We had a discussion about the 470's whistle those photos on the now gone Horn and Whistle Board. I suggested that it was a Hancock Short bell 3 chime, but apparently the Lonergans are similar as someone referred that is what the one now on the M-K 3 in WV is.

The old #5 Porter 2-8-2 at Mount Rainier carried a 6" Ashton, IIRC. I think I heard that it's on the Hammond #17 now. Absolutely gorgeous whistle.

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It's not a Lonergan. Lonergans have rounded openings, with a short flat area at the very top. They're also built differently than the Maine Central whistle. It has a hollow channel through the bell, that fits over a stud threaded at both ends to hold it to the bowl. Lonergan tops are one piece castings (except for the lid, which does nothing structural), with an integral threaded spud that sticks out of the bottom and screws into the bowl.

The bell of the Maine Central whistle looks exactly like a short flat top Hancock to me. Built the same as well. Below are some photos of a Hancock. From a distance, the bowl looks exactly like a Boston & Maine bowl. A friend has a B&M 6 chime; it has "B&M" cast in the side of the valve body in large letters.

I'm curious about the whistle now; maybe Earl Knoob can get us some closeups?

The first thing to determine (if possible) is did Maine Central make their own shop-made whistles, or did they buy from an established maker? The whistle in the photo of 470 looks more like a Hancock short bell three chime than a Crosby or Lonergan. Crosby whistles did have rounded mouth openings like that shown in a previous post. Lonergans had a more squared off mouth opening like this 6" 3 chime specimen.



The whistle in the photo of 470 looks more like a Hancock 3 chime short bell whistle than a Crosby or Lonergan. Like this one:

Hancock looking top, but with a bowl like this:

Seems to be a discussion of greater depth than originally thought. Let me state, I'm going to check out the source of drawings listed in this thread, but if a collector has an 8" Crosby three chime for sale, and better if it's of MEC origin, I'll gladly talk to him.
I do want to reassure readers, this isn't a matter of putting staybolts on the back-burner in favor of something shiny. It's an opportunity we can't pass up.

There have been several auctions on eBay the past few months with an 8" Crosby.

That said, I'm not sure where the idea of the 8" Crosby came from, because that's not the same whistle shown in your reference photos. I'm certain it's a 6" Hancock or similar as described by Joe Dailey.

I've had conversations with people who throw out whistle names to describe what they saw on an engine over the weekend but only because it was the first whistle manufacturer name they drew to mind. 90% of the time it was an inaccurate guess.

The whistle being blown in the video is indeed a short bell Hancock 3 chime. Sadly, the sound from the whistle horribly overloaded the microphone on the video camera and grossly distorted the actual sound. Short bell Hancocks have a nice sound however, please don't think it sounds like the video clip. Somewhere I may have a sound clip of a short bell Hancock and will post if I can find it.

Richard/Peter,
Has anybody donated any sound recordings to NESCO of 470, or has everything been of the silent film variety? I seem to recall seeing pictures from the last trip where people were recording out of the baggage car.

Having something to compare to would certainly help narrow things down. I know there are some (commercially available) videos out there that are recordings from the mountain division, but it's nothing that I (currently) own.

There is another thought that I think has been brought up before. What stopped shops from putting off the shelf bells on in-house bowls? The Conway Scenic 7470's 3 chime is, as far as I can tell, a kitbash of a B&M bowl (B&M) with a Hancock bell. Could it be possible that Maine Central operated in a similar fashion?

As far as we know, no sound recordings of the locomotive still exist. There remain a few home movies, but this was 1954, so little was out there for sound recording on home film. We have checked with the television studios that were just coming into there own at the time, and in each case, the recordings were lost or thrown away in the past six decades.

The whistle could be a kit-bash. The only one who knows for certain "acquired" the piece around 1962, and he ain't saying.

Honestly that's kinda what I was thinking. Maine Central could have gotten the bowls from B&M and the tops from Hancock. I know of several other examples of similar kitbashing of whistles on other railroads. I use to own a Western Maryland mechanical department blueprint for a Crosby bowl that they used several different tops on. One, for example, was a Nathan 3 chime. I think WM bought the castings rough from the manufacturers and machined them in house.

This could also possibly explain why the bowl on the Durbin whistle is a dead ringer for a B&M, yet lacks the B&M name in the side of the valve (as the other B&M whistle I pictured above has). Does the Conway whistle have any markings in the bowl? Hard to tell from the pic.

Hi Richard
What do the ALCO records show , on the locomotive ? Pat

We have no record of with which whistle the locomotive was shipped. She was rebuilt numerous times, so I'm certain the retirement whistle was not the one with which she started out. Kind of like that old jibe about the original golden spike hammer.