Should this be put on locomotives?

Question

This is a Frankenstien horn on this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG2ld1RRWe8&feature=email

Answer 1

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

Answer 2

It sounds like one of the chimes is plugged or damaged, the railroad didn't do it on purpose. Unless it happened at an outlying point they may have made a temp repair to get back to a service facility for proper repair.

Answer 3

The important point not to be overlooked is, locomotive whistles (horns) do malfunction.  

In snowy conditions they plug up entirely at times.  There you are, in your nice warm car with the windows up.  You take a chance...  WHAM.   Gee, I didn't hear a train...

Don't depend on electronic crossing protection either.  They are not fail-safe.  They do have battery back up and in remote areas they are powered with batteries as a primary source of electricity, recharged by solar panels.  But, they can fail or be rendered inoperative for reasons other than power failure.

Use all your senses when crossing any tracks.  Your life literally depends on it.

That question rates a star. Thanks for asking.

Answer 4

I think the point of your question somewhat answers itself.

Did the horn get your attention?

From a safety point of view it should.

But here is a little trivia for you.

I live near railroad tracks in Santa Clara, CA.  I cannot see the tracks from my house, but I can tell you what trains are freights, commuters and the Amtrak Coast Starlight #11 and #14.

Our commuter trains have a lower pitched horn than that of the freight trains that rumble through.  This is mainly because in my direction they are using what is called a Cab Car, and their horns are chimed differently.

The freight horns are a higher pitch and more intense than that of our commuter trains.  With the exception of our Union Pacific Local that runs out to Hollister, Davenport and Watsonville.  That particular train runs two GP-30's and one SD-40-2, and I think the crew set that string up to sound all the horns at once, (if that's possible), because it make a GOD AWFUL noise.  Ha Ha Ha!

Then there is Amtrak.  The Genesis Locomotives they use have a horn that is chimed closer to what a steam whistle sounds like, (as least to me).  The only reason I compare it to that, is because I am working around a Steam Engine once a week at my club Niles Canyon Railway.

Anyhow, I digress.  As Skidderback pointed out, the horns do become plugged and do not function properly.  In the case of your video clip, this sounds like what out EMD F-7D WP #718 sounded like when we got it.  

I hope that answered your question.

Answer 5

What is meant by Locomotives, does it mean trains?

Gd Luck 2 Vampire and his Wife

Answer 6

all train horns are different and all sound similar to me because majority of people don't listen to them anyways.  if people listened to gates than we wouldn't need horns and all honestly some people don't listen to horns either.

Answer 7

All I'm going to say is I hope that horn has since been fixed.