Train Horn

[Dave04]

I have been thinking about putting a train horn/s on my truck. Anyone have a set up and or ideas?

 

[BIGNASTY]

Ya Have a BIG air tank and an onboard compressor, mine takes an enormous amount of air. I have an old time headlight dimmer switch to operate mine, this way I can hit it with my foot and have both hands on the steering wheel and look around like everyone else is when I blast it at some STOOGE that has been sitting at the light talking on a cell phone when the light has been GREEN for awhile.



I love them and like to watch the persons head hit the roof when it scares the CRAP out of them :-laf

 

[Wayne M.]

I don't advise it for use in city limits. At the job a diehard rail fan has one right off an EMD loco. Well we set it up to shop air and planted it near where ~75 men have roll call, and just as the super walked off, we gave it to 'em. Lets just say everyone was wearing everyone else's coffee!

 

[Dave04]

Where is a good place to get one?

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

As above, they can take a lot of air, depending on what model of horns you have. I have a relatively small set with new reeds etc. that I have blown with shop air a few times. I never got around to installing them with the air tank. Hmmm, should I put them on the Ram or not?

 

[BIGNASTY]

Got mine from a buddy that was made to take them off his BIG TRUCK when he blasted it at the wrong time and scared the crap out of a CHP. I put them up under the front of the bed of the truck where my air tank is so all connections are short.

 

[Wayne M.]

I can get around the air volume issue. Plumb in a R12 relay Valve. That'll empty a tank real quick.

 

[Blu-meanie]

We used to have a Ram meeting several years back and one guy had some. The ground would shake and so would your guts. I wanted to install a set but decided I would only get in trouble with them. They would be useful sometimes, even drown out that rap crap.

 

[mwilson]

Seth sells this set from United Pacific, very popular... ... .



Bundle with compressor, etc...

http://www.raneystruckparts.com/mini-train-horn-bundle-for-heavy-duty-semi-trucks/



Horns only...

http://www.uapac.com/trucks/exterio...histles/chrome-4-trumpet-mini-train-horn.html



A guy demonstrates a set of the UP horns under an overpass. .



http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=sG52JkUeVIc

 

[mpaulson]

Ya Have a BIG air tank and an onboard compressor, mine takes an enormous amount of air. I have an old time headlight dimmer switch to operate mine, this way I can hit it with my foot and have both hands on the steering wheel and look around like everyone else is when I blast it at some STOOGE that has been sitting at the light talking on a cell phone when the light has been GREEN for awhile.



I love them and like to watch the persons head hit the roof when it scares the CRAP out of them :-laf

Sound like exactly the same way I have mine set up. I use them all the time on idiots on the road and wildlife to help convince them where to go. I made one guy literally drop his cell that he was holding on the shell while driving all over the road and way to slow blocking traffic. I still chuckle to myself when I think of the look on him face before his got the po'ed look!:-laf

I almost drive with my left foot on the switch ready to go. I actually have five trumpets just behind the running boards, two on one side and three on the other. Fun to watch the kids jump as they come to the truck as well. :--)

 

[TravisG]

If you want to go a different route you can look into these... ... . http://www.solomotoparts.com/Stebel...dium=organic&gclid=CMb7ooPh-7cCFdFDMgodjS4A3g

I have had that saved into my favorites for a while and thought I would share.

 

[JoeHutchinson]

Dave,





You will fine a surprizing large number of people collect real Train horns. And I have to admit it more fun than I every expected.



Ebay seems to be a good place to find a horn, I looked for two months before I won a bid, but it was worth the effort.



Hornblaster.com is a great place to get the rest the stuff you need. A 5 gallon tank is the smallest you can get by with for real horns.



Joe

 

[Allnew2Me]

If you want to get creative you can make your own horns from PVC pipe parts and a long plastic funnel. I made a set a long time ago and they worked really well.

The videos are not me but will give you a general idea. A horn is a pretty simple thing, just a vibrating diaphragm with an amplifier.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCtba4alNps



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEPauEupXRc



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE-E2EuWR0Q

 

[PToombs]

I was going to Iowa last year and when a tractor trailer went past I saw he had a set mounted under his sleeper at the end of his fuel tank. I yelled at my buddy on the CB and asked if he saw them. The trucker answered me back and we chatted about them for a bit. He said he had a set on the other side also, and they would drop 80psi of air in 3 seconds. He was about 150 feet ahead of me when he demonstrated them. I was glad he was ahead of me because they were pretty loud. Made my 2 little 2 foot trumpets sound sick.

 

[LocoPilot750]

I've used a few train horns, but never wanted one on my truck. I was a locomotive Engineer for 42 years, I worked west out of Kansas City. Shortly before I retired in 2010, they taxied me and a Conductor to Emporia to pick up a coal train sitting in the yard, ready to go. We got ready to depart, talked to the dispatcher on the radio, got a signal to leave, attempted to hit the horn button for two shorts, and nothing came out but air. Long story short, someone had climbed up on the roof and removed the horn. I went up on the other unit, which was brand new, to see if I could remove that horn and put it on the lead unit, but the bolts were welded. And, it was facing the opposite direction, so we couldn't switch to the point. So we had to tie the train down, cut the power off, run it through the crossovers east of town, and take it three miles back west to turn the consist on the wye, change operating ends, and run it back east through the crossovers again, and back to our train and do another air test. Screwed around for two hours because of that. A friend who collects horns was a Conductor for Union Pacific. They came to his home with search warrants and would up terminating him because he had a UP horn in his collection and no reciept for it, He never did get his job back.