Best Whistles?

I pretty much like most hooters.

Seriously, the whistles on the Lionel JLC Y6B and the Lionel scale N&W Class J's are at the top of my list. Also the Vision Line 700E Hudson.

since whistles don't scale well, even live steamers have to play games with their sound systems...

 

 

but believe me, this is one you don't want to try indoors.

Whistle and horn sounds aren't that important to me, and I don't care at all if the whistle or horn sounds are prototypical at all - really - how would I know since I have not heard them in real life.  All my locos have a good-enough whistle and horn, and only two stand out.

 

Second best favorite: I like the whistle on my Legacy Blue Comet - I have one of the early ones and it has not been sent back to be "fixed," so it sounds more like a big Mississippi steamboat or a small ocean liner than a locomotive.  Interesting sound and not like

 

Favorite by far: The only loco I take down and run just to hear the whistle - and I do so frequently: MTH's European series EST Era II 241.A.  It has a perfectly pitched version of that very shrill, high European locomotive whistle - absolutely wonderful (but otherwise, even though it's PS3, the sound is unremarkable).

 

I have only one loco that stands What I do care about is how it MTH European

You have to add the Legacy FEF to that list. Totally agree on the JLC Y6B

As much as I like the modern "realistic" whistles, my favorite is still the sound of a well adjusted air whistle.

The whistle in the MTH Rail King PS1 Pennsy 2-8-0 is the best steam whistle I have heard to date. It is a deep throated whistle that portends a big steam giant is coming, and nothing like the whimpy Pennsy Banshee whistle. 

TrueBlast II

After I finally found a replacement chassis for my Milwaukee Special, Mighty Sound of Steam Tender in the form of a Williams undecorated S-2 Tender equipped with True Blast II digital sound. I was pleasantly surprised with the whistle in the new Tender.

I love the sound as the whistle blows for several seconds during the time it takes for the train to cover half the distance of an O36 oval.

My Dad used to tell us stories that seemed to always include a train in some way and hearing “the train whistle in the distance” was often part of them. One of his favorite sounds was a train whistle. Even in his last days he would enjoy the sound of Florida East Coast a block away sounding the horn for the crossings during the night and early mornings as he lay in bed.

The true Blast II steam whistle will always remind me of Dad. I’m sure he would have liked it too.

Hands down, Lionel Legacy locomotives.  All of mine are just awesome. Much more realism than MTH whistles.

 

TEX

Steve

My original 2025 has the best whistle , but I remember a K-Line demonstration at the TCA museum with an electronic whistle that had real depth to it, not the doppler effect from MTH, but almost an echo effect. Anybody remember which engine had it?

At the opposite end, nothing sounds sillier than the huge 3rd Rail NP Z-8 equipped with an east coast single-note hooter.

 

Sad substitute for the glorious sound of the Nathan 5-chime ....

You have to add these to the list of Lionel engines:

The NYC F12e ten wheeler

The vision line 2-10-10-2 sante fe

The vision line 4-6-6-4 challenger

The vision line 0-8-8-0 Pennsy CC2

The legacy 765 Berkshire

The legacy PRR M1b, just sings to ya

The legacy atlantics - 4-4-2 sante fe

The Y6b - 2-8-8-2

The older EM-1 2-8-8-4

The first release of the PRR J1a

The Class A and Allegheny1601 first release

The older TMCC GS2 and GS64 from 2004

any 2004 and above 0-8-0 with TMCC

and last but not least:

is the older TMCC shay locomotives!