Diesel horns
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Topics may include: antique park gauge train restoration, preservation, and history; building new grand scale equipment from scratch; large scale miniature railway construction, maintenance, and safe operation; fallen flags; track, gauge, and equipment standards; grand scale vendor offerings; and, compiling an on-line motive power roster.
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Diesel horns
Hi All, looking for suggestions on which horns to use, right now we are using a couple of car horns, although loud they are not railroad sounds, need something that is not going to overpower the scale of the locomotive , if that makes sense.
Geo
Geo
If it ainβt broken keep working on it until it is .
Geo
Geo
Re: Diesel horns
George...try shopping for truck or marine horns air horns. Ebay comes to mind. You're not looking for sound level as much as you want as low a note as possible. The longer the horn bell, the lower note. Of course, if you're looking to hide the horn under a hood...space might be a problem. Some web sites have a sound "test" button you can press with a key stroke. Carl B.
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Re: Diesel horns
Thanks for the reply, space is definitely an issue, hence the car horns.
Geo
Geo
If it ainβt broken keep working on it until it is .
Geo
Geo
Re: Diesel horns
Geochurchi wrote: βFri Dec 17, 2021 4:49 pm Thanks for the reply, space is definitely an issue, hence the car horns.
Geo
Depending on the horn and how the tube was fabricated, you might be able to use a precision tubing bender to fold it back on itself like a trombone and cut down on the length.
As Carl notes, you need to shoot for a relatively low pitch if you want a reasonably realistic sound. The Leslie A200-156 βhonkersβ that were used on the early Diesels, e.g. EMD E- and F-units, as well as some Alco and Baldwin units, were tuned to approximately E3 on the musical scale, which is about 150 Hz. Some truck air horns are close to this pitch.
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Music isnβt at all difficult.Β All you gotta do is play the right notes at the right time!Β
Music isnβt at all difficult.Β All you gotta do is play the right notes at the right time!Β
Re: Diesel horns
If youβre wanting to hide the horns, and have a big locomotive sound, you might look at the
Mega Blast PVC horns.
https://www.facebook.com/NSSCOTTEAGUE/
https://youtu.be/4cojRtDWNM4
Mega Blast PVC horns.
https://www.facebook.com/NSSCOTTEAGUE/
https://youtu.be/4cojRtDWNM4
βJesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.β
John 14:6 (KJV)
John 14:6 (KJV)
Re: Diesel horns
0351 wrote: βSat Dec 18, 2021 2:25 pm If youβre wanting to hide the horns, and have a big locomotive sound, you might look at the
Mega Blast PVC horns.
https://www.facebook.com/NSSCOTTEAGUE/
Fakebook links are kind of useless if one doesn't do social media. You have to have a Fakebook account to see that horn.
I don't think that one is loud enough.
βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
Music isnβt at all difficult.Β All you gotta do is play the right notes at the right time!Β
Music isnβt at all difficult.Β All you gotta do is play the right notes at the right time!Β
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Re: Diesel horns
You do not have tp have a Facebook account to see those horns.
Look here; http://twproductionsvideos.com/horns.shtml
A sound clip of K3LA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJGKqfXSobE
Look here; http://twproductionsvideos.com/horns.shtml
A sound clip of K3LA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJGKqfXSobE
Re: Diesel horns
Iβm not sure who would be more annoyed, my wife or the neighbors!I don't think that one is loud enough.
βJesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.β
John 14:6 (KJV)
John 14:6 (KJV)
Re: Diesel horns
...not to mention everyone else in town.
βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
Music isnβt at all difficult.Β All you gotta do is play the right notes at the right time!Β
Music isnβt at all difficult.Β All you gotta do is play the right notes at the right time!Β
Re: Diesel horns
I've been through quite a bit of research for the same thing. The tone of the car horns is too high and too loud. For something for the novelty of having a horn and not irritating the neighbors, I'm thinking it's going to end up being a horn sound module for model trains ($45), and I will run its speaker output to a small amplifier and a larger speaker than what came with it. The single "chime" on the Baldwin S-12 I'm modeling was only 180Hz, and it's a lower tone than even todays diesels and nearly impossible to find anything off the shelf even close to the right tone.
Most car and truck electric horns are 280-450Hz.
Most car and truck electric horns are 280-450Hz.
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- Posts: 159
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Re: Diesel horns
Good luck with it, we have a Dallee sound card in our SD45, locomotive RPMs ,bells ,spitters all sound good, it had a selection of whistles but they are recorded sounds, and do not play well for our application, let me know what you use and how it sounds.
If it ainβt broken keep working on it until it is .
Geo
Geo
- Bill Shields
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Re: Diesel horns
There is a not too fine line between being realistic sounding and outright annoying when operating in a club environment.
Having a full size diesel air horn on your model may seem cool...until you frighten or distract someone and the end result is not what is desired.
I can tell you from personal experience that being up close and personal with a full size steam whistle and or air horn can be very detrimental to human hearing and / or psyche.
You want to get people's attention not cause them to soul underwear or seek ENT attention in the ER or become shocked and fall off a riding car.
As much as I hate to admit it...these electronic boxes that can imitate sounds desired at CONTROLLED decibel levels have a lot going for them.
Having a full size diesel air horn on your model may seem cool...until you frighten or distract someone and the end result is not what is desired.
I can tell you from personal experience that being up close and personal with a full size steam whistle and or air horn can be very detrimental to human hearing and / or psyche.
You want to get people's attention not cause them to soul underwear or seek ENT attention in the ER or become shocked and fall off a riding car.
As much as I hate to admit it...these electronic boxes that can imitate sounds desired at CONTROLLED decibel levels have a lot going for them.
Too many things going on to bother listing them.