Inexpensive train horn fun!

[Ralph]

Great minds think alike Mike! I'm actually revisiting an idea I had a few years ago. I built this F unit cab mock-up (pictured below) with control stand, engine brake, bell, and horn. If you look closely you can see a photo of a real F unit cab that I used for inspiration. The original horn cord passed through some piping and was powered by a continuous loop cassette tape of a train horn I recorded from Microsoft Train Simulator. Pulling the cord connected a copper plate circuit that activated the tape player. It was OK but not great. The brake was connected to a can of compressed air that hissed when the lever was moved. The bell switch was connected to another walkman and speaker that played a continuous loop recording of the bell from Train Simulator. I have a minicam that can fit in a dummy locomotive. I'd watch the view on the clunky TV that took up a few cubic feet. It was fun to build but quickly became a pain because of its size. I'd have to move components to access parts of the layout. I eventually dismantled it.





The whole idea came from my admiration of Chip Syme's use of a real control stand to power his famous Penn Central layout: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://sd2cx1.webring.org/l/rd?ring=modelrailroadlay;id=23;url=http%3A%2F%2Fmoosevalley%2Eorg%2Fengrchip%2F">http://sd2cx1.webring.org/l/rd?ring=mod ... ngrchip%2F</a><!-- m -->

I still like using the control stand that actually has a power pack inside of it. I'm flirting with the idea of buyng a small flat screen to get the loco eye view again but it's not a priority.