The following was posted in a Yahoo Group dedicated to--of course--steam whistles:

"That is why I'm a strong believer in establishing a WORKING museum
for steam whistles where they could be heard by the public again.
Since most people have not seen or heard a real steam whistle for
over two generations, I can see this concept going over today. Most
people I know refer to the air horns on a train or towboat as
its "whistle" or a siren as the "noon whistle"! It's time we educate
the public as to what a real whistle really is.

Unlike a conventional indoor museum where whistles would be seen but
not heard, the working whistle museum concept would need a large
outdoor space far enough from a large city that the sound of an
occasional whistle blowing would not disturb anyone. The whistles
themselves could be located on a roof or raised platform so that no
ear damage would result. It would be no different than being aboard
the deck of a cruise ship. You don't see passengers filing lawsuits
due to these large horns being used.

Likewise, the museum would need to be located close enough to a city
to attact a number of curious interested people who had never even
seen or heard a steam whistle before. The concept is similar to using
searchlights to attract the public to a grand opening event. No one
could stand the intensity of those lights in their face, but at a
distance they are quite a beacon to draw people in.

Such a museum could be located anywhere where noise is not a major
problem, such as near railyards, shipyards or airports. The noise
from such sources is nearly constant and every bit as loud as any
locomotive whistle. The sound of whistles blowing would be at best
occasional, if nothing else for the simple fact that it would time
time to recharge a large air tank between blows. You could also set
it up to blow whistles only at specified hours on a timer. You would
need a licensed operator to use a boiler. Also the museum's hours of
operation could be limited to weekends and daylight hours.

Someone ought to try this and see how well it goes over."


Thoughts? Comments? Brickbats?

I’ve also thought about steam whistles. An outdoor site at an existing railroad museum could be interesting, especially if it had multiple whistles in series and was set for certain published times. The public squares of European towns get several thousand people waiting to gawk at (often reproduction) medieval clockworks. So why wouldn’t the public wait for a whistle display. As a separate organization, a whistle museum might rank with our nation’s two PEZ dispenser museums. As a display, however, it has advantages. It would be scheduled between train departures to keep up visitor interest; it’s relatively cheap to build and operate; its placement is not constrained by track curvature; it would not consume volunteer time; and it’s self-advertising.

Much the same argument can be made for letting the kids ring a locomotive bell – the only bells they’ve typically seen are in cartoons. For that matter, I’ve been to a living history museum that had an old-fashioned farm pump / drinking fountain. It was, hands-down (no pun intended), the favorite activity for the kids and parents.

At the AAM convention last Summer, an architect commented that museums need to put some of their best attractions the furthest from the gate to keep visitors on the property longer and thus induce them to spend more money. That’s why supermarkets and convenience stores always put the milk cooler on the back wall. For a rail museum, a whistle exhibit could be a great installation for the back 40.

The Age of Steam Museum in Fair Park in Dallas has the exact setup you are talking about: a steam boiler in a building (along with a pair of working steam pumps and a display of gauges) with a pipe going to a manifold at roof level with a collection of whistles on it.

Guests are allowed to blow the whistles; however, the whistles are silent when the State Fair is taking place to minimize the disturbance. It is otherwise far enough away from most folks not to be bothersome.

Down our way, a retired gentleman I'm aquainted with has a large compressor and storage tank mounted on a trailer with a whistle manifold across the top. He visits local special events with his rig regularly. He was an N&W fireman in the late 1950's, and was "Fitz" Nichols's fireman on the Abingdon Branch. One of the whistles is Nichols' famous "goose-bumper" from the O. Winston Link recordings.

Gary -

What pressure does the gentleman blow his whistles at? During special events at the museum, our former CMO of steam would put the steam whistle on our C&O K4 (it is not normally on the engine) and connect it to our shop compressor. Then he blew it for people that visited the 2-8-4 in the Shop building. The lower pressure and the cavernous empty building made the whistle sound mournful but I think visitors got a kick out of it being sounded.

Les

We are blessed in Altoona to hear at least one whistle per day during the school year. Altoona Area High School calls its students to class at 7:45 each morning with the blast of a former Juniata shop whistle now mounted on the roof of the school's steam powerplant.

Scott Cessna

When I was a little kid in 1976, we visited the Dallas museum and had a great time blowing the whistles. I think there were 10 ropes, each attached to a different whistle marked by a sign. The Big Boy whistle was a big dare to blow. It shook us and required two of us to pull the rope because we were too light otherwise. We dared each other to blow it. Glad to know you still maintain that display.

Les, If memory serves me correctly, I think he uses about 150 psi. The tank is large to get plenty of volume, also.

While Soo Line 1003 was on display at Plymouth, WI, for the Santa train in December, someone had rigged a set of air horns and a small whistle so they could be blown by the spectators. After about 5 or 10 minutes, the continuous "din" became irritating. Maybe an arrangement similar to that at some gas stations would be preferable. Some stations provide the customer with a minute or two of compressed air for a quarter or $0.50. Limiting the ability of people to blow the darned thing continuously by charging a nominal fee might reduce the noise level. But then maybe I'm just getting "crotchety" in my advancing years......

Don C.

... That's 'cause steam whistles are music, but air horns are just noise.