Steam & Excursion > How to blow locomotive whistles?

I want to blow my recently purchased Hancock 3 Chime, but I do not want to blow it on air. So what would I need to blow it on steam? 

A locomotive or boiler. Where are you located?

I have a friend who had two whistles and blew them on air - sounded fine!

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Another way is to take a REALLY deep breath!

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Bill:

Steam whistles were not designed to run on air and often don't sound right with air. I heard a big Wabash whistle attemped with air and it sounded like sh**.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/20 22:15 by wabash2800.

I concur with Victor, the medium does make a difference. Likewise, saturated vs. Superheated steam. Might matter how sensitive your ears are. Also, the pressure matters. Are you a musician?

-John



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/20 10:24 by LarryDoyle.

"Superheated vs. saturated...."

The sound distinction could only be perceived if the flame-tips
licked the ends of the superheater units --- and that only occurs with a decent 
'load' behind the tender.

Sitting around, the fire is calm and no superheating takes effect.
Just because the whistle is piped from a superheater header, does not make 
it 'superheated'...

Also, it was common to tap the dry-pipe, input to the superheater header, for saturated steam
to be used to operate forward-mounted air compressors, blowers, or other appliances.  

If the piping source is near the front flue sheet, the steam tapped near there will be saturated.
If the steam-tap is nearer the 'stack, the steam-tap is downstream from the units...and there
may be superheated steam available ---- depending on the throttle setting and loco speeds.

So, you can have a whistle ( superheated steam, if available) mounted near the stack, piped
from the downstream side of the units --- and if you're sitting around and a calm fire--- the sound
will be produced with saturated steam.   

The only way to distinguish the "tonal difference" between the two steam qualities is 
while pacing an engine, properly loaded,  trackside and comparing the two 
states of steam intensity.

If you try to determine the sound of a superheated whistle, while you're standing trackside,
as the engine roars-by, the frequencies will be affected by the Doppler Effect... an approaching 
loco's whistle-sound will be frequency-shifted to a higher "perceived frequency" ( higher tone)
to trackside observers..

AND, true to Dr. Doppler, the whistle and engine --- when moving away--- the sound will be
frequency-shifted to a lower tone as the train moves away from the stationary observers..

So, you'll have to be satisfied with saturated steam for your steam-whistle supply source.

​W.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/20 09:04 by wcamp1472.

Having a little experience with locomotive whistles I have noticed that when we tried Steve's IC whistle on 3985 it sounded like an, as we described it, a screaming chicken.
His whistle worked well on saturated steam but not so well on superheated. So there were differences and some may be conducive toward air operations.

They did make small steam boilers for use on heating systems but I am not so sure their operating pressure could be adjusted to that of steam locomotives.
Our shop boiler we used to preheat 844/3985 would only get their pressure up to around 100 pounds. But those were large boilers to preheat.
Good luck with your efforts.

As a side note the UP used to have issues with the diesel horns disappearing off the DD40's, mostly in California. Some were discovered on diesel tractor trucks.
The UP then began a program of securing them better.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

KremeStation Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I want to blow my recently purchased Hancock 3
> Chime, but I do not want to blow it on air. So
> what would I need to blow it on steam? 

Do you have a long bell or short bell?
I have both but I have my short bell permanently mounted outside my shop and blow it daily. It sounds great on 175 lbs of shop air. The long bell was ok but nothing like it should sound on superheated steam.
When Ed and company towed back the 4014 from California they had the whistle hooked to air with the help of a air reservoir from an sd70 mounted in the tender. You can tell by listening to some of the videos the whistle sounds anemic or sick.

Posted from Android

Oh boy, I have been waiting for this topic. I owned a Hancock for a while, sold it a few years back. The story was that it came from a UP Challenger in Oregon.
Not having permission to put it on a certain local steam locomotive, I found a factory willing to let me attach it briefly.
When I first got it I tried the air method with my home air tank.

You may want to invest in a locomotive and you will have endless hours of fun blowing your whistle.
Rick Z

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Loved the ACTUAL demonstration, above, showing the distinctions
in the sounds between steam power and air powered..

Compressed air has low energy, expands rapidly as tank pressure 
depletes at the same rate, thus the disappointment with the
compressed air trials


​W.
 

Search the  internet for steam whistle clubs.  Whistle meets are held each year when people bring the own whistles and mount them  on  steam pipes.  You can find videos of the meets on the web.   Search "steam whistle blows"
. AND they sound better on steam than air.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/20 15:34 by tomstp.

If you can find a power plant, they may let you use their steam line. The plants we used to have around here operated at higher pressures, but always had a couple of lower-pressure lines for various needs.

Steam thresher reunions are a good place to ask, as well, though reunions are thin on the ground this year. So are steamboat trips, though they might be a good bet if you find one in steam. Most people who love old iron are fond of the whistles, too, so you'll usually get a kind reception.

Rebecca Morgan
Jacobsburg, OH

Rick , your Hancock whistle under that factory's steam sounds quite fine. --Kelly

Many steam whistles on YouTube. The Titanics whistle was recovered and hooked up to low pressure air, but didn’t sound right as it needed steam to heat the metal and make it sing.

Posted from iPhone

I had a manifold made that can handle five large whistles at a time, with 1-1/2" NPT fittings, and had adapters for all my whistles. I have 50' of 1-1/2" steam hose, that ran to friends tractor. I took some of my whistles and played with them for a couple of days on 130-180 psi. This was at the threshing event at McClouth, KS. Not sure if it's going to happen this fall or not, usually in September.

Posted from Android

I am sure you could arrange an opportunity to have your whistle mounted on a Tourist Line or Railroad Museum for the day.

At the  Los Angeles Live Steamers in Griffith Park we have a Boiler that runs our Steam Powered shop equipment once a month on the Third Sunday. We have a whistle post to which we connect various whistles and raise them to the air.
Of course this would be after we resume when the Corona Virus threat has passed.

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/20 12:13 by JimBaker.

Thanks for the recording with steam and air. The air sound was what I remember when a individual tried to replicate a Wabash whistle with air. The steam recording was awesome. Many of the bigger Wabash steam engines had steamboat-like sounding whistles.

Building a 1860s era static loco model in 1:25th scale, I often wonder what these very early whistles sounded like. I was surprised to find out in an 1880s EE Timetable that they didn't normally blow whistles at crossings but rather just rang the bell.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhileublications.com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/20 21:18 by wabash2800.

it's a long bell. step top. Don't know what locomotive is from either.

I'd find someone that has a steam powered threser or  folks that do thresher conventions and make friends. Though they are far and between, maybe an operating steam loco group could be talked into trying your whistle.

Victor A. Baird
htp://www.erstwhilepublisher.com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/20 18:43 by wabash2800.