Train horns in cars ????

[chad thomas]

I came across this and thought I would post it here for commentary. I think this is absurd.



Train horns latest vehicle customization fad, irritant on streets

On a February afternoon, five high school students lounged patiently on a bus-stop bench in Westchester, Florida.

Lino Alvarado Jr. slowed his truck to a crawl, smiled, and unleashed more than 150 decibels of sound from a dozen train horns attached to his truck's undercarriage.

"Did you see those kids flinch?" Alvarado, 20, said as he breezed through a stop sign. "But old people are even better."

The students were blasted by one of the area's hottest vehicle customization trends.

A good set of train horns cost about $1,000 and packs an audio punch that can reach hundreds of feet - to the delight of people who buy them, and to the dismay of residents, who are complaining to police.

"It's outrageous and inconsiderate that people blow these horns, and the state should ban these things," said Morris Sunshine, who lives in South Beach, FL. "This is merely a pitiful search for instant celebrity."

Police departments in some cities are stepping up efforts to track down and ticket those blowing the horns. In Miami Beach, FL, police have even arrested one man for blasting his, and intend to arrest more.

Alvarado has received dozens of tickets, spending hundreds of dollars to pay them, but he believes it's worth it.

"It's competition on the street, like when a guy in a truck passes by, he honks his horn, and I honk mine back," he said. "The next time I see him, he doesn't honk his, because he knows mine are bigger and louder."

At close range, the blowing horns are a full-body experience. The blast of air feels like a thin sheet of metal slapping the skin. Ears begin to ring. Even the prepared recoil at the force of sound.

Horn owners gloat.

"Those things are so loud, and they can really get someone's attention," said Pompano Beach, FL, resident Robbie Buckley, 47, who has a set of horns on his truck. "I got them because I'm a kid that never grew up."

Most local customization enthusiasts point to Gabby Szuster, owner of Gabby's Auto Werks in Miami, as the local godfather of the trend. A decade ago, Szuster saw a tractor-trailer truck with a set of train horns and bought them. He found a way to put them under his truck hood, then ran hoses through a hole cut in his floorboard to a manual lever in the truck cab.

"It was the first stage of the invention," Szuster said. "In the second stage, we ended up getting an electronic valve, and then we went from there."

"We figured out ways to make the horns more user-friendly," said Frank Carralero, co-owner of Red's Auto and Truck Customization Shop in Miami.

Red's installs two horn setups. A five-horn set of genuine train horns from the Nathan Manufacturing Co., maker of horn sets for locomotives since at least 1940, costs $2,500. A chromed three-horn set made in Asia, about half as loud as Nathan's, costs $950.

As the popularity of air horns has boomed, companies have begun to make cheaper air-horn kits, some with plastic trumpets and compact compressors.

Serious aficionados scorn them. "Those things are junk," Carralero said.

Red's has installed the horns in everything from a Honda Civic to monstrous show trucks.

"Now, in nine out of 10 trucks we do, we put in at least two sets of train horns," said Steven Menendez, 27, who works at Red's.

Szuster once installed three of the five-horn sets - 15 trumpets - in one truck.

Air-horn owners tell favorite stories about reactions to the powerful sound. There was the time Carralero blew the horn as he drove past a crowded Miami club: A dozen people ducked, then dropped to the pavement in fear.

Or the time Menendez blew his horns at the railroad crossing next to the shop: "All these cars slammed on their brakes because they thought a train was coming. Their wheels were locking up and everything."

Not everyone with the horns blasts them in city streets.

Consider William Martin, 44, who has spent $60,000 customizing his $40,000 F-350 truck, which has tractor-trailer tires, an 18-inch hydraulic lift, Lamborghini-style wing doors, and a plexiglass steering wheel with three-dimensional flames that light up at night.

"If you're going to have a big truck, you have to have big horns to go with it," Martin said. "But it's just not nice to go out there and blow the horns all the time and upset a bunch of folks."

The horns are a new weapon in the noise war in places such as Coconut Grove, FL, and Miami Beach, where motorcycles and car stereos already draw incessant complaints.

"These horns are so much louder than the things we originally complained about, and when you hear them, you sit straight up in bed because it's so unbelievably loud," said Izzy Buholzer, who lives near Grand Avenue, where many young people cruise on weekends. "Sometimes it's like a regular concert out there, with three of these guys blowing at each other."

Buholzer said the noise is making him consider selling his property. "I just can't sleep on weekends," he said.

It's not illegal to have the horns, but it is illegal to blow them, because it violates both the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County noise ordinances.

Police in Coconut Grove and Miami Beach have taken steps to crack down on noise sources, including train horns.

Since November, Miami police have been sending out special officer details in Coconut Grove on weekend nights to enforce the noise ordinance.

Miami Beach police have made catching the horn-blowers a priority, said Sgt. David De la Espriella.

He works in the South Pointe area, where a mix of nightclubs and condos led to the city's most pitched battles over noise.

Realizing that a $70 ticket may not faze someone who spent $2,500 on horns, De la Espriella said, police are taking more extreme measures.

"If one of my officers sees you, and you blow that horn, you will be arrested," he said.

Beach police have also begun to stop vehicles that have the horns, and to warn their drivers of the consequences if they blow them.

Alvarado was one of them, and the risk of arrest keeps him from blowing his horns in South Beach anymore. But he resents the possibility that doing so could land him in jail.

"They should be arresting delinquents, people who are doing something really illegal, like selling drugs," Alvarado said. "I'm just a guy having fun with train horns." - Casey Woods, Knight Ridder Newspapers, The Miami Herald, The Monterey Herald

[coborn35]

What a disgrace!!!! I work with a railroad and I still minorly flinch when the diesel horn blares next to me. Doesn't this guy know that they are trying to ban REAL horns from crossings becuase of the NOISE?!?!? I mean, I would love to have one if they could mute the horn a little so it would be a LITTLE louder than a normal horn but still mantain the diesel quality. Talk about being an idiot. I'm not[#wstupid]!!!!!!! I know he is just trying to have fun but come on, its almost illegal and it can cause hearing problems, thats why the railroads have the engineers try not to blow the horn that often.[:(!][V][}:)][*^_^*][tdn][tdn][tdn]
What a [D)]
Sigh,[censored][censored][censored]

[CSXrules4eva]

Hum I didn't realize that putting "K5LA" air horns lol on a car or a truck caused so much conceversy. I have a friend who has a truck air horn on his Dodge Ram***mins 600 Turbo Diesel and he blows that horn if people on the road **** him off. I thought it was funny (sometimes) and kewl. However, it does scare people on the road. I have to emit it it scares me sometimes, train horns also scare me sometimes but I like the sound of them. (I've even had air brakes scare me before. I know they scare me when I'm not expecting air to **** out when I'm walking around a diesel. LOL).

[Modelcar]

...Nothing is new....Back in the late '40's we had a customer {back in Pennsylvania}, that drove a '48 Ford convertible woody and on the top of both front fenders was a set of 30" chrome Buell Air Horns....It was sort of a hot rod gimmick then and those Buell's sure sounded good....Looked like a pair of large trumpets laying out there on the fenders.

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet but blowing a vehicle horn is a violation of the vehicle code when there's no traffic-related reason for using it. I knew a guy who had a streetcar bell (the kind the motorman stepped on) mounted in his van and liked to give a couple of clangs every time he pulled away from a stop. Now that sounded great.

[tree68]

I have a picture in a book about FDNY that shows a 5 chime horn on the front of one of their rescue trucks. Of course, they need it. Those people don't move for anything. A set of Grover Stutter-Tones is loud enough for me. That's what you'll usually find of fire trucks. The electronic air horn feature on my siren is enough to scare folks, and that's just 100 watts. Anybody know what the equivalent wattage is for train horn? I'm not a sound engineer.

I've thought about having an electronically generated train horn, or maybe a small air powered "steam" whistle, in my vehicle. Not for the loudness, but for the effect. In fact, most likely neither would be loud enough to qualify for a car warning device...

These guys just need something louder than their stereos. Then again, as loud as they play them, you might need a train horn to get past the noise...

A thought - if they find themselves in court, sued for causing hearing damage, they might rethink them. And if the insurance companies get involved, it might just cure the problem.

[ericsp]

They should tie those idiots' heads to the horns and blow them until something gives.

[chad thomas]

ericsp,
Now there is a good idea.

[DSchmitt]

I know of several railfans who had locomotive air horns on their cars 15 years ago. They were set up so that the sound level was the same as a stock auto horn.

[Anonymous]

$2500!?!

see, this is where my idiot people spending way too much cash on stupid things fund comes into play....aka, their $$ into my savings account

however...if anyone knows where i can get a set from an original BN 'mac, lemme know! lol

[Anonymous]

How little do you understand what kind of hobby train horns have been these last few years.

Truckers partcuarly owner operators have been spending thousands to acquire Train horns and establish air feed systems capable of delivering the required air to these horns.

I LOVE loud air horns. As a professional driver I hardly ever ever touched my air horn. I use it for two reasons:

Toot Toot -HEY You over der.. yes you! Look here I need to talk with you a sec (Truck stop lot or freight yard greeting to forklifts etc.. routine stuff)

TOOOOOOOOTTTT!!! Long drawn out blast aimed at a offending vehicle that is unable to get out of MY WAY which is legally and positionally my right of way. It usually drowns out profanity from the offending vehicle's driver window and carries the message of please move your vehicle and quickly please.. thank you.

Now train horns on trucks. The very ground shakes. If sounded in truckstops they are extremely short bursts as the waves can destroy glass and people's hearing.

Out west where there is miles of nothing on the interstate... they sound soo sweet and awesome. Yes they still shake your ground from a mile away but out there in that part of the nation it is a asset.

Most truckers who invested in these very expensive systems usually hang the horn in a very very visible spot on the tractor that shouts in it's very silence a warning to everyone to stand back I can blow at any moment.

I support any sound device which is DOT legal to be taken out onto the Interstate. Go big and loud or stay on the porch.

Now as far as the issue of children putting horns on cars to scare people or cause a disturbance I dont condone this at all. In this case I am glad I have little hearing left and it wont bother me one bit. But I will feel sympathy for folks who are trying to get 8 hours of sleep in before they have to go to work in the morning.

[Anonymous]

Mabe in your Dreams.

[edbenton]

High Iron I again agre with you on what you said! However I think the best way to stop idiots from mounting locomotive air horns on any vechile smaller than a semi tractor would be to do is if you are caught blowing a set of those horns every officer should be equipped with a battery operated grinder and just very simply cut them off as an illegal add on. Cops smash a truckers radar dector if they find one start doing the same to cars with illegal equipment.

[JoeKoh]

In most areas these horns on cars are illegal but they would be nice to wake the people up in front of you who are too busy on their CELL PHONES. SHUT UP AND DRIVE PLEASE.
ok rant over
stay safe
Joe

[Anonymous]

I'm glad this was posted. I was almost starting to get a bit optimistic about humanity, but reading about this has caused me to get real again and realize how moronic some people can be.

Edbenton and Ericsp have good ideas, as do the South Pointe police. Confiscate them, destroy them, impound the vehicle, and arrest the owner.

The first post mentioned a someone named Buckley; both him and CSXrules4eva's friend are Morons to the first degree.

You need a 130db horn to blast someone that bothers you while driving? My suggestion is to take a pill and get some serious therapy; you are wrapped way too tight, as is seen in the following from Highiron2003ar:

TOOOOOOOOTTTT!!! Long drawn out blast aimed at a offending vehicle that is unable to get out of MY WAY which is legally and positionally my right of way. It usually drowns out profanity from the offending vehicle's driver window and carries the message of please move your vehicle and quickly please.. thank you.. My question is this: if the vehicle is UNABLE to get out of your way, what good do you think a loud noise will do? Now, if the vehicle is unwilling to get out of your "legally and positionally right of way", well your highness, perhaps your therapy is long overdue.


Scaring people (especially older folks that might have heart issues), and PERMANTLY damaging someone's hearing is NOT COOL, NOT FUNNY, no way. It is simply mean. And as SDR_north says, all it does is advertise what a useless lump of carbon and waste of oxygene you are.

[eolafan]

There is a guy around here that has diesel horns mounted on the cab roof of his Dodge SUV and blows them when he comes close to us while we are railfanning...a real idiot...he thinks this is cool. GET A LIFE BUDDY!

[bnsfkline]

I am going to write a letter, and have 3,000 people to sign it, to stop Nathan Air Horns to not sell any Air-Horns to anyone but Railroad Suppliers

[dekemd]

If I remember correctly, in NC it is illegal to have train horns on a motor vehicle. I'll have to check, but I'm pretty sure police can confiscate them.

[chad thomas]

I am new to the area I now live in. I keep hearing a train horn at night, and every time I do I get in my truck and try to hunt down the source. I have done this 5-6 times in the last two weeks fully expecting to find a train. If I find out I have ben chasing some jerk-off with a Nathan air horn I'm going to be really pissed off (and I never get pissed off).[:(!]

And as for scaring old people. You have to be one major ignorant a** hole to even think of doing this. And deserve to have your driving PRIVLAGES taken away, and be replaced with an invitation to the local county jail for assult (on ears,heart,ect.)[:0]

[adrianspeeder]

I don't know, I think it would be cool to have some hidden on my PSD....

Adrianspeeder

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by adrianspeeder

I don't know, I think it would be cool to have some hidden on my PSD....

Adrianspeeder

What part of the above posts did you not understand? Time to grow up!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by edbenton

High Iron I again agre with you on what you said! However I think the best way to stop idiots from mounting locomotive air horns on any vechile smaller than a semi tractor would be to do is if you are caught blowing a set of those horns every officer should be equipped with a battery operated grinder and just very simply cut them off as an illegal add on. Cops smash a truckers radar dector if they find one start doing the same to cars with illegal equipment.

I agree with you. Actually they give us two options. Tickets and fines or place the detector under the steer tire and roll over it.

There are many hand held tools that will do the job on the big devices nicely. I support your idea but wonder if it is even legal for officers to destruct property?

[edbenton]

High Iron what do you think they are doing when they force you to run over a dector they are technicaly forcing you to destroy your own property under duress. However the best tool for destroying an air horn is a cutting torch or plasma cutter turns them into nice itty bitty pieces real nicely.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by edbenton

High Iron what do you think they are doing when they force you to run over a dector they are technicaly forcing you to destroy your own property under duress. However the best tool for destroying an air horn is a cutting torch or plasma cutter turns them into nice itty bitty pieces real nicely.

Ok. Let's see here. Congress recently made it a rule that NO commercial vehicle may have a device designed to sense or alert to speed devices such as laser or radar. This law was passed some years ago. This covers all 48 states. Trucking companies now automatically fire drivers if they recieve a police citation that shows a detector was in the truck.

Prior to Congress's actions some states banned detectors while others had no rule. Theoraticaly you could carry a detector in Montana but you better not have it hooked up and operating in Virginia.

Let's say you are at a weight station undergoing inspection and they visually identified a detector on your dashboard. (there are many many custom ways to camoflauge these devices but let's keep tiit simple for this post)

You will be given a citation for that detector. Then you will be told to remove the device and place it under your steer tire. If you refuse then they could arrest you or write further citations. The big question is that 200 dollar radar detector gonna still be worth it after you are handed a stack of citations worth 600-? plus loss of your job when you company finds out and in addition to any violations in your logbook that may shut you down and place you way late for your delivery (also a actionable service failure problem)

I would run over that detector with my steer. Duress? heh. That I can try to fight in thier county seat at the court house on my time, expense and lawyers. Time which takes me away from the road making a living.

I recall we went thru the same feelings when people started placing very very powerful sound systems in the cars a decade ago.

[oltmannd]

Owning an air horn is one thing. Being a jerk about using it is something else completely.

If you want to have one one your car or truck, why not? But disturbing the peace is disturbing the peace no matter how you do it!

[tree68]

Here's a couple of links to people who actually collect horns:
http://trainhorns.net/personal/othercollectors.html
http://www.trainweb.org/mdamtrak199/horns.html
They feel (as we do) that the horns are music, if played in an appropriate manner...

I've seen the pickup in the second link. It was at the train show in Syracuse a few years ago...

[Anonymous]

I do miss the old steam whistle. I recall back in the Texas Fairgrounds they had a man with one. Nobody minded then.

[Anonymous]

Radar detectors are illegal in Alabama. It doesn't really matter much any more, because a lot of PD's and SO's use laser type speed devices anyway- and they can't be detected by radar detectors. Anyway, I advise truck drivers to get rid of the things- but I don't routinely break them. Realising that most of these guys make a living doing what they are doing, I try not to cite them- unless they are really, really impaired or doing something really, really dumb. (Both have happened.)

Horns fall under a weird sort of judgement call. Ordinary people can't use sirens. A locomotive whistle, for all intents and purposes, is a warning device along those lines. About the only reason I can see citing someone with a train whistle is if they were disturbing the peace- like firing the thing off sitting at a traffic light right next to me at three AM. To me, it's really no different than someone with a stereo cranked up so loud you can hear it a block away. Nice to have, but a nuiscance to the folks stuck listening to it.

Erik

[BaltACD]

Much ado about nothing.

Better to get upset about those that put $4000/$5000 into their onboard sound system....sound that can be heard and felt when you pass them on the Interstate...both cars with the windows up.

Kids will be kids (and truthfully we are all kids...no matter the age)!

[coborn35]

QUOTE: Originally posted by DSchmitt

I know of several railfans who had locomotive air horns on their cars 15 years ago. They were set up so that the sound level was the same as a stock auto horn.

As I said before, having a 5 chime nathan air horn would be super cool as long as you put it down a notch. Also, as far as some people blowing them at the crossings, it will increase the problem with people who dont look at crossing and just go through. They will hear a REAL train and go "ohh, im in a hurry and its probably just some guy with a cool (but actually dumb) set of air horns. CRASH!!! BYE BYE What idiots[soapbox][soapbox][soapbox][soapbox][soapbox][soapbox][soapbox][soapbox][soapbox][soapbox][soapbox][soapbox]
I also agree with ericsp's idea of the air hornv punishment. LOL LOL