Tonight's Amtrak Engineer was playing Benny Goodman on the horn

[BiggJawn]

Had a definite "Doo-Wop" thing going on as he blew the crossings through town...

[benburch]

1. I love listening to train horns in the night...

Somehow it is a hopeful sound to me.

[BiggJawn]

2. It's interesting.

Because of the way they now do interchange, I'll see everything from CSX to ATSF (oops! I mean BNSF) warbonnets, and they all sound the same. even the Rail America and Conrail power.

But the horn on an Amtrak, well that's a whole diferent sound.

Was a time long ago that every road/engine builder had their "signature" sound. Conrail ran 3-chime horns, CSX, NW and NS ran 5-chime, and the old NYC F-units pulling varnish had one horn that went "Blaaaat!"

And then there was NKP 587....nothing like 5 chimes getting hit with 220# of Live Steam!

[Unperson 309]

3. If He Wasn't Doing Standard RR Crossing Whistles, He Was Breaking Rules!

While they might be considered irrelevant in today's era of radio communications, ALL engineers are *required* by transportation law to sound certain coded signals at certain times.

There are whistle sequences for 'train stopped' 'northbound train approaching station', 'westbound train passing on main track'' et cetera. One signal which is mandatory is "Train approaching grade crossing" and the signal is two long whistles, one short and one long. -----! -----! --! -----------!

The whistle signals are required in order to ascertain the correct location, speed, direction and activity of the train. To someone who knows the signals, they can tell all these things, along with the identity of the railroad company the train belongs to. In a town where the railroad is the main employer, and people know each other, the listener can even identify the engineer by his style, cadence and differences from other engineers.

309

Who has lain awake more than once listening for "slow Bill" westbound out of town. THERE he is! Now I can sleep!

[BiggJawn]

4. We have "MX"

Can't do "Tooot, tooot, to-tooooooooooo" for anything except the first one.
So what he did last night was blow proper for 1st street, then hung on the handle and modulated it for the other 5 crossings.

Some hang on the lanyard the whole way through town...