Why don't Metro North E/Rs blow the horn when departing?

Yesterday, in Poughkeepsie, I noticed that the Amtrak train leaving before my Metro-North train blew its horn upon departing the station. The Metro-North train, however, did not, upon its departure 10 minutes later. Is this a specific Amtrak rule (requiring horns to be blown upon departure, two short ones)? Thanks.

Amtrak engineers are use to it because of low platforms etc putting people at ground level
On MNCR the blowing of horns is only required during non station stops and in yards as 96% of alll MNCR stations are High level and people are not fouling the train.

Thanks. However, this was odd yesterday, if only because the Amtrak train was departing from Track One at that station, and not the usual Track Five, where the low-level platform is.

No trains ever departs from track 5, unless its a MNCR deadhead. the low level platform is not in use for public, it has no stairs or elevators.
Amtrak engineers deal with low level platforms all over untill they get to their few MNCR stops

I remember when the Hudson Line was low-level platforms, and all the trains pulling out of Cold Spring would give two short horn blasts before departing.

Sometimes I hear the MU trains on the New Haven Line depart with two horn blasts, but that is rare. I hear it more from the one or two diesel trains that stop at Harrison.

Every picture I have of FL9's stopped at stations in the 1970s and early 1980s, the engineer is leaned way out looking back up his train... the classic engineer's pose. I realized he's not striking a pose, he's looking for a hand/lantern signal from his conductor!

-otto-

Otto Vondrak wrote:I remember when the Hudson Line was low-level platforms, and all the trains pulling out of Cold Spring would give two short horn blasts before departing.

Sometimes I hear the MU trains on the New Haven Line depart with two horn blasts, but that is rare. I hear it more from the one or two diesel trains that stop at Harrison.

Every picture I have of FL9's stopped at stations in the 1970s and early 1980s, the engineer is leaned way out looking back up his train... the classic engineer's pose. I realized he's not striking a pose, he's looking for a hand/lantern signal from his conductor!

-otto-

I have never heard two horn blasts on an MTA MU or push-pull train, however. This may have been pre-high plats.

I live adjacent to the old Garrison train station (just north of the current station) . Whenever a train pulls into the station the loco usually ends up in my backyard. About 1/2 of the engineers will blow the whistle twice when the train is about to depart.

I could never figure why they still do this when the station has a high level platform and the tracks are protected by a fence. I am a railfan and a big supporter of Metro North, but it can be annoying. Especially when it is early on a weekend morning.

Is this a policy or a State law that requires this? I never heard trains down in the third rail territory do this when they left the station.

The Amtrak engineers usually blow "two to go" as an acknowledgement to the radio transmission from their conductor that station work is complete and they are okay to depart....in absence of an operating communication buzzer.

On the NEC, conductors will use either the radio or communcation buzzer to signal engineers to depart; I've never heard them use the horns for that purpose on the NEC....yet.

Outside the NEC, using my last trip to Pittsburgh as an example, the crew just relied on radio communication for the "two"; the horn was not used. Then, from Harrisburg on west, the engineer did use his horn to acknowledge the conductor's "two".

And more recently, on a trip to and from Toronto on the Maple Loaf, the horn wasn't used at all upon departures from stations (I was seated in the coach right behind the locomotive both ways).

Go stand in Stamford station and watch the Amtk trains depart - you will hear quite a lot of 2 to go horns.