Hi All,

The owner of the Beyer-Garratt we are working on here in New Zealand today, provided a Nathan six chime whistle to fit on it.

What would have been a typical application for such a whistle back in the day?

Thank you,

TH

So that the train can make a really loud "whoo, Whooo-oohh".

That's what's called the "bell" of the whistle--what the steam blows across to make noise, much like the bottle a kid blows across. You still need the rest of it--the bowl, languid plate, and shaft holding it all together. Oh, and either an integral valve or an external whistle valve.

Those are fairly common whistles, but they seem to have a prize factor among collectors and usually fetch over $3,000 on eBay. A lot of railroads used them, and there are still a number of engines that use that same whistle regularly on tourist railroads. The White Pass & Yukon 73 and I believe 765 and 1225 have used them quite a bit in the past, among others.

Typical Application or Typical Installation?

They were widely used so there's no typical....other than something larger than industrial goat size, and not from a railway that produced its own distinctive whistles.

dave

Thanks for the replies.....yes we have all the parts.

No idea yet where it will be fitted, cannot go up on top vertically though as it would exceed the railroad loading gauge.

TH

Some locomotives had their whistles installed horizontally for that reason. The Big Boy's are one example.

Horizontal or diagonal will be fine. My preference is for diagonal. I saw (and heard) one of these on a tiny 2 footer on the Ffestiniog several years ago, so I am sure it will work for you.

dave

Without it the buffalo would be extinct....


you see they would be strewn left and right of the right of way because they didnt hear the steam engine coming...ehem hack cough....I'll go read the next post....



story is the Hiawatha steamers at high speed with their shovelnose fronts would send the cows flying over the telegraph poles at speed....



theres sometimes the usual language misinterpretation, some Japanese to english syntaxs comes up with some weird wild convolutions.

The Central Vermont 2-8-0s had them for sure. I'm not sure if the other classes had them. At least 1 of those whistles made it across the pond to be hosted on various steamers in merry olde England.

A Northern Pacific Drawing of a Five Chime Whistle

Thanks you HusdonL!