S1 whistles

NW Mailing List nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Sat Feb 1 14:32:22 EST 2020


When I worked in Roanoke Shop in 1957, Elmer Lam was Foreman at the Air Brake Shop.  They did maintenance work on whistles, and they had a J whistle that had broken through the valve which they had repaired.  Lam gave the whistle to me.  When I moved to Birmingham in 1969 I mounted the whistle on an Army 0-6-6 the local NRHS chapter operated occasionally.  I had to mount it vertically and had a friend cobble up an operating lever for it.  It wasn’t satisfactory in operation but it did sound good.  I never knew what engine it had been used on; there were no markings on the bell of any kind.  But it now has my initials stamped in the top wherever it is.

when I worked at Shaffers in 1959 there were a number of engines stored dead in the roundhouse awaiting disposition.  Among these was S-1a #230.  I was given a big pipe wrench and allowed to remove its hooter, complete with the “monkey tail” operating lever.  Among the things I lost in a subsequent divorce was the monkey tail.  I never blew the hooter.

These whistles were among several artofacts I sold in 1997 when I retired.  I had the whistles and a couple of number plates far longer than their engines had them.

- Ed King

From: NW Mailing List 
Sent: Saturday, February 01, 2020 10:02 AM
To: NW Mailing List 
Subject: Re: S1 whistles

Well said Ed King that my thoughts exzacly. The seven inch top was N&Ws standard fright whistle before the Hancocks been discussed here many times 

Larry Evans


Sent from my iPhone


  On Feb 1, 2020, at 7:46 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:


   
  Well, here’s what I remember.

  First – the 475 has a hooter with a seven-inch bell, shorter and higher-pitched than the standard 12-inch (?) hooter.  My understanding is that the 7-inch hooter was replaced by the 12-inch job; I don’t know where the Strasburg got a 7-incher.  The sounds of the regular hooter varied as to the boiler pressure of the locomotive to which they were attached.  The A and Y-5 plus engines with 300 punds sounded different than the K_1/S-1as with 220.  The Ms with 200 pounds didn’t sound too much different than the 220s and the Y-3/3a/4 with 270 didn’t sound too much different from the 300-pound engines.  And there was always F. T. Nichols’ screamer which he used on the Abingdon Branch.

  The passenger engines of the streamlined engines were handicapped by being down inside the skyline casing and the Ks with 220 pounds sounded different from the 300-pound Js.

  For my money  the best sounding chimes were those on the two Pacifics used on the Clinch.  They were out in the open on the side of the steam dome, and they’d echo down the hollows along the Clinch and make you homesick on your own back porch.

  - Ed King

  From: NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List 
  Sent: Friday, January 31, 2020 3:57 PM
  To: NW Mailing List 
  Cc: NW Mailing List 
  Subject: Re: S1 whistles

  Using the same freight whistles as the A, Y, etc sounds reasonable. Were there 2 freight whistles? The reason I ask is because the hooter I have heard on all recordings of the A, Y, Z and all sounded different from what I have heard on recordings of the M's. Boiler pressure? The whistle USUALLY used on the 475 at Strasburg has a different sound than the "hooter". 

  I think the BP may be the reason the K-2 sounds slightly different than the J as I'm told they had the same Hancock whistles. Is that true?


  I think the N&W should have copied the special whistle from the 382 and used that one more! LOL

  Roger Huber 
  Deer Creek Locomotive Works


  On Friday, January 31, 2020, 02:47:24 PM CST, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote: 


  It seems to me that the S1a whistle would be a little quieter (not as loud) than the other engines using the standard hooter due to boiler pressure differences. I don’t see why N&W would design a special whistle for the switchers when their standard whistles were probably readily available. 


  I have Bill Bauer’s recordings from 1958 and some are noted as S1 or S1a engines. There may be some whistling on one of them.


  -Jim Herron

  ________________________________________

  NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org

  To change your subscription go to

  http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list

  Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at

  http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  ________________________________________
  NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
  To change your subscription go to
  http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
  Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
  http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/

  ________________________________________
  NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
  To change your subscription go to
  http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
  Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
  http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
________________________________________
NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
To change your subscription go to
http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20200201/d7895214/attachment.html>


More information about the NW-Mailing-List mailing list