The Black Hat Posted September 26, 2011 Share Posted September 26, 2011 Just asking if anyone knows of a company that does a good Great Western sound chip, yet has the distinctive two pitch whistle that Western region engines have. Would be better if it was even one pitch on a seperate function.... with the space that chips have, surely its done? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Ava_Hay Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 I would be interested to hear such a whistle. Can you direct me to a recording on YouTube or another site please? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hat Posted September 27, 2011 Author Share Posted September 27, 2011 Check out the 14xx on the Titfield Thunderbolt as its doing it all the time during the film, especially the start sequence.... Meanwhile a good one is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEjkacydNFE where you here the drone of the Brit and the two pitch of 6023 when the two meet..... its really noticable on 52, 104, and 112 seconds. Theres also others on you tube when you know what your looking for.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Ava_Hay Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 The whistle on all of these locos are in preservation. They may or may not be whistles that were used on the prototype. The one one on the GWR loco is a skilled operator who has learnt how to get two tones out of the whistle with judicious use of the operating handle. It might have been prototypical but it might not have been encouraged in service. Certainly it is the first time I have heard a whistle played thus and I doubt it is unique to ex GWR locos in service. It could be duplicated on a sound chip but would only work on a separate function and not be in any way 'playable' on F2. If you were to successfully record this whistle and send it to an RTR supplier, I am fairly sure that they could and would put in on the chip for you. In general terms the use of anything other than a standard whistle blow would not be fitted by an RTR supplier as they pander to the greater number. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted September 27, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 27, 2011 The whistle on all of these locos are in preservation. They may or may not be whistles that were used on the prototype. The one one on the GWR loco is a skilled operator who has learnt how to get two tones out of the whistle with judicious use of the operating handle. It might have been prototypical but it might not have been encouraged in service. Certainly it is the first time I have heard a whistle played thus and I doubt it is unique to ex GWR locos in service. Any Driver worth his salt could do that on a Western whistle but it was not part of any official code - AFAIK - in that form although the two different sounds ('crow' and 'short') were part of many official codes when sounded as separate notes in various combinations. What was being sounded by the 'King' was in fact very nearly a well known, and rather less than polite in the Drawing Room, sequence which was played on a Western whistle and which has fairly onomatopoeaic description to the way those notes sounded (it almost sounding like 'ah! soles' but in a cruder form - play it again and listen ). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted September 27, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 27, 2011 the two different sounds ('crow' and 'short') were part of many official codes when sounded as separate notes in various combinations even today if you leave chester depot (alstom) towards the station direction via the ground signal rather than off towards the mersey lines its known as "two and a crow" harking back to the days when the driver would whistle up to the box!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hat Posted September 27, 2011 Author Share Posted September 27, 2011 Having asked on another forum, have been reliabily informed that the high tone is a normal whistle, the second a whistle to summond the guard to apply brakes.... rather ingenious but also melodic.... bet they never envisaged someone replicating it on a DCC sound loco..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Trevellan Posted September 28, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 28, 2011 The whistle on all of these locos are in preservation. They may or may not be whistles that were used on the prototype. I have an old 7" vinyl of steam recordings - I'm sure many will remember Argo Transacord - and one of the tracks is of a 54xx pannier playing a rapid two-tone sequence at Aylesbury. Also, many years ago I attended a talk by a former Western fireman who said that crews often played "On Ilkley Moor" on the whistle. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Ava_Hay Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Having asked on another forum, have been reliabily informed that the high tone is a normal whistle, the second a whistle to summond the guard to apply brakes.... rather ingenious but also melodic.... bet they never envisaged someone replicating it on a DCC sound loco..... Indeed not. One of the basic ideas of the whistle being playable on F2 is that you need the driver to actually pull the handle and hang on to it for three seconds and then let go. Nearly all of them want to play the whistle for you which ruins the chances of a good loop on the recording. It gets a bit boring to play the same whistle all the time and some command stations allow the non latch facility on any function so you can have a few varieties on the chip. You cannot duplicate this two tone playing of tunes without a huge amount of button pushing on such a command station. In some cases and on some locos, it pays to try and record the whistle from a fair distance using a shotgun mike and when the engine has been running some time so the whistle has no water in the pipe. It is a further art to make the recording into three parts so that you can then play it on F2 and quite a few RTR suppliers don't actually bother. If you wish to persevere with this you will need to record both tones for three seconds with no background noise including chuffs and then chop them up in Audacity to get two playable whistle of different tones with very short loops in the middle, send them to an RTR supplier who will arrange for them to be on two functions and then you can invest in Dynamis or ECoS to play the results. Methinks a tad too much trouble for a gimmicky result. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
faulcon1 Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 I too have wondered about this. When I asked a well known company could they fit my GWR locos with the two tone whistle I was told, "we only fit our sounds". But if I'm prepared to pay for it I would like to get what I ask for and not be fobbed off with a "like it or lump it" approach. Also having watched DVDs of locos like Black 5's at speed their whistles are a semi tone to a full tone higher. But on the functions for steam locos F2 and F3 are the whistle, long and short. On diesels F2 two tone high/low, F3 two tone low/high and F4 single tone low or high. So couldn't F4 for a steam loco be a continuous higher tone whistle to be used if running non stop through a station at speed? Couldn't they swap them around so F2 is continuous high tone whistle and F3 short lower tone and F4 longer but not continuous lower tone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Ava_Hay Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 Also having watched DVDs of locos like Black 5's at speed their whistles are a semi tone to a full tone higher. That is more likely to be Doppler effect where an oncoming whistle is quite noticeably higher as it approaches and drops in tone as it goes away from the listening post. That is just about duplicable on a sound chip with the human ear but some awesome speeds are needed to get the best effect.....oh and a ear very close to the track. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Bartlett Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 A fine example of the different notes: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSB Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 The emergency or brake whistle SHOULD only be used to summon the attention of the guard or signalman to the fact that the loco crew need help usually in stopping the train - typically and unfitted, loose coupled freight which may be pushing the train. It has a much lower tone than the standard whistle. I got a bollicking on the Dean Forest years ago whilst driving a pannier tank and hung on the wrong whistle cord. The guard on our short freight train applied his brake and brought us to a halt in the middle of the level crossing in the middle of Lydney. I was not popular. SWD have included the feature on their latest GW sounds. FSB Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliebanger Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 My ZIMO Manor sound project has both whistles featured. They can be sounded individually (correctly) but there are some of the usual two tone or even dual concurrent whistles of the type often seen/heard on preserved railways. I'll post a clip when I get the time. Kind regards, Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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