Re: Whistle PSI Question
Author: fkrock
Date: 05-09-2012 - 20:00
At the end of steam operation almost all SP locomotives used a single trumpet air horn. Supposedly it saved money because no steam was wasted. I don't remember ever hearing anything but an air horn on Francisco-San Jose commute trains. Steam whistles were still on the locomotives but engineers were prohibited from using them except in an emergency. I have a dim memory of a college engineering class study that showed blowing the steam whistle cost 5 cents worth of fuel.