Polar Express 2014

[Bill Piche]

Nice looking train. Not a fan of the fancy whistle blowing though.

I agree. The train is nice, but that engineer's a jerk wasting all that steam. 

[Hansel Gordon]

Always gunna have nasty comments i guess...

I think you did great, Bill!

[Mike Fox]

I wasn't being nasty.. Just saying I wasn't a fan of fancy whistle blowing. Say the same thing on the WW&F.

[Bernie Perch]

What fancy whistling?  There in Portland, you have to let them know where the train is located.  Just hit somebody and the first thing you will get accused of is not using the whistle enough.  If you want to hear fancy whistling, listen to some of the Cass videos.  When I was running at Kempton, I enjoyed using the whistle.  Maybe I am just used to horn noise.  I live next to the Reading and Northern tracks and multiple trains come through blowing clear through the town and directly behind the house.  The R & N evening local blows AT the house--they know I am a RR nut.

Wayne stays overnight at my house before we head up for the work weekends in April and October.  He thought the trains were coming through the bedroom.  Maybe he can comment more.

Bernie

[Wayne Laepple]

There is a big difference between a steam whistle and a diesel horn, especially at 2:30 a.m. I'm not sure I'd like a steam whistle in the middle of the night.

I will say this, however. If you listen to old recordings or films of trains, the enginemen blow plain blasts, without any fancy tails, for the most part. Pedestrians and residents complained about the noise. Towns and cities banned whistle-blowing and fined railroads for violating their ordinances. Railroad rulebooks included language proscribing excessive whistle-blowing. The locomotive whistle was a tool and had its uses. So it remains today.