NSWGR Five Chime Whistles (Australia)

Bevan Wall has put together a short explanatory video about whistles used in NSW.





Towards the end, the last two locomotives featured are saturated, you can hear their woollier 'woof' compared to the sharper 'bark' of the superheated locomotives.

Those two locomotives are 1709, a 4-4-0 built by The Vulcan Foundry & Co in 1887 (B/N 1172) and 2705, a 2-6-0 built by The Hunslet Engine Engine Co Ltd in 1913 (B/N 1115).

 

Remember (not having yet watched the video where it may also be explained) that the position of the steam take off for the whistle will effect it uses Superheated steam or not, regardless if the main engine uses it. If it has its own take of...say on the dome...it will still be saturated, if it come off the dry side of the superheater it will be superheated.

 

My, um, comments about the locomotives being saturated has nought to do with the whistle tone, it is all about the sound of the exhaust.

AFAIK all NSWGR locomotive whistles are plumbed directly to the boiler so they all use saturated steam when being blown.

 

The 38's I think are the only NSWGR that have the whistle positioned for this, though they may get the steam from the wet side of the header instead.