Pan Am Locomotive Horns

drcrf93 wrote:Here's a video I got of 381 leading a long train near Waterville. Had a nice horn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9efSNlO_pLc

In that video, only three of the five trumpets were functioning. Your definition of nice is different than mine.

Nice catch David!

Are these two the only that have gotten new horns?

On a side note, I personally think that the 604 looks awesome with out a d/b blister, the PAR paint just works without it.

I think they should paint all their horns white because it looks nice. It also adds some detail to the mostly blue paint scheme.

PAR 1 is now equipped with a new cast K5la horn as some of the freight units have recently been equipped.

Anyone know what type of horn 373 has? It's one of a kind in sound now that 216 is gone.

Post a picture that shows the horn (or a video clip that has audio of the horn) and I can tell you what kind of horn it is.

The best I can do is this one. With the bell placements, it's hard to get just the right angle.....

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20090 ... 527263.jpg

That's a Nathan P5 with a high profile manifold.

MEC407 wrote:That's a Nathan P5 with a high profile manifold.

Are those known to be good, or it this another case of one screwed up?

Those are nice sounding horns, its not just messed up, atleast to my untrained ears.

A couple examples are
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMbA8SZBY0g
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_DDCDQb5h8

calaisbranch wrote:Are those known to be good, or it this another case of one screwed up?

P5s can be good or they can be ear-bleedingly awful, depending on what kind of condition they're in.

As a general rule, old-cast P5s sound better than new-cast P5s... but an old-cast P5 in bad condition might not sound as good as a new-cast P5 in great condition... and a lot of it is just personal preference on the part of the listener.

Basically, the answer to your question of "are those known to be good?" is "maybe."

Kind of doing the combined air horn and GP9 thread from this side. Seeing 72 trailing on SAPPI-3 the past two weekends, I remembered its cool looking horn from when it led on an MD-1 in 2009. It sounded a little different, too. Here's a pic of it.....

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20090 ... 814732.jpg

Yup, another P5. You seem to be a magnet for P5s.

Yeah, what can I say? I had never put the pics between 72 and 373 together before. You must admit they are groovey looking things! At least one of them, in particular 72, must have an issue or modification because it doesn't sound exactly the same as 373 does or 216 did. Those latter two would have been hard to tell apart if you were out of viewing range.

You could have three brand new K5s straight from the Nathan factory and each one would sound a little different. Same goes for old P5s, except on an even more dramatic scale. New cast vs. old cast is the biggest difference with P5s. They sound nothing alike.

Even weather conditions can make a difference -- for example, the pitch of a horn will be lower in cold weather (ask any marching band member who ever had to play in a Christmas parade!), and most horns sound louder and richer on foggy days.