How does one find out what type of air horn a specific model used? IE GN SD7,GP9,RS3 ? I tried Google and all I could find was the type per manufacturer. Thanks for any help. Joe
May depend more on the railroad than the engine type…
It can be hard, as noted, often a railroad put the horns on the engines themselves or ordered the builder to put on a specific type. Looking at pics of the engines can sometimes at least let you see how many chimes/horns it had, like one ‘blat’ airhorn, or two facing forward and one facing back etc.
Generally before about 1960 all diesels came with single chime “blat” airhorns. Multi-chime horns were able to make a sound closer to that of a steam locomotive whistle, which also normally had several chimes. Hancock air whistles were used by some railroads, which were very similar to a steam whistle.
PRR Alco PAs had one horn on the engineers side of the cab because center mounting on the roof couldn’t meet clearance requirements so there are lots of reaaons and choices.
Just don’t tell that to several railroads since they switch to chime horns long before the 60s because the “blat” horn sounded to much like a truck and motorist would may not pay attention.NYC had both types.
Which is why I said “generally” and “about”.
Thanks all for your help. I found a list of air horns used by the railroads at Soundtraxx web site under choosing the right sound system. It’s a start. Joe
Looks like mostly a good list, spot checking the couple I know. Misses maybe some of the early ones, specifically looking at Reading, some of the first generation units had A200 blat horns. Speaking of, I need to go take another ride on the WK&S, last weekend they were using the bigger GE and it has an M3RT1 horn on it, same as the Reading RS3’s used. I recorded a good portion of it through the open coach door, but a kid in the next seat was screaming at the best horn sounding. Next time. Although the one in Loksound’s sound sets is pretty much dead on anyway.
–Randy