Whistle Echo!

Interesting idea...     Would think that more distance would be required to create an echo however.   But  then again, why not try?

C Sam  I wonder if it should be wider at he exit end- like a megaphone???

D

If running in command you may have an issue with the signal with all that metal. I know there were some issues with tunnels made with hydrocal and wire mesh interfering with the TMCC signal.

Maybe you could put a small speaker or two across the room. Like c.sam, I think you need more room for an echo. But it's worth a try.

Another option is playing a tape or DVD sound track of an echoing whistle. For examples, go to YouTube and play some videos of whistles at the Cass Scenic Railroad.  I particularly favor a C&O chime that sounds like Reading G1 or G3 whistles.

Whistles also echo through the Aughwick Valley along the East Broad Top.

Ah, yes...yet another domain that the two-rail crowd has an advantage...

http://www.soundtraxx.com/surround/

Check the last bullet feature on the page. 

Care to have your whistle echo across the 'valley' (a.k.a., aisle, room, etc.) from in front of the viewer to behind the viewer?  Talk about mind-blowing!

If you've never seen a demo of this system/concept...say on a large HO layout...avail yourself of the first opportunity.  It will change your thinking about model railroad sound forever.  Just think...no more on-board speakers and layer cake electronics to provide chuffing, whistles, brakes, generators, compound pumps, etc., etc..  Quillable, smoking whistles?  I'll take that echo across my layout room instead...in a heartbeat!

If only...   (sigh)

KD

Well, I went to the website but didn't HEAR squat!

Not much of a demo...

The equipment is impressive BUT it stays with the layout, aka if you take your engines somewhere else they're pretty quiet.

No, no on-line demo.  Sorry if you expected one.  If you read the concept, what would you expect from a monaural computer speaker a couple of feet from your ears??  It has to be demonstrated on a layout, in a room, with the train(s) running, and the hearer/viewer moving about. 

Very true.  It's just intuition, mind you, with no data to back it up, but I would suspect most model railroading hobbyists who would be investing in this sort of system would do so for their own layout/enjoyment.  It's not cheap.  It's just a cut above....IMHO.  Oh, the other 'advantage'?...no limitations on speaker size/technology/quality that can only fit in your on-rail engine.  Wow. Real full-range frequency resonse...highs and lows...even 'feel' the sounds. 

On the other hand, it could work very well for a modular club concept...as long as it was a club standard.  The major cost is in the stationary system...not the onboard modules.  I think it would be rather impressive in playing to the crowd.

Oh well, that's why there's conventional, DCS, Legacy, QSI, Protosounds 1-2-3, Railsounds, Trainsounds, etc.,etc., etc....and all the opinions and preferences that support a market for each.  To each his own.

Whatever.

One of our members has a CD that is years old with mostly just rolling sounds - squeals, rumbles, clickety-clack and the like. A few whistle blasts but not overbearing. We play that occasionally through his son's boom box that has a pretty decent base response for a portable sound source. It really lends a lot to a session!

There you are!