Have an Athearn Genesis w/soundTraxx sound in ATSF am wondering if anyone knows which CV/sound bit is correct for the air horn. The model has a 3-chime air horn that I can't identify type.
According to this information from Sountraxx: http://www.soundtraxx.com/choose/choose4.php
A 3 chime horn on the Santa Fe would be either a Nathan P3 or Leslie S3L. One of the resident Santa Fe experts can 'chime' in with a more definitive answer.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
One would actually need to see the horn to better know whether it was a Nathan or a Leslie. To my limited knowledge a Nathan has all three horns facing one direction, where a Leslie has two facing one direction and the small one in the center facing the opposite.
The real catch is that it is possible to disassemble and replace one of the Nathan horns the opposite. That is a Nathan K3LA can have horns facing either direction. I don't know if this is possible with a Leslie.
Except not always - some Leslies have all 3 bells forward. Like everything els,e it really was up to the practice of the particular railroad at the particular time you are modeling - because things changed.
On the really frugal railroads, they reused stuff like crazy. Horns aren;t cheap - go try to buy a brand new one. The Reading reused the M3RT1's on newer Alco Centuries when they traded in the RS3's. They had a special bracket to mount the horn so the rear bell would clear the cab roof, almost the exact same mount they had on the RS3's. The rear bell on a 'tilt' angles up, so the manifold is somewhat level or below the cab roob but the rear bell projects over it.
I can identify the horn as a Leslie S3 or RS3, but I am asking about which horn option on the SoundTraxx unit will give me the Leslie sound. I can't pick it out with my own ears. I have listened to all air horn options, I think mine comes with the first 7 or 8 options, but I don't know which one is the Leslie.
Is the Sountraxx factory installed? If yes, there should be an instuction sheet from Athearn or Soundtraxx listing the horn type by #: IE CV115 is horn select, 1 might be a Leslie,2 a Nathan etc. If not, try contacting Soundtraxx for help. Joe
Should be in the manual. Soundtraxx, unlike MRC, actually documents which CV value is which horn sound.
What type of locomotive is it? Genesis F unit, GP7, other?
Once I know which type loco you have I can help with getting the right horn. I use Soundtraxx Tsunami sound in all of my locos (all Santa Fe locos). And most of these are Athearn Genesis, so I can help you with the horn if I know your loco type.
One thing to note is since your loco came with factory sound, it may not have as many horns as the typical Soundtraxx Tsunami decoder. I think most Athearn Genesis/Soundtraxx locos only have 6 horn choices. So it's likely you'll have to settle for the closest available horn. My new Genesis GP7 has this problem, the correct horn is not available on the factory decoder.
Here's a useful link that lists what horns Santa Fe locos had:
Santa Fe Horns
Matt from Anaheim, CA and Bayfield, COClick Here for my model train photo website
Got everything I needed. The box didn't come with any paper work but it turns out I already had the Athearn manual and the SoundTraxx manual already on my computer.
Thanks to one web site listed I was able to nail it down specifically as a Leslie RS-3-L horn, which as it turns out was the default air horn on my Tsunami decoder.