Just a minor question...in this picture...

Just to verify if what I'm seeing is correct...do I see an airhorn in the front? I never knew Pennsy installed airhorns on ANY of their steam locomotives.

By FAR the wrong forum to be asking this in......... but, yes. This horn did not last long at that spot on the pilot, and was removed ca. June 1941. As for why a horn? This loco was barreling between Crestline and Chicago, a region full of "lake effect" fogs and snow squalls, at speeds up to and over 100 mph, and air horns like the one pictured (safe guess it's either a Westinghouse or Leslie, maybe a Leslie A200) punched forward much better at high speeds than a steam whistle. For the same reasons, horns were fitted to the Southern Pacific "Daylight" GS-4's.

Some of the Reading Company G-3 series had air horns. I remember the first time I heard one on the PRSL and looked for the diesel.

Ira Schreiber
Aurora, CO

Generally considered, this is a preservation forum, but don't let that first reply put you off. If you have a question, ask it. You'll find some individual with either the correct answer or one who can point you to it.

To the rest of this forum's participants, the worst thing one can do to a young persons interest in railroading, is to slap them across the face for having that interest. I'm quite certain most of you agree.

As you can see the S1 kept the A200 right up to the end for her at Crestline, OH.

EBL

How long was it displayed (on rollers no less) at the World's Fair?

Steve

My apologies for "slapping" a young preservationist for asking a question in the wrong forum.............

But I've seen it time and time again: It starts with the simple question asked about the (unpreserved) PRR S1.

The progression--and not necessarily at all by one person, either:

"Does anybody make an HO model of that engine? Preferably plastic?"
"Who makes the best sound boards for MTH locomotives?"
"What kind of trucks were under the tenders of C&NW's R-1's?
"My great-grandfather worked out of the Philadelphia and Lake Erie's Pittsburg yards from 1913 to 1945. Can somneone tell me everything they know about that yard, and who his co-workers were?"
"I collect beers with trains on them. Anyone seen any good ones lately?"
"What kind of train is in the movie Unstoppable? How about Galaxy Express 999?"
"Trains are responsible for 12% of global warming. Aren't you ashamed of yourselves?"
"Did you know that rasins are dryed grapes???? I DID NOT KNOW THAT!!!!"

Perhaps the next question for our never-written FAQ--after "What's going on with PRR 1361?"--should be "where can I go to ask a non-preservation railroad-related / rail-history-related question?"

there are only 2 forums on this board, this IS the spot to ask, the brains converge here, so ask away.

We should be here to help share the knowledge, and not complain about the questionmaker.

Good question and I didnt know horns were applied to the 6-4-4-6, I knew about the GS engines.

I have a photo of Georgia Northern 107 (ex-FEC 88) taken in about 1931, soon after the Georgia Northern had acquired it from the scrappers and put it into service in Southwest Georgia. In addition to apparently spending a good bit of money to "doll it up" they also had a 4-bell set of air horns installed on the cab roof on the engineer's side. Two faced straight to the rear and the forward facing pair had the bells slightly angled one to either side. On top of that, they look like they were probably nickel-plated as were many other trim parts on the engine. Beautiful! But I sure wonder what it sounded like...

So, you can add a south Georgia shortline to the ranks of the "Big Boys" like SP and PRR that added air horns to steam. And let us not forget the diesels that had Leslie Air Chimes installed to make them sound more like steam whistles instead of those honking horns...Central of Georgia comes to mind.

Don't the Chinese QJ's have air horns as well?

But I've seen it time and time again: It starts with the simple question asked about the (unpreserved) PRR S1.

Wait until it happens before assuming it will.

In any case, so what if all those other questions arise? So what?

Yeah, you probably want to ask that on steamfap.org.

Oh wait... that's US!

The Interchange board is described on the front page as a place for "Discussion of railway history and preservation". Being that this locomotive is a part of history, I see nothing wrong with this. He's not asking about why none of these were saved, he's not saying, "Wouldn't it be great if...", he's asking about the design of the original locomotive. I can definitely see how that is relevant to the description on the front page. In all seriousness, you have to think about what really is relevant and what's not before calling this young man out. It's getting hard enough for me to find people from my generation interested in preservation, let's not scare them off. By answering one simple historical question such as this, we could potentially hook someone in this hobby for the rest of their lives.

Please keep in mind that this is in no way meant to be a personal attack against you, Mr. Mitchell, and that I say it with all due respect.

Zak Lybrand

Okay, I apologize for the rude brush-off of "PRR Forever".

And the next time someone tells us all about this steam locomotive sunk in a quarry ("I stood on its cab roof!"), it'll be Brother Glueck & dinwitty's turn to deal with it.

A still captured from a preserved film by my late father. Reading Company G-3 213 at track speed on the PRSL at Milmay NJ with a Wildwood Extra in August 1955. Air horn can be seen at top front starboard side.