Interesting horn on new SW1200

Here's a video of the horn. It's the one at about 1:20 in the video.

https://youtu.be/Xu4ogyIU9bg

That is a Hancock air whistle.

Hancock air Whistle

https://youtu.be/rpyXX9F2gQo

The New Haven used them.

Sounds very close to the Hancock Lionel used on the Conrail Office Car Special E8 from 2017. Very cool feature, nonetheless.

@NJCJOE posted:

That is a Hancock air whistle. They were originally used on steam engines, however they were also found on some diesels.

I don't recall a Hancock air whistle on a steam locomotive.  After all, they had plenty of steam available for a normal whistle.

The Hancock Model 4700 air whistles were also used on New Haven's EP-5 electric locomotives, FL9 diesels, RDC's, GP9's, RS11's, H16-44's and SW1200's.

Rusty

@Rusty Traque posted:

I don't recall a Hancock air whistle on a steam locomotive.  After all, they had plenty of steam available for a normal whistle.

Rusty

I believe you are correct Rusty. I spoke too quick.

This is cool. I had never heard of such a thing on SW1200s, but these are accurate according to the pictures I’ve found online. The C&I ran right below where I grew up (a block to the tracks) and I don’t remember that sound. However they had a mix of other SW models with trumpet style horns too and those could have been the ones typically leading the consist.

I’m a little disappointed in some of the other details. The original SW1200 #39 that the C&I rostered (as well as its siblings) had dual lens headlights, an MU stand with slightly different angled handrails front and rear, and lighted oval number boards on either side of the long hood near the front just below the hood mounted handrail.

That said, I’m happy to have a model of a vivid childhood memory that I saw daily until late grade school when they started pulling the tracks up.

It also smokes like a champ!