Barboursville,WV (1225 pulled ahead on the near track and obscured 765, My typical luck.) West of Hurricane, WV ( At least they were lined up correctly here for me.) West of St. Albans, WV (two shots) VHS Master Recording
The higher pitched Nathan 6-Chime is her regular whistle, the kind that Nickel Plate Berkshires carried in regular service. The deep 3 chime is a "guest whistle"
@ThatYankeeKid I'm not a whistle expert, but it sounds like a Hancock Long-Bell 3-Chime, like the one carried on 611 and many other late steam power (844, 4449, 3985 etc).
She could probably go even faster. 1225 is an N-1 berkshire. The N-1s were exact copies of the nickel plate S class berks. The highest speed a nickel plate S class could go is 70mph. So, 1225 could probably go pretty fast.
Brandon Reed Actually, the N-1 had drivers one inch taller than the S-classes, so 1225 could go slightly faster than 765. The limits here are the track speed for this section of track, plus it's a photo runby, so she was still getting up to speed and getting ready to slow down again. And it's not SRI that doesn't allow her to run fast any more, it's the Federal Railway Administration. Since she doesn't have ditch lights, she's not allowed to run across highway grade crossings above 30 mph without flagging protection. SRI arranged that with the MSP once, and it was extremely expensive, so they've decided not to do it again. Since grade separation is all but unknown in Michigan, there's really nowhere they can let her really run like she was meant to, since, by the time they get clear of the crossing and can speed up, it's time to slow down for the next one...
rdfox76 Hmmm...I see your point. I did notice some slight differences with 1225, including what seemed like a slightly larger boiler, but I'm not sure on that one.
I hope the creator of these movies is still at it. The shot locations were excellent, well away from the whistle blow-zone. I like the sound of the engines and boilers. The whistle from a distance is filled with romance, close up it's overwhelming and annoying. Monster passenger train, 30 cars. I know a bit of the railroads around Huntington, WV. The rails run along the Ohio River and the gradients approach 0%. I don't think it would take much of a hill to stall that locomotive with that train.
@dcoursey82 The Niagaras had Hancock 3 chime steam whistles next to the stack, fireman's side behind a rectangular baffle visible above the smoke deflector. The air horns were "aftermarket" added a year or so after the engines were delivered. I have audio of Niagaras with both the whistle and the horn being used.
It's a shame the 1225 hasn't had very many major mainline runs in it's excursion career, other than the Huntington 91' and few trips to Bay City, MI, the 1225 hasn't really gotten any major excursion runs.
I agree. Sick and tired of seeing 1225 running slow from Owosso to Alma and back, I longed for her high speed runs like what the real Polar Express locomotive can really do.
@ThatYankeeKid Okay, did some googling around and confirmed that it was a Hancock Long Bell 3-chime. It was originally worn by a C&O Hudson. It was the standard passenger whistle on both the C&O and N&W. C&O 614 had the same type whistle originally, although she didn't carry it in her later excursion career. Other well known classes that carried that type of whistle were the SP Daylights, UP's Challengers, Big Boys and Northerns, and NYC's Niagaras.
These excursions inspired me to make a little amateur story in 3rd grade called the Halloween Express. The few unrealistic things are that the CP Holiday Train and that sound that I very badly imitated. The sound was from the GreenFrogVideos DVD called Wabash Railroad when the Ann Arbor FA2's passed with that local in the second shot of it before the GP35's were shown the horn echoed in a slightly eerie way so I decided I would use that sound in my story I couldn't get a recording of it though.
Same one that is on today, they just changed around some stuff with it. PM 1225 actually has a very similar Nathan 6 Chime also but here it was on a solenoid, making it sound very raspy.
@yankinga You are correct sir. The deep whistle on 765 is a C&O Hudson whistle and 614 carried a Pennsy K-4 whistle when she did her excursion runs and the 614T test runs in WV.
@@Southfloridaeverything There is no such thing as a Union Pacific 3-chime. The Big Boys, Challengers and Northerns had Hancock Long-Bell 3 chime whistles. So does 4449 and 611. They were the standard passenger whistles on both the C&O and N&W. C&O freight power had deep toned single note whistles, nearly identical to the N&W hooters. But don’t call them Hooters in the presence of a Norfolk and Western fan or they’whistles.
@yankinga Sorry, I don't know why that posted twice. It's interesting to know that the whistle was from the C&O. I always thought their passenger power used the now-very-rare C&O 6-chime. By the way, you have some very interesting videos, keep posting if you have more.
I miss the way the Nathan 6-Chime sounded before they changed it and made it sound different. I can only hope and pray that they'll change it back to the way it sounded.
It has two valves for whistles. Her original one where her Nathan 6 chime, the higher one, is mounted, and another in front of the steam dome on top of the smoke box for a guest whistle. Course that was nixed at some point when FWRHS had to put a black box recorder on her. Edit: I guess the second whistle valve is indeed still functional as evidenced by NC&St.L 576's whistle being used during 2019's Steam In The Valley.
Ironically, 1225 is the faster runner... but because she was designed for the flatlands of Michigan, she's struggling more on the grades in West Virginia. (Taller drivers == higher top speed, but less torque for hill-climbing. It's only a one-inch difference, but it's enough that her speed for peak power is just a little too high for this route's track speed, and she ended up struggling more than 765 did with the same train on the same track.)
09trainman Yeah, like I said, her speed for peak power is a bit too high for the New River line, and she doesn't have as much hill-climbing torque. There was an article by someone who ran both engines on the New River Train in an issue of Railfan & Railroad back in the 90s, and he mentioned that despite 1225 having higher tractive effort, she just couldn't pull the train at track speed all the way up the hills, but 765 could do so without breathing hard. (Of course, since this was a fully-loaded 35-car passenger train on a steep mountain grade, there's no shame in losing some speed up the hills!) I'd cite the issue, but unfortunately, it was back in the period when I was reading R&R at the library due to limited income, so I won't be able to dig up a copy in my archival pit^H^H^Hcloset...
@@threehornedgaming The short version is that since NKP 765 was built for running in the mountains, and PM 1225 was built for running on the flat grades of Michigan, 765 was essentially geared a bit lower than 1225, making 765 a bit better at hill climbing, but 1225 a bit faster on level track.
I timed 16 cars passing the right side of the frame in approx 20.64 seconds. Since the standard car length is 85 feet over couplers that means the train was traveling approx 66 feet per second which is 45 MPH.
I don't know what to tell you. I have seen discussions where members of the 765 crew say that the Owosso group says that's the way it's supposed to be tuned. It ended with a sarcastic comment that they are the "Steam Railroading Institute" after all, so it must be so. I'll take a Hancock long-bell 3-chime any time, or a Pennsy 3-chime.
She still has her Nathan 6 chime, the one you're talking about, but my guess is that it wore out from age and now sounds mildly-ish different nowadays. Edit: That or it got retuned. I had a discussion with whoever runs the FWRHS Instagram on one of the page's posts that said it's had the same whistle since the first restoration, as in 700's due to the original having been stolen during its time on display, and that they've used it ever since, of course with the notable exceptions of when they had the 2789's and 760's whistles on the main valve respectively.
Zephyr4501 It sounded to me like they may have been pulling a little too hard on the whistle cord, opening the valve a little too far and causing the whistle to overblow.
Just give me a good reason why CSX would let steam run on their rails like long ago! Because CSX SUCKS REALLY BAD AND I HATE IT WHEN IT HAPPENS! JUST GIVE ME A DAMN REASON!!!!!!!
+Evan Locke Exactly. CSX want 100million+ for insurance, this 91 convention tied up both tracks between Huntington and St. Albans all day, so NO freight track. And with the aging equipment, the risks of failure are much higher, especially at sustained speeds. It's a shame, but its reality!
