Over the years of watching the trains going by my house, I have heard many a type of train horn. Some sound like shrill blasts, while others were more of the soft, pleasant sound. Occasionally, I’d even hear a couple that reminded me of the ones I heard while fishing up at Erie, PA. One time, there was even one that sounded like it was throwing up, kinda funny. What I am wondering is why different engineers blow the horns in different patterns, and what pattern any of you who are engineers use.
Occasionally, there would be some that blow it a few long blasts from the start, a little pause, shorter, more frequent blasts as they got closer, then one long final blast until they got up to the road. Others just wait until they get up to the crossing and give it a few quick blasts. Some others (though these days, just about every one) do the 2 longs, a short, and a long. Finally, there would be a couple that just lay on the horn in one long blast until they made it up to the crossing. (There were also a couple that didn’t even blow it at all-isn’t that illegal?) Also, a couple give a couple quick toots on departure, though most don’t.
Another question is about the tunes they play. Depending on how much the engineer pulls the handle, different, lighter tunes would play until they pulled all the way, and it filled with the most sound, and the loudest. I’m wondering exactly how that works, and how different sounds can be made just from how the handle is pulled. (Mostl;y like this back when Conrail ran the trains. Now that NS own these rails, these guys just do full blasts all the time)
Another question is about the lights/bells. Back when Conrail ran, most of the locos top 2 lights were vertical. They had those two lights on, as well as the two bottom ones. On the back of the train, any combination of the dimmed lights could be seen, sometimes even with those red lights on many of the Conrail locomotive noses. The bells were also rarely used, and the l