• Horns on B&M first generation diesels

  • Discussion relating to the pre-1983 B&M and MEC railroads. For current operations, please see the Pan Am Railways Forum.
Discussion relating to the pre-1983 B&M and MEC railroads. For current operations, please see the Pan Am Railways Forum.

Moderator: MEC407

  by b&m 1566
 
What did the B&M have for air horns on the F3's, F7's, BL2's, GP7's, S4's, RS2's and 44 tonners? I'm aware they probably switch out air horns on their engines throughout the years, so I'm just looking for the originals.
  by bmcdr
 
WOW, That's a tall order. Here goes. I don't know what they classify these horns, railroad men seldom know, and seldom care what they're called. All of B&M's F's were delivered with the standard EMD 2 horns, one facing front and one facing rear. They all ended their careers with their original horns except some of the FT's.
1 horn F.jpg
The BL-2's were delivered with a large horn in front of the windshield post facing front and one smaller one mounted behind the cab on the fireman's side.
1 horn BL.jpg
The GP-7's were delivered with a 3-chime horn, 2 facing front and one facing rear, mounted on the side of the engineer's side of the short hood, except 1572-1577's were mounted on the roof of the short hood, all went to their grave with their original horns intact.
1 horn GP.jpg
  by bmcdr
 
The website won't allow me to post more than three photos, so here goes some more. The 44-tonners were delivered with a single horn mounted on the "F" front hood just ahead of the stack and were later fitted with a 2-chime horn mounted on the cab roof on the engineer's side.
1 horn 44.jpg
The ALCO S-1, S-2, S-3, and S-4's were delivered with a single horn mounted up under the roof overhang in the center of the cab.
1 horn S.jpg
Later, they were re-fitted with a 2-chime horn mounted on the cab roof on the engineer's side, the same horn the 44-tonners got.
1 horn retro.jpg
  by bmcdr
 
And finally, the RS-2's were delivered with a single horn, facing front, mounted on the long hood in front of the cab and another mounted on the short hood facing the rear. The rear facing horn, because of the angle, does not show in this photo.
1 horn RS.jpg
  by MEC407
 
bmcdr wrote:The GP-7's were delivered with a 3-chime horn, 2 facing front and one facing rear, mounted on the side of the engineer's side of the short hood, except 1572-1577's were mounted on the roof of the short hood, all went to their grave with their original horns intact.
The 3-chime horns on the GP7s were Nathan M3s.
  by MEC407
 
bmcdr wrote:All of B&M's F's were delivered with the standard EMD 2 horns, one facing front and one facing rear. They all ended their careers with their original horns except some of the FT's.
Those appear to be Leslie A200s, which were pretty standard in those days.
  by b&m 1566
 
Thank you David and 407!
So, I now know that the F3's & F7's had Leslie A200's and the GP7's had Nathan M3's for their originals. It looks at though the BL2's had Leslie A200's as well going by the photo or are those different horns.
I can’t make out what kind of horn the RS2’s, S4’s and the 44 tonner’s had going by the pictures. It is possible the S4’s and 44 tonner’s had the same single horn?