Whistle Signals

[OldViking]

I received the DVD "Pilliars of Smoke Against the Sky" about a week ago and ironically the new Classic Trains had an article about the same subject. 

After watching the DVD and then reading the article, it reminded me of a question I have wondered about for a number of years. For instance in the day on Blue Ridge Grade, how did the helpers and headend communicate with only whistle signals when the weather was extremely adverse? I was thinking of extreme conditions like very high winds, heavy rain, or a raging blizzard. Plus you would have to factor in the fact that the locomotive crews were probably hard of hearing after years of noise exposure, no hearing protection mandates all those years ago. 

What did they do when they simply could not hear the other locomotive's whistle signals? 

Thanks for any replies. 

 

 

[wjstix]

I don't know if that would happen that often, if at all. Locomotive whistles and airhorns are very loud, I can hear them (and the rumbe of the freight cars) very clearly from my house which is 2-3 miles away from the joint CP-BNSF mainline along the Mississippi, even with all the windows closed. In fact, the sound carries especially well in winter. Even in a driving storm, you'd still be able to hear the whistle.

Remember that whistle also had to warn people at grade crossings that a train was approaching. If the whistle wasn't loud enough to be heard at the rear of the train, it wouldn't be loud enough to be heard by motorists approaching a crossing with wind or rain or snow.

[henry6]

Rarely was that a problem there evidently...but other ways of communicating and signaling were: by watching air pressure (mutually understood changes or blips or whatever); hand signals with white lantern or available colored fusee; stationing brakemen along the train to relay visual signals; being a plain old seat of the pants railroader who was born into it!

[K4sPRR]

I had an uncle who worked for the PRR's Pittsburgh Division during the days of steam.  Like mentioned above communicating by watching the pressure guage in the cabin car was one way, the man in the cupola would then signal to the rear helper.  His favorite assignment though was walking the top of the train about mid way, finding a comfortable spot and with the use of flags or lanterns would relay signals from the front end to the rear.  The curves in the mountain area's would on occasion cause problems due to weather but this was rare, remember trains were not as long as they are today.  Steam whistles were kept clean to assure proper operation and they were loud.   After falling off one too many times he changed jobs with the railroad.  His final fall was setting car brakes while on the Horseshoe Curve during the winter. 

[BigJim]

OldViking

I received the DVD "Pilliars of Smoke Against the Sky" about a week ago and ironically the new Classic Trains had an article about the same subject. 

After watching the DVD and then reading the article, it reminded me of a question I have wondered about for a number of years. For instance in the day on Blue Ridge Grade, how did the helpers and headend communicate with only whistle signals when the weather was extremely adverse? I was thinking of extreme conditions like very high winds, heavy rain, or a raging blizzard. Plus you would have to factor in the fact that the locomotive crews were probably hard of hearing after years of noise exposure, no hearing protection mandates all those years ago. 

What did they do when they simply could not hear the other locomotive's whistle signals? 

Thanks for any replies. 

In the case of "Pilliars of Smoke Against the Sky":
The grade where the train stops to take on the pusher is not very steep. Along with what has been mentioned above, in the event that the pusher's signal isn't heard, the pusher could shove in or pull out some slack to get the head end's attention.

We may think of steam locos being very loud when working. However, unlike a diesel, when stopped they can be very quiet. Intermittent sounds from the stoker, air pumps, injector and blower could cause some distraction the short times they are turned while stopped, but other than that, things are pretty quite on the head end.

If you have ever listened to recordings from trains on the Blue Ridge grade ( O. W. Link or Bud Swearer ), you will note that from where the recorder is placed up on the hill, whisle sounds can be heard from very far away. On one actual recording ( Swearer ) taken from a auto right next to the head end, you can hear everything that I have explained above and the whistle signal from the pusher.