Mainline steam - When to Whistle and When Not To!!

With Christmas approaching (stand behind the yellow line) I thought it was time to invite contributions from our merry band of posters, for their view on this topic!

I have always enjoyed back to when I was a kid in the 60's, the sound of the steam locomotive whistle, whether prior to pulling away from a station or, better still, when racing through at high speed - it symbolises a significant element of the steam locomotive - steam, smoke, speed and whistles! I reckon the young kids of today and possibly the future steam enthusiasts when we are long gone, will have no less a thrill than we did when the whistle blows!

Having lambasted West Coast on this forum last week, for their lack of whistles with a suggestion that their drivers should enter the spirit of an event rather than be party poopers, unlike DBS whose drivers certainly do "whistle entertain, I must now eat humble pie.

Take a look at this exhibition of whistles of Black 5's leaving Bristol Temple Meads recently - fantastic and who can deny that it is stirring stuff. Without the whistles it would not have been so much so.



Merry Crumble!

 

There are several ways to ensure a whistle using everyday objects you find around you at the trackside.

1/ A child. If possible find an available child and place it in a prominent position, poke it with your tripod leg to make it wave and you will be certain to illicit a whistle from the crew.

2/ A track worker. Round here they tend to appear by the white van load just before the train is due. This tool is now failing to achieve results as track workers fail to acknowledge whistles so drivers have stopped whistling.

you could of course place the child and track worker on the track, you are 100% guaranteed to get a whistle, but you will only be able to use this tactic once.

 

A driver friend of mine tells me that there are now a number of locations where drivers have been told not to sound the horn - to avoid annoying those who live next to the line - unless in an absolute emergency. This includes crossings where previously sounding a warning was mandatory. So if you're stood st one of these spots, getting a whistle from a passing steam loco may be off the agenda.

 

Widening the discussion somewhat, whilst I understand the need for a warning whistle or horn when leaving stations has to some extent been superseded by the improved communications between train crew, in these days of H&S it is a wonder more use is not demanded of warnings as in steam days, especially as modern traction can be almost silent. With the almost universal use of CWR, more warnings approaching crossings and stations could maybe avoid some of the unfortunate incidents at these locations. Witness some of the videos on here of people nearly being 'collected' by service trains approaching at speed virtually silently whilst waiting for steam specials and the point being made in the NR tv advert.

 

Yes you did lambast them did you not! Do you realise that it would be almost the same WCR crews that were on the footplate leaving Bristol too! Probably why you are now eating humble pie! .

For information, those same crews have been working those two Black Fives for the all the trips this month too, with four in the last eight days alone! They are not party poopers as you realise but they have a hard and tiring job to do and they will entertain people on the lineside as and when they are able too but not at every station, bridge or where ever people get together to watch the passing of a steam special. Their number one priority at all times, is to make sure they get from A to B and back again safely, along with whistling when they are obliged too in relation to the current railway operating rules and regulations. Anything else is a bonus and should be treated as such.

 

I would have thought the use of the whistle is down to the driver. His use for safety and normal operational reasons.

Plus those much loved and debated "extras" if the driver has the time from his other work and is disposed to do so.

But so far as those damned awful hoots that come from LM locos I would say there is never a correct time to use them.

I mean, those 44 kids that have just got out of the bus that carries them round for every main line steam trip to stop and be disappointed by non-whistling steam locos. They get out onto the platform. There are no other trains anywhere near to block their view. No gricers are crouching with cameras right on the edge of the platform to teach these children bad ways. A very scary great hairy Yeti has swung out of sight high up in the tree branches of the forest opposite the station. The loco is working hard with steam and smoke coming out of it's chimney. The face on the front of the loco is smiling happily. And all the kids tug an imaginary whistle cord as they do their "toot for Thomas".

But the well meaning driver responds with a blo..dy awful LM hoot.

Can you imagine the dreadful disappointment those 44 children would have?

"That wasn't a real whistle Miss, has Thomas got a very bad cold today? Can we wait for Gordon to come past in case he has a proper whistle?"

 

While it is true that the rulebook no longer requires drivers to sound a warning as frequently as it once did, particularly at night (counterintuitive in this elf and safety culture!) it is still up to the driver to sound the horn or whistle when he sees fit. It did cause a lot of argument at the time on safety briefings.

It is almost understandable that the person who bought the former crossing keepers cottage may get fed up with the 4, 6, or 8 trains per hour with powerful air horns, day and night. I doubt that half a dozen or less steam tours a year, before 9pm, would be much to complain about - however petty the home owner.

 

Noise complaints never cease to amaze me. Complain about a recentlly installed temp generator and you get blank looks.. build flats at Oxford on old railway land and leave a unit running and hell breaks loose

 

Agreed regarding the noise complaints, some can be rediculous. While attended a college when in apprenticeship, there was another chap in our class who after a year or two, moved in to a flat which looks out on to the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway where I volunteer. After some weekends, he'd come in straight to me and complain that an engine had whisted at 8:30am on a Sunday morning, or of an engine coming down off from the mainline at 11pm.

I'm not sorry, he moved in to a building overlooking a railway which he knew was active, having grown up in Bo'ness apparently. The flats themselves have only been there 15/20 years I believe, the railway out-dating it. So it amazes me that some people complain of operational noises, coming from something they must have suspected would happen from an operating railway. You wouldn't move in to a house, next to a football stadium, if you were against any noise or crowds outside your house at 3pm on Saturdays....

 

Asking for trouble IMO, some Electric traction in particular is very good at sneaking up if your not looking in that direction.

 

I always thought the Southern whistles were akin to a Yeti wringing an owl's neck!

 

From personal observations I notice much less tooting of horns and some of the locations I go to. Sometimes a single blast of the horn as opposed to two tones or more, some occasions none at all.

 

Personally I've never understood that LNER tweet tweet thats been installed on gresleys pacifies, except A4s.

I haven't heard that one on Tornado for a while, have the dispensed with it and stuck with the A4 one ?

 

What does the modern rule book say, and is there any differentiation in rules between types of traction? (The steam-era rule book was quite clear on the circumstances of when to whistle, and what type of whistle to give in each situation - I wonder if those rules have changed with the passing of steam?)

Tom

 

No thats a Great western Whistle. ;0)

 

I presume you mean the type fitted to 4771 and formerly 4472 ?, agree it's a poxy whistle for the type of loco, should have made the A4 chime standard.

 

Absolute nonsense.

It's much more like an Owl wringing a Yetis neck.

 

http://www.rssb.co.uk/Pages/Train_Horns.aspx

 

Please Ralph, not a Class 5 Reprimand, anything but one of those. Can I have a Class 8 instead?

As for the feeble high pitched shriek of a Bulleid whistle. OVS did lose the plot, he never realised his wonderful locomotives would always run too fast for the whistle to be properly heard. It's known as the "Bulleid Effect", one up on "Doppler Effect", and covers when the sound gets reduced and changed so much because of the outright speed of the sound source.

Alas re the pint or three. I'll sup some sparkling water while you're downing your ale as I've been teetotal for over 4 years now. Gave up alcohol as my drinking was nearly all when enjoying my evening meal. And I found drinking alone when that happened was no fun.