PRR Question

[srr90]

Hey Gang,

Was wondering,does anyone know if the pennsy steam engines had the same sounding whistles?I have a couple of the BLI steamers and they all have the same whistle sound.

 

Jeff

[oldline1]

Jeff,

I haven't heard the BLI whistles so I can't compare them or determine if they are accurate.

The Tsunami has a PRR banshee that's pretty close to all the recordngs I've heard. Don't go by most of the DVD's & VHS tapes of Pennsy engines as they are often just stock sounds of engines to "improve" the tapes. I've heard Reading and N&W whistles on some of them.

The Pennsy used basically 2 whistles. The freight whistle was a very shrill one commonly called a "banshee". The usual passenger whistle was a melodious low sounding chime. With that said.......it wasn't set in stone. The J class 2-10-4's that I have heard recordings of had a nice chime that was different than the passenger one. I have heard recordings of M class 4-8-2's with both the banshee and the J type whistle.

One thing that was common on the "Standard Railroad of the World" was the great variety in things including whistles.

Roger 

[ndbprr]

No there were two whistles.  Most freight engines had the Banshee single tone whistle that was very shrill and urgent in its sound.  Most of the passenger engines had a melodious three tone whistle but also had a degree of urgency in the sound made.  One has to womder if all railroads had an individual who's job it was to decide those kind of things.  the PRRT&HS has a pair of CDS available that have recordings of nearly every steam engine running in  the late 40's and early 50's including the T1.