QJ's Whistles

[Dampfmann]

What's the deal with the QJ whistles? Have any railroads (IAIS or Gorman) installed an American whistle on any of these steam engines? If not, why not? Would operating a Chinese locomotive with an American whistle be considered an act of railroad blasphemy? Curious... Martin

[Dakguy201]

The two engines belonging to the IAIS certainly retain their European sounding whistles.  There is a third one at the Boone Scenic that I haven't heard.  The fourth is the R.J. Corman engine.  If I recall the video of that one correctly, it also has the original whistle.

I strongly prefer the sound of Milwaukee 261, UP 844 or 3985 to the (wimpy) scream of the Chinese!     

edit:  I was bothered by my post, so I did some web searching for the RJ Cormans.  I'm not so sure that is the original whistle, it has a much more American sound than do those of the IAIS.

[fredswain]

Here's the sound of the whistle on the Boone and Scenic Valley:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T1UPxta26I

 

 

[nathansixchime]

 

A long term plan has been to add an "American" sounding whistle to the RJ Corman QJ.

It's not so much the sound of these whistles, but how steam is admitted to them that creates their harsh notes. They are blown using air operated pedals which do not allow for "quilling." Each depression of the pedal will result roughly in a 1 and a half second admission of steam.