Train crews, this ones for you. Have you ever had to blow the horn for so many grade crossings that you ran the loco out of air? I know you have huge onboard air tanks, and an air compressor on your power, but modern air horns take loads of air. Just a random musing....
Good question however now never have. Its run off the 2nd air resivor that runs the bell ( well on the ones without the electronic bell lol) sanders and anything else that needs to run off air. I have heard the compressor turn on lol.But no never ran out of air blowing the horn. We do have a loco here that SOUNDS like its running out of air,but its just a badly tuned horn.
==================================================================== Nope! I've been on a couple of trains where the hogger pissed the air away. Amazingly one of them was a commuter train. But that isn't really "running out of air", Its just an equalization of brake cylinder pressure and brake pipe pressures that negates a brake application. CT
Never ran out of air...just pulled the main res. down very low because only one compressor was working. Had to add another unit to get enough working air compressors.
If you run out of air in the the tank, train stops and engine won't go for until you bring the main res back up again. Safety feature built into the P42's.
On a somewhat different subject, I have heard some of the guys running 7 1/2" gauge live steam have problems blowing their whistle too much. They still have brakes but don't have enough steam pressure to keep the locomotive running.
I've never run out of air for the horns, because the train would be stopped long before that. I've had the horns freze up on me when they get loaded with snow & ice. Then a new set of rules go into effect for the movement of the train.
==================================================================== Oh Yeah!!! That and number boards,headlights,ditch lights, bells,whistles and freds! All of them have been the bane of my railroad career!! And DONT EVER mis-read or mis-understand the rules governing the use or failure of those devices to operate as intended. I guarantee you that there will be a weed weasel around the next curve waiting for you with a big grin on his face and penciling in your investigation date on his/her calendar! CT
Russel brings up a point about steamers. Now THAT has happened here an engineer drops steam pressure from blowing a whistle too much.Not going to say how I know this ahem cough, but if you blow the big CB&Q 5 chime on our Heisler too much the fireman will smack you with the shovel! Southern Pacific actually had classes for how long to blow a whistle in steam days. I think it was in a Trains article I read this. but they had it factored out to blowing a whistle too long or raising the pop vales cost them money. Of course my favorite reference Treasury of railroad folklore has a whol chapter dedicated to the whistle men of the era. Actually being able to tune their whistles and play tunes.But oh well. I can still play Jingle Bells but nothing as good as "Oh how I have a friend in Jesus" as one hogger did lol.
==================================================================== This is a problem I have with 1' = 1' operation of the preservationist/museum groups. All the "foamer" videos I have seen of the preserved steam locos running have the crews being overly generous with the whistle, that and making black smoke! Now I know that "foamers" are what is keeping these preservation/museum locomotives operating because the fans "want" the whistle and want the black smoke. In prototype operation, overuse of the whistle,which wastes valuable steam, will merit one a spirited discussion with the Road foreman not to mention a possible threat on the hogger's life by an overworked fireman struggling to keep steam up. Creating black smoke, purposely,would also net a crew another spirited discussion from the Road Foreman,not to mention the fact that the hogger would probably have the fireman "set out" at the next tank for carboning up his locomotive! My wife, who is NOT a railfan, has noticed this on the films and questions me about operations. I can understand,but not sympathize,the point the preservationist/museum groups are trying to make by these practices. They and their locomotives are totally dependent on the caprice of the railfans and their $$$. But seriously, in "real" railroading both excessive use of the whistle and a heavily carboned exhaust were practices both frowned upon and discouraged. Is it really that necessary? CT
The tourist RR I belong to has a Whitcomb 44 tonner that we have lost main res. air on blowing the horn. It was a set of Nathan M5s, which uses a lot of air. The horn has since been replaced with an M3 with #2 missing.
Wow, who knew you could actually run out of air? Some friends at the UP Steam Crew once told me at an event they attended with UP 3985, that some other event attendee wanted to try 3985's whistle on their own smaller steam engine. Apparently, the engine was very small, as they ony got one good toot out of the whistle, before they exhausted all the steam pressure! The second toot was very weak! 3985's whistle must be a serious steam pressure hog!
Once it stops working as intended, you notify the dispatcher of the problem, because your going to be running late. He has to know. Then you follow rules that are pre set. Mech. forces will meet you at an outlineing point & try to defrost it.
Gotta be careful with the torch though. OA will melt the metal very quickly if you're not really careful with the flame. Propane or Fuel Gas works better for defrosting applications (also really works better when trying to anneal metal too) becuase it's got a lower temperature to it and will "spread" better when you leave the mixture rich.
