Model Railroading > fun with horns

I spent a bit of time with Matthew Herman from ESU this afternoon. A friend and
I got together with some horns of ours and Matt recorded them for use in
LOKSound decoders.

Pic 1- My pair of horns.
Pic 2- All the horns we recorded.

Thanks for looking
Alec

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dh1205 Wrote:
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....All the horns we recorded.
>
> Thanks for looking
> Alec

How do you record the horns?  From some distance?  In a studio?

We had them hooked up to a BIG shop air compressor. He had a few microphones set up a bit away from the horns. He said it was the same distance he does it when he records horns that are mounted on locomotives.  I don't know what PSI it was set at but it was whatever a locomotive uses. They sounded really good and was a lot of fun.

Alec

Most horns run off the main reservoir pressure of about 130~140psi. What is the story behind the deformed middle bell in the first pic?

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Cool!

has anyone done this with steam whistles? It seems (and I am not knowledgeable enough) that the boiler and psi needed makes it impossible to do it in a small way like air horn compressors. I would love to have a 5 chime whistle outside the house!

Joel Brazy
Coatesville, PA

funnelfan Wrote:
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> Most horns run off the main reservoir pressure of
> about 130~140psi. What is the story behind the
> deformed middle bell in the first pic?

It's a Nathan M3RT1. The rear bell has a flat bottom and is tilted at an upward angle. They were used on engines like RS-3s and C-628s to clear the top of the cab. Here is a picture I found on RR Picture Archives that shows it on a 628. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4150715  I'm a fan of the D&H and they had them on a lot of engines. Even ones that didnt have any clearence problems that needed the tilt bell.

Alec

 

funnelfan Wrote:
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> Most horns run off the main reservoir pressure of
> about 130~140psi. What is the story behind the
> deformed middle bell in the first pic?


The oval bell was for low clearance use. Typically the horn was mounted on a bracket on the front wall of the cab and the 'squashed' horn faced backwards over the cab.

Typical uses should you want to search for pictures:

D&H Century locomotives including C628
Quite a few RS3 on northeast railroads


Michael