Altamont Press Discussion Board :: Discussion

Re: classic SP Horns

Author: SP5103

Date: 04-13-2012 - 20:30

Airchime Ltd. of Canada licenses their airhorn designs to Nathan.

The standard M3 and P3 had the same tuning; as did the M5 and P5. They sounded vary different due to their design differences while sounding the same chord.

The sand cast molds for the later P series horns ended up out of tolerance, resulting in the P3 and especially P5 horns being horribly out of tune. The M horn may have been the "classic SP" horn of the 50s, but I would say that the old casting P3 was was the classic SP horn of the 70s.

Most new locomotive horns now seem to be a variation of the Nathan/Airchime K series; several tunings are available and the chords and sound are very different compared to the M or P. The P horn (out of tune) is still in production, they will build the M if you can afford them (think thousands of $$$ each).

The Leslie Supertyphon and Prime knock-offs seem to be the ones disappearing. Their S3L used to be standard on many EMDs and used by ATSF and UP - now rarely heard. BN used the Canadian tuned S3K. Some of the S3L horns sounded great, and their 5 chimes are excellant. SP did not use Leslie horns, but I know for a fact that many of the M-K GP40M-2 rebuilds (&274-7299 and 7100+) got Leslie/Primes.

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Subject	Written By	Date/Time (PST)
classic SP Horns	Don Levasheff	04-13-2012 - 15:17
Re: classic SP Horns	Tom Moungovan	04-13-2012 - 17:09
Re: classic SP Horns	Graham Buxton	04-13-2012 - 17:19
Re: classic SP Horns	MP 97.7	04-13-2012 - 19:59
and the Canadian inventor	Pdxrailtransit	04-13-2012 - 20:24
and one good Youtube video leads to another	Pdxrailtransit	04-13-2012 - 20:38
Re: classic SP Horns	SP5103	04-13-2012 - 20:30
Re: classic SP Horns	Hutch 7.62	04-13-2012 - 22:25
Re: classic SP Horns	Jim	04-17-2012 - 13:23

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SP5103 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Airchime Ltd. of Canada licenses their airhorn
> designs to Nathan.
> 
> The standard M3 and P3 had the same tuning; as did
> the M5 and P5. They sounded vary different due to
> their design differences while sounding the same
> chord.
> 
> The sand cast molds for the later P series horns
> ended up out of tolerance, resulting in the P3 and
> especially P5 horns being horribly out of tune.
> The M horn may have been the "classic SP" horn of
> the 50s, but I would say that the old casting P3
> was was the classic SP horn of the 70s.
> 
> Most new locomotive horns now seem to be a
> variation of the Nathan/Airchime K series; several
> tunings are available and the chords and sound are
> very different compared to the M or P. The P horn
> (out of tune) is still in production, they will
> build the M if you can afford them (think
> thousands of $$$ each). 
> 
> The Leslie Supertyphon and Prime knock-offs seem
> to be the ones disappearing. Their S3L used to be
> standard on many EMDs and used by ATSF and UP -
> now rarely heard. BN used the Canadian tuned S3K.
> Some of the S3L horns sounded great, and their 5
> chimes are excellant. SP did not use Leslie horns,
> but I know for a fact that many of the M-K GP40M-2
> rebuilds (&274-7299 and 7100+) got Leslie/Primes.

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