Eastern Railroad Discussion > How common is a stuck horn?

NS 14T just got a stuck horn near Perry, Ohio. The dispatcher told him how to fix it, so I assume it's not very common as the crew did not seem know how to fix it. And it got me thinking how often does a locomotive get a stuck horn?

OHCR Wrote:
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> NS 14T just got a stuck horn near Perry, Ohio. The
> dispatcher told him how to fix it, so I assume
> it's not very common as the crew did not seem know
> how to fix it. And it got me thinking how often
> does a locomotive get a stuck horn?

Was it the dispatcher, or the Mechanical Operations Center?

It happens every once in a while; generally caused by a bad solenoid (or magnet) valve. It could have been a dispatcher who advised crew how to stop it from blowing as some dispatchers have come from the ranks of T&E, but more than likely it was the mechanical desk in Atlanta you heard talking to them.

bioyns Wrote:
---------------------------------------------------
> OHCR Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > NS 14T just got a stuck horn near Perry, Ohio.
> The
> > dispatcher told him how to fix it, so I assume
> > it's not very common as the crew did not seem
> know
> > how to fix it. And it got me thinking how often
> > does a locomotive get a stuck horn?
>
> Was it the dispatcher, or the Mechanical
> Operations Center?


Idk. Would Mechanical Operations Center be on a different frequency than the NS road/disp channel at Madison, Ohio? Because I was only monitoring CSXT road, CSXT disp, and the NS road/disp shared channel. If MOC is on a different channel then I did not hear MOC.

Posted from Android

MOC monitors all channels and there is a tone to reach them.

OHCR Wrote:
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>
> Idk. Would Mechanical Operations Center be on a
> different frequency than the NS road/disp channel
> at Madison, Ohio?

MOC is available on any road channel NS crews operate on. They are accessed by a specific three digit keypad tone.

The CN here in the Midwest has what is called the Diesel Doctor. He can be reached on the same channel that the crews would call the Train Dispatcher. It's just a different code on the touch-pad to contact them.

They are pretty good at helping with problems en route, and quite often the Doctor will tell the crew to hang a second, and when he returns he might say something like he had to call GE or EMD.

A stuck horn happens not too often, but if it happens to you, you will usually remember where it happened and what time of the day or night you woke up, or kept awake an entire town or village.

In my 20 years on the road it only happened 3 or 4 times and usually it was the same type of GE locomotive with the full covered body that CN has. And the cure was usually a stuck valve just inside the engine compartment, when coming from the locomotive cab end, and it was up above that door you just entered. There was a switch up there that needed to be turned off and back on, or a circuit breaker that might need to also be tripped off and reset.


Ron

Some times you have to call this dispatcher and have them call Moc and have them call you. Or the Dispatcher may have to relay as Moc don't have acsess to some towers for some reason.

Posted from Android

The discussion reminded me of the time I was in Erie, PA, to railfan the street running on NS early on a Sunday morning, and a train rolled through town on 19th street with the horn stuck. Quite a few people got an unwelcome wake-up call that day!

...John Reay

It is common, whne I worked for RJC, 5353's horn got a minor stick. Crew thought it was the turbo starting to go out, but once the mechanic got crawling around, found out it was the horn. It was gunk in the valve not allowing it to close all the way.

TJ Mahan
Green Cove Springs, FL

Not common around here.

In 10 years of being in transportation, it has only happened to me once.

On the flip side I've had it NOT blow about 4 times now.

It's happened to me twice. In both cases I just turned off the horn cutout valve.

There's a reasonably entertaining thread on the western board on this very topic...
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,3709075

Had it happen to me once as we were coming off the Chicago Tracks in Willard years ago.  4:00 AM.  Found a cut out valve in the engine compartment.  Older engine, can't remember which one.  Roundhouse came out and fixed it.