What do different Horn/whistle combinations mean?
I know that: long long short long means grade crossing, but what are some others?
Two longs mean a train releases its brakes and then proceeds.
“I’m a little Teapot” pattern is a CP crossing whistle combination
… And CN’s is the “Grinch who stole Christmas” main theme
[:D]
long and short is blown when going aginst the current of traffic when passing another train
They’re all here;
http://www.trainweb.com/cgi-bin/top/tw_do.cgi?gcor/signals.html#5.8.2
In section 5.8.2 of the GCOR.
This is the old Rule 14, from whence we get the olde saying about blowing a 14(L) for a grade crossing… Somehow 5.8.2(11) doesn’t have the same ring to it…
I’m familiar with two short, not two long, to proceed, and three short to indicate a reverse move.
One of my favorite RR moments came many years ago on a visit to Enola when it was electrified. A crew was using an orange Warner & Swasey Gradall to do some kind of ditching work. As he went forward and backward, the driver used the railroad signals, on the horn of the truck, to indicate to the other crew members which way he was going to roll. Remarkably elegant, the more so for being unexpected…
I might also mention that on the New York subway system, the long-short combination is used whenever a train is passing a platform without stopping, either as an express on local track or a deadhead move.
I was confused by that, too, but on further investigation (I read the rule…) I see why the confusion. Two longs is the signal to release brakes, certainly a holdover from when the brakemen actually had to release the brakes. Two shorts is an acknowledgement, which makes sense after the engineer has been given a highball. Either way, it’s a good indication the train is about to move.
The local steam plant uses an RCL during coal dumping ops (move the string one car at a time over the dumping pit), but they still signal each movement with a couple of toots. Movements to and from the storage yard are manned, of course, as they cross roadways. The whistle signals they use when crossing the roads are, however, pretty much random. Sometimes they actually blow the crossing signal, but if they quit before they cross the road, they just toot the horn a few more times…