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Western Railroad Discussion > New airhorns on latest UP Wabtec rebuilds?


Date: 03/21/25 15:51
New airhorns on latest UP Wabtec rebuilds?
Author: Roadmaster

I've taken notice of some unusual horns appearing on some recent (delivered in the past few weeks) Union Pacific rebuilt Dash 9's from Wabtec - unusual for modern-day use by UP, that is.  I caught UP 9643 at Rosenberg, TX the evening of either March 13th or 16th; 9643 was leading and it had a P3 airhorn.  UP 9807 passed on the Rosenberg, TX railcam on March 15th, and its K5H - not K5HL - airhorn caught my attention.  I looked on YT and found a recent video of 9807 and 9771 running on Wabtec's test track and both had K5H airhorns.  Today an empty train leaving Katy, TX from the Cemex plant had two recent rebuilds, 9611 and 9568, and both have P3 airhorns.  These units passed the La Grange, TX railcam at 16:17 CST today.

Now, before you say that 9807 and 9771, when delivered to CNW, came with K5H airhorns, the K5H's on 9807 and 9771 are more recently-constructed and have - I'm going to say a shriller - timbre to them than the K5H's installed frequently on new GE units in the 1980's and 90's.  I don't think the new K5H's sound as nice as the originals, but I still welcome the change from the nearly two-decade reign of K5HL's on new GE and Wabtec road locomotives  Also, I know that 9643, 9611 and 9568, when delivered to the SP, were equipped with P3's.  When many Dash 9's were assigned to the central Texas rock train pool in the second decade of this century, I took note of Dash 9's I saw that still had P3's on them.  None of these numbers (9643, 9611 and 9568) jog my memory as having P3's in that era, and I have checked photographs of these units in their last days of service, or their time in Storage prior to rebuild, and all had K3 air horns at those times.

My guess is that when UP sends Dash 9's for rebuilding and they arrive without horns - stolen perhaps while the units were stored, Wabtec is putting new horns on them, and some have been equipped with P3's and others have been equipped with K5H's.  I am wondering if anyone else here on TO have noticed P3's or K5H's on the latest Wabtec UP Dash 9 rebuilds or are aware of a policy specifying that certains type of horns be placed on these latest rebuilds. 

Actually, let me question my own guess:

Browsing photos of units sitting at Wabtec awaiting rebuild, I found photos of 9771 - in patched CNW paint - from October 24, 2024.  It still had a K3 mounted on its long hood.  Maybe the horn was badly fouled - or someone is brazen enough to steal air horns from locomotives on Wabtec property - either way, 9771 left the property with a different - I'm assuming brand new - airhorn. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/149169525@N05/54091102614/

Michael Palmieri photographed UP 9643, which was coupled to 9771, at Wabtec.  It had a K3 airhorn when he photographed it on November 9, 2024.  His photos are on the RR Picture Archives site. 

Matthew

EDIT: I found two more recent rebuilds from Wabtec, both ex-CNW, now sporting K5H airhorns.  UP 9821 was running on the Wabtec test track last month and a video can be found on YT.  UP 9782 led a southbound passing the Tower 26 PTZ cam on the UP West Belt Sub today at 11:59:30 CST.

UPDATE Saturday March 22nd: UP 9565, recently rebuilt ex-SP Dash 9, passed the Hearne railcam at 07:29 CST this morning leading a rock train. 9565 has a P3.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/25 13:47 by Roadmaster.



Date: 03/21/25 16:51
Re: New airhorns on latest UP Wabtec rebuilds?
Author: czuleget

It will be a welcome change for once.  P-3's rock.



Date: 03/21/25 19:17
Re: New airhorns on latest UP Wabtec rebuilds?
Author: WW

I do some fanning on a couple of UP mainlines on occasion.  For a couple of years now, I've noticed that the UP seems to have become kind of "promiscuous" on what horns are on what locomotives.  Even the SD70s seem to have a variety of unusual horns on them these days.  



Date: 03/21/25 23:12
Re: New airhorns on latest UP Wabtec rebuilds?
Author: Evan_Werkema

Technically there's nothing "wrong" with putting a P3 on a Dash 9 so long as it meets the federally mandated minimum and maximum decibel requirements.  The K5HL and K5LLA became the standard-issue horn on Evolution Series GE/Wabtec locomotives and EMD/Progress Rail/Caterpillar SD70ACe's, respectively, because they reliably met the new requirements.  Unfortunately, Nathan Airchime doesn't appear to have an online catalog anymore, but the P-series continued in production in one form or another alongside the K-series:

https://nathanairchime.com/

Around 2007, the sound of the K5HL and K5LLA changed markedly.  The K5HL went from a deeper K5H sound to the more dischordant arrangement we're familiar with on Evolution Series power today, while the K5LLA actually got-better sounding, almost like a modern M5.  It was reported at the time that Micro Precision (which bought Nathan Airchime) had reworked the casting patterns back to their intended specs after their predecessor had let them  drift out of tune over the years.  I kind of liked the out-of-tune K5HL's, and I wonder if what you're hearing now are the re-tuned bells applied in a K5H configuration.



Date: 03/22/25 12:16
Re: New airhorns on latest UP Wabtec rebuilds?
Author: ShortlinesUSA

Somewhat related, NS has been receiving the Wabtec rebuilds for a few years now and the horns are anything and everything. My best guess is if the horn the rebuild core arrives with is in good working order it is kept. If not (or missing) it gets replaced.

The NS rebuilds mostly have K5LAs (the cores were all delivered with these) but also some P5s (legacy from earlier NS and Southern units) that found their way onto some of the units and a few K5H types.

Posted from Android



Date: 03/22/25 13:08
Re: New airhorns on latest UP Wabtec rebuilds?
Author: KurtBWNews

FWIW, the oldest capture of the Nathan website, from April 2001 on the Internet Archive, has only K-series horns listed.



Date: 03/23/25 18:23
Re: New airhorns on latest UP Wabtec rebuilds?
Author: Evan_Werkema

KurtBWNews Wrote:

> FWIW, the oldest capture of the Nathan website,
> from April 2001 on the Internet Archive, has only
> K-series horns listed.

That was right around the time they supplied new twin-chime P-series horns to Caltrain.  I can't recall ever seeing the particular model Caltrain received on the Nathan-Airchime site.



Date: 06/28/25 20:46
Re: New airhorns on latest UP Wabtec rebuilds?
Author: east_bay_alex

Roadmaster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
I am wondering if anyone else here
> on TO have noticed P3's or K5H's on the latest
> Wabtec UP Dash 9 rebuilds or are aware of a policy
> specifying that certains type of horns be placed
> on these latest rebuilds. 

Here's a video I captured today of UP 9799 with one of the newer K5HR24 airhorns. I believe these are raised-letter and have the more shrill tone as you mentioned. This was the IOANP, Oakland, CA-North Platte, NE daily intermodal climbing Altamont Pass.

Alex Wilson
Castro Valley, CA
ApproachAspect's Flickr Photos

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