Favorite whistle in an engine?

 

In short, no.  There are many different types of whistles with different numbers of "chimes" and different lengths/diameters to make different sounds.  There were also many companies that made them.

 

Somebody could probably add a lot more information about them for you

I'll take a good ol' postwar impeller-driven air whistle any day of the week!

 

Rusty

I'll second that Rusty. Realistic whistles are nice, but I love the sound of that old toy whistle that brings back memories.

My "First Prize" goes to Bill P's Lionel PRR T1 Duplex. He let me run it, and the whistle sound was music to my ears. My second choice would be a well-working Lionel postwar whistle.

Favorite whistle? The N&W J Born,Bred and Made in the Roanoke Shops.

David

Thankfully in this O gauge hobby there is room for everyone to be happy.  Even though I was raised with the post war air whistle, when I sound my "quailing" steam whistles in my Legacy locomotives it sounds so much like the real thing.  So much so, that when I have my layout room window open, neighbors are looking around to see where the steam engine is coming from. 

 

TEX

Steve

IMO,  Using legacy quilling feature, whistle #! on the new Lionel MR S-3 (model has two + horn) has the cleanest, not over amplified sound with near perfect resonance of any model I've heard to date.

Near perfect.

Joe

My favorite whistle by far is Lionel's 18064 L-3A Mohawk.  The most haunting, mournful whistle I have ever heard.  That being said I also love Lionel's post war air whistle.  It sends me back in time

My favorite whistle is the whistle on the Legacy E6 #460. It is really like a NYC whistle but it is really unique. Other than that whistle I love the whistle on the Legacy K4 and the whistles on the Milwaukee Road 261. 

A number of the recent Legacy locos have very good whistle sounds.  I'm not sure I can choose between them and I have not heard, in person, the new T-1.

 

But without question my favorite at the moment is the whistle on MTH's PS3 241.A, a French 4-8-2 locomotive from their European series of steamers.  It has a wonderfully shrill European whistle sound, quite distinctive and just wonderfully rendered.  

 

I actually run this loco sometimes just so I can hear the whistle.  I bought it and I love it (it has spectacular paint and detail but rather sound below the recent Legacy standard except for its fantastic whistle), but it looks surprisingly out of place due to itsscale (some sources say it is 1:43, others 1:45, but regardless it looks a tad too large when everything else locomotive is 1:48).  

It is amazing how far sounds have come.  Right of Way pioneered using the correct sounds for the locomotives.  It was fun to go out and record.  Imagine all of this being done on a 386 computer!

 

Lou N

I have to say I like the digital recordings a lot and being younger and of the "technology age" you would think that would be my favorite. But I really like the air whistle. So much so that I bought a whistle shack so even when I run a fancy steamer with rail sounds I can still get that enjoyable air whistle sound.

As others said, it is great there are options for all.

I have a MTH H10 2-8-0 that is 5 volt so it is older.  The whistle is fantastic, the best of my few engines.  It has that shrill moaning sound that sounds terrific.  

I have 5 legacy engines they all have awesome whistle's but

my favorite is the vision line Hudson.

 

Thanks, Alex

Lionel's Warhorse Santa Fe Hudson Whistle, The Black Commodore #18063 and the Yellow Belly #18043 have the best whistles ever!!!!

My favorite(of the engines I own) is the LionMaster Legacy Pennsy T1...excellent whistle sound. My second favorite is my LionMaster Cab-Forward...a hearty deep sound.

My Postwar 736 Berkshire has a great air whistle in it.

 

Real Whistles?  I would have to go with a single chime "hooter" whistle (especially the deeper sounding ones).

Even though I like all the new sounds but the best IMO is the 777 commodore Vanderbilt by Lionel. An early rail sounds unit but to my ears the best by far whistle of any locomotive.

EBT's #17 (OR was it #14)

I agree 

I believe the N&W J whistles were Hancock built, not N&W.  The N&W hooters on the other hand, I'm pretty sure were shop built.

 

That is one of my favorites too though besides the single chime ones

Mine has to be the lionel lionmaster big boy ... Nothing touches it here in the uk

 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=843cX7NX530

 

 

jason

My favorite whistle is the one in my Kline PRR TMCC Scale Mikado. I was running it at one of my clubs open houses and another member was running a MTH Scale Reading T-1 Proto 2 I think that had a weak tooter whistle. He took it off the track and put it back in the box. He had better smoke but the Kline whistle won the day.

JohnB

My favorite whistle on a Lionel engine is either the one on the Alton Limited 4-6-2 in the set from 2002 or the ATSF 3751 4-8-4 (the new version and the old version have the same whistle), or the whistle on my Lionel B&O 2-8-0 with TMCC from 2008.

A very good choice, David.

Some of the early RailSounds locomotives from late '90's-2000 had amazing whistle sounds.  The F3s with Pulmor motors from that time also have a killer horn.

 Air whistles on 18volts and TMCC Rock! Screamin' Banshees! My favorite for sure! Runner up is the first edition Lionel PRR 2-10-4 Texas, only because I haven't heard the Legacy version.  

RailKing's Imperial N&W "J"

N&W hooter whistle ...most absolutely!  Right out of the JLC Y6b.  The PRR J1

from 2001 is mighty fine and it should be, coming from Al Shade's tapes of

the original machines back in Ohio, in the '50s.

Mine would be the whistle of a sp or sf 4-6-2 steamer.Nice tone to their whistles.That I think might have echoed through the country side.As for a diesel horn sound.I would go with the seaboard coast line gp9 or sd45.As a kid I remeber hearing them.

The blue comet whistle from the first release, (2002?) has the best I have heard to date.  Sorry to hear the new release with the Legacy upgrade is a disappointment.  My MR 261 is darn good also.

Most of my whistle tenders came with 2026 and 2035 engines.  I have 12 or so and most do not work very well.  It may be the rectifiers on my LW transformers are shot, relay problems and pickup and wire problems.  They just are too much trouble to keep running and take lots of power from the LW especially when running two trains on a loop.  I would rather spend time and effort keeping the engines running and lubed.

 

My favorite whistles are two that came from tenders and are in two building, running off straight 12 v AC and sound nice and loud every time!  I have whistle buttons on each end of both control panels and they get lots of work from the grand kids and other kids.

 

Charlie

Any of these whistles is a quality one. Really cant go wrong with Legacy steamers. 

The Legacy 765 still has my favorite:

My favorite is not associated with any particular engine - it's an old MRC sound machine that had a slide bar which could modify a generic steamer whistle or diesel horn. It also had adjustable chuff. Very basic so so fun to play with.... 

Most of my steam engines are postwar with impeller whistles. I prefer the sound of them in a 6466 over the other tenders.

 

Of my Railsounds tenders, I really like the century club Berkshire's whistle.

 

J White

My vote would be for the Lionel Legacy FEF Northern.

 

I think Chris will know where this whistle is. Besides the "J" my favorite steam whistle is Gabriel

Gabriel can be seen near the NS Roanoke Shops sign from I-581. You can hear it everyday at 7:00 AM,12 noon, and 3:30 PM and I do know that this whistle is made "in house".
Downtown Roanoke wouldn't be the same without being able to hear Gabriel telling you it's lunch time.

David

Here's a link to some diesel air whistles:

 

http://www.dieselairhorns.com/collection.html

 

Are there any for steam whistles and other diesel horns?

Better still, is the impeller-driven air whistle in the prewar Flying Yankee. It's just so wrong I love it!

 

OK, I'll go back to the tinplate section now.

 

Tim