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I was listening to Glenn Miller's Chattanooga Choo Choo tonight and the band imitating trains in the beginning got me thinking...

So I pulled up some whistle recordings on youtube and transcribed the notes on piano. Trains are full of music, and as a musician I find inspiration in their sounds. I know each whistle sounds different than the next so these are the recordings I used for reference:

PRR 3 chime (B flat, D flat and G flat) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S51U2MTt7eE&t=66s

Reading 6 chime (G, A, C, E flat, G, and A) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeK_zyoJGTc

NYC 5 chime (A flat, C, E flat, F, A flat) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlNGP4gSZTg

Let me know if I got it right and give me some suggestions for more whistles to add to this fun project!

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This is sweet. Blues guitarists have gotten some good whistle effects with a Dobro or bottleneck guitar. Listen for instance to Tom Rush playing "Panama Limited." Listen also to Scott Joplin's "Great Crush Train Collision" for something similar to your experiments. Joplin I believe is using tritones. Rush captures the sliding nature of the steam whistle.

HI Train Dane 3768:

Do you have a keyboard to set up these sounds, trumpet, trombone, leslie, reverb and jazz organ, I played these notes on an acoustic piano and got similar results. The pitch is correct.

PRR 3 chimes - B- D- G

Reading 6 chimes - G - A - C - E- G - A

NYC 5 chimes - A- C - E- F - A

I do not have a keyboard, it would be fun to do these notes on a keyboard.

Hope to see you out rail-fanning. Gary 🚂

IIRC the Glenn Miller record uses the original grade crossing signal in the intro - two longs / two shorts. The record was made about the time it was changed to the still-used two longs / one short / one long.

I grew up across the street from a railroad line. Back when I was a kid in the sixties, one (I'm guessing old-timer) engineer used to do sort of a hybrid - two longs / two shorts / then one long to finish.

I like that NYC whistle!

If my hand were on a whistle cord attached to that one, no hoot owl, ground squirrel, coyote, tunnel, bridge, curve, station, pretty girl, track gang, paint gang, bridge gang, or crossing would go unrecognized and at night or in the hills or mountains or in frigid weather, I'd do more of it, just to hear the echo.

Last edited by Number 90
@wjstix posted:

IIRC the Glenn Miller record uses the original grade crossing signal in the intro - two longs / two shorts. The record was made about the time it was changed to the still-used two longs / one short / one long.

Maybe we should listen?  (I think you're right.)

Mike

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Last edited by Mellow Hudson Mike

Music to My Ears • Let’s Find The Notes

In this video we will be using a Piano Tuner to find the notes in “Chattanooga Choo Choo by: Glenn Miller, from the Time Life Orchestra; “The Swing Era - Swing Time”. So hang onto your railroad hat as we use technology to find the notes.

Hope to see you out rail-fanning. Gary 🚂

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Music to My Ears • Let’s Find The Notes - HD 720p

Here's another swing clip to consider, from Count Basie's One O'Clock Jump (1939).  This one might be less about the notes, and more about cadence and tempo.

A little background -- This piece, and in particular Count Basie's arrangement of it, has been cited as being heavily influenced by the rail travel so prevalent in the experience of bands touring the country back in the day.

In the television documentary series "Jazz" by Ken Burns on PBS, a few years back, a couple of the still-living members of the Count's band were interviewed.  They mentioned expressly how the rhythm of the rails and the sounds of the equipment during hours and hours of travel got stuck in their minds and heavily influenced the creation of this piece.

While listening to this segment, in my head I can see the drivers and rods on an ATSF Northern spinning and moving in time with the music throughout, as the Chief carried the band back and forth across the country.

One other comment.  Count Basie was known to be a serious model railroader and Lionel aficionado.  I recall a post in this forum, back in late 2021, that featured a picture of him, his wife, and a corner of his layout.  Unfortunately the post was soon deleted, apparently because rights to publish the photo were not obtained by the OP from the owner.

Mike

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Last edited by Mellow Hudson Mike

Let’s Ask Google

1. What notes are in a train horn? C - D# - F# - A# - C

2. What are the sound frequency of bell? From D2 to C to D6

3. What notes are in a train whistle?  A# - C# - D# - G

4. What chord do train horns make? = These are the notes in the chord: C - E - G - A

1 Train Horn Note2 Train Bell Note3 Trian Whisle Note4 Train Cord Sound

Hope to see you out rail-fanning. Gary 🚂

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  • 1 Train Horn Note
  • 2 Train Bell Note
  • 3 Trian Whisle Note
  • 4 Train Cord Sound

An interesting topic. There seems to be quite the variety of notes associated with the assortment of horns being blown on all those engines.

How does the FRA define what constitutes a horn? Would a railroad (Shortline?) be able to have their own custom horn?

Fun little fact - The Glenn Miller Orchestra still performs as an outrageous 17 piece band. Go for Chattanooga Choo Choo - stay for the rest of the show.

I own a 3 chime Nathan, (hand delivered by a former TCA Prez), the plan is to put it on the wall in the entryway. Yes, my wife is fully on board (so to speak). I think some of the horns are as graceful as the engines they adorn.

Paul

Along with the chord produced by the horn's several "chimes," is the rhythmic pattern the engineer uses. My son once lived a few blocks from BNSF's Los Angeles-Chicago mainline through La Mirada, CA.  On several mid evening occasions when approaching the nearest grade crossing, the engineer was heard playing "Shave and a haircut."

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