externally though the spun bells are dented and a bit rough, in any case it sound beautiful and has the classic K'Berg brassy authority.

In this pic it was being used to welcome a tourist train into my town, the driver and crew absolutely loved it and hung out the windows taking pictures! (The quality inspector is also running his eye over the fittings before deployment)

Cheers, Alex.

"We Got Air"

[WeGotAir]

Here it is "in service" just prior to greeting the train crew

[Flat Train]

Did you make your own handle for that valve?

[FDDMS-er]

I like those older D2 horns with the round footprint pedestal and the old style air inlets. A surprising number of identical examples are still earning their keep in this area, as they tend to go atop another working boat rather than be retired or sold to a collector.

[Airchime]

I like those older D2 horns with the round footprint pedestal and the old style air inlets. A surprising number of identical examples are still earning their keep in this area, as they tend to go atop another working boat rather than be retired or sold to a collector.

Do the older ones have a different sound to them or are they just minor differences in the physical looks?

[FDDMS-er]

They are fairly similar in sound if you are comparing projectors (bells) of the same length and material (cast or spun brass). A few years ago, one of the Coast Guard boats nearby changed out a nominally "government-only" cast projector horn for a spun brass projector horn, and I didn't realize it until I got a visual close-up of it... but I am not the guy with the greatest hearing anymore.

Older Kahlenbergs sometimes had longer projectors (bells) than later production, the latter often denoted by the letter "A" following the configuration/size designation. For example, the S3 was lower-pitched then the S3-A. I think a lot of collectors prefer the lower pitched varieties, but most actual operators would not pay a premium for them.

[Airchime]

They are fairly similar in sound if you are comparing projectors (bells) of the same length and material (cast or spun brass). A few years ago, one of the Coast Guard boats nearby changed out a nominally "government-only" cast projector horn for a spun brass projector horn, and I didn't realize it until I got a visual close-up of it... but I am not the guy with the greatest hearing anymore.

Older Kahlenbergs sometimes had longer projectors (bells) than later production, the latter often denoted by the letter "A" following the configuration/size designation. For example, the S3 was lower-pitched then the S3-A. I think a lot of collectors prefer the lower pitched varieties, but most actual operators would not pay a premium for them.

I didn't realize Kahlenberg cast some of their brass bells, I always assumed they were spun brass.

[FDDMS-er]

I didn't realize Kahlenberg cast some of their brass bells, I always assumed they were spun brass.

I am relying on memory here, but I think that in the modern era the size 3 horns are spun brass for anything but government orders (Coast Guard, etc). I have not seen a spun brass projector on any size 4 horn, and I have paid attention for about 30 years; the cast projectors account for a lot of the initial expense and weight of the 4 series horns.

[Railgeek]

I didn't realize Kahlenberg cast some of their brass bells, I always assumed they were spun brass.

I am relying on memory here, but I think that in the modern era the size 3 horns are spun brass for anything but government orders (Coast Guard, etc). I have not seen a spun brass projector on any size 4 horn, and I have paid attention for about 30 years; the cast projectors account for a lot of the initial expense and weight of the 4 series horns.

Do you have comparison photos of spun vs cast? I have a couple smaller 2 size Kahlenbergs, one is really old and one is newer.

[FDDMS-er]

Do you have comparison photos of spun vs cast? I have a couple smaller 2 size Kahlenbergs, one is really old and one is newer.

The first picture below is an old photo I took showing a (then) factory-fresh S4 - with the characteristic cast projector - in the process of getting a stabilizing bracket fabricated (to keep the horn steady fore-and-aft). Note the smooth but unpolished "turned" finish as opposed to the highly polished "band instrument" finish of new Kahlenbergs with spun brass projectors.

Over time, some cast projectors will get polished enough to also be quite shiny (some of the big Kahlenbergs sold by overseas ship breakers are polished within an inch of their lives... sometimes a bit over), and spun brass projectors left to their own devices will often get weathered and eventually turn a satiny chocolate brown. In either case, the visual "easy tell" is the rolled edge at the mouth of the relatively thin-walled spun brass projectors (the roll is always toward the rear of the lip of the projector); cast projectors are thick-walled enough to not need a rolled edge.

The spun brass projectors' typical rolled edge around the rear of the lip is shown in the second picture, though the finish of the projectors is now dulled and dirty (this is not my photo):