In North America, when another vehicles passes a truck, and one of the vehicle occupants makes a motion like he's pulling a handle down from the ceiling, the truck driver is obliged to sound the horn. czcams.com/video/GBPT4xUOFW0/video.html
On some models it sounds like they use speakers, but it’s nice that they at least imitate the sound of a bell. Where I live, even some buses appear to have a speaker for that. They don’t use it much, I wish they did it more often, especially at the terminal.
There are several reasons why a tube train sounds its whistle, and as you rightly surmised, they're all to do with reasons of safety. As a quick note, the whistle has two settings that can be used, loud and soft. 'Soft' is to be used inside tunnels or other enclosed spaces, 'loud' is to be used outside. In practice, both carry just as far and most drivers only ever use 'soft'. Why not 'loud' all the time? Many, if not all, drivers have at one point been caught at the wrong end of a whistle blast and are aware of how incredibly loud the whistle is when you are near it. Why use 'loud' when 'soft' will do? (they're also two different notes, so you could in theory play a simple melody using just the whistle of a tube train, but I digress) According to the rulebook, there are some moves that must be accompanied by a blast of the whistle, or several. Usually these moves are done in an emergency or other unusual situation, and they serve to warn people who might legitimately be around the track at that time of the presence of a train coming from an unusual direction. It might, as an example, be necessary for a tube train to travel the wrong way on a line for a short distance, and in that case the driver must sound the whistle on set intervals or in a set pattern. Whistles are also sounded where a deep level tube exits to the surface, to warn people who might be around the tunnel mouth that a train will soon be leaving the tunnel. Trains leaving service out of a station are also expected to sound the whistle, because they are likely to be taking an unusual route to a siding rather than staying on a main line. All of this is to warn people on or near the track, even if none are visible. Especially if none are visible. The whistle is also used to gain the attention of workers on or near the track, who must respond to the whistle signal by some form of positive hand signal (or light signal if in darkness). That way the driver of the train can be confident that the people on the track are aware of the train and they can proceed in safety. Frequently, on some lines, the whistle is still used for its original purpose: to scare away wildlife on the track. My line doesn't have any risk of cows on the track, but there have been occasions I've had to frighten off smaller wildlife (such as foxes. So many foxes!) and even deer. Lastly, but by no means least, whistles are also sounded when a train will be passing through a station that is closed. After all there might be people on that closed platform carrying out works, who need to be alerted that a train will soon be passing through at relatively high speed. So in short, because I have rambled a bit here, the whistle is a safety device, used whenever the train is doing something which is either unusual or might endanger someone be they seen or unseen. Bonus trivia facts about the Northern line: There is a whistle board for trains when leaving for Morden depot from Morden platform 2. This is because the official walkway from that depot runs under the bridge and along the side of the building at the southern end of platform 2, creating a path of limited clearance. Many drivers take a perverse pleasure in waiting until an approaching driver on foot is nearly level with the cab, and then sounding the whistle. There is also a whistle board for trains leaving the depot and entering Morden station, to alert passengers that a train is approaching from the opposite end they might be expecting. For that same reason, a train must whistle when entering Euston (Bank branch) southbound from the King's Cross loop. It's a rare move, but it does mean the train approaches the platform from the opposite and thus utterly unexpected direction. There is a board between Finchley Central and West Finchley instructing drivers to only use their whistles for reasons of safety. This is because there is a footbridge over the line, which is a favoured observation point for children to watch trains during the summer months. Naturally they signal for us to whistle. Of course we are happy to oblige. If anyone ever asks why I whistled there, I shall blame a fox :)
"there have been occasions I've had to frighten off smaller wildlife (such as foxes. So many foxes!) and even deer." Out in the sticks on the "big railway" I can tell you from too much experience that deer respond badly to both tones of a two-tone horn - as in they *always* then veer into the path of the train rather than away from it - so I've given up using both tones. They (usually) shift out of the way if you use repeated blasts of one tone instead, as do birds of prey, but when deer do insist on committing suicide, muntjac make a much bigger bang than roe deer. :( Pheasants and pigeons are simply suicidal. Pigeons are greasy and leave a huge grey mark on the windscreen which is impossible to see through and takes a lot of screenwash to remove, except when they hit the windscreen wiper arms and simply explode, which is as disgusting as it sounds.
On national rail, the theory is that in the hours of darkness, people should be able to see that a train is approaching from the headlights standing out against the darkness and therefore the horn or whistle is not as necessary as during the day.
Presumably there must have been a rule change in the last 50 years because steam trains and first-generation diesels weren't fitted with headlights. The Chinley accident in 1986, where a driver got routed over a crossover on to the wrong line after a power failure and didn't realise, wouldn't have happened if he'd had a headlight.
Decent headlights started to be fitted in the eighties -possibly to passenger trains first. All modern stock has to meet certain requirements. There is normally a day mode and night mode. If they have a high-level headlight above the cab window then they don’t have to have yellow ends either.
Whistle codes are still used. When approaching Ashwell signal box, if you're driving a train that is heading off to Corby at Manton Junction then you need to use '1 long, 1 short' on the horn....this lets the signalman at Ashwell know he has to advise Oakham then Manton Junction which train you are, and which way you need to be signalled.
Another instance to use the whistle is when "Applying the rule", ie, passing a failed signal at danger. Also, another code that still sticks with me from my tube days was the one or two blasts depending on the direction of travel so trackworkers would know which way we were coming from. We had a handy acronym to help us remember. Outer rail, Up, Southbound, Eastbound (OUSE) = 1 blast. West bound, Inner, Northbound, Down (WIND) = 2 blasts.
Now when I first read the title to this I, being a nerd as well as an electronics engineer which would be a triple point score in scrabble, I thought it meant the inverter-like sounds you sometimes get when certain trains start up. I would not call todays horns whistles but then I go back to the days of steam, like last weekend when I visited the Watercress line. Another great video Jago thanks even without the bells.
You mean the sound of VVVF modulation? That's a quite interesting factor through which experienced railfans distinguish different models of trains easily. Some trains equipped with Siemens GTO-VVVF inverters, e.g. Keikyu Model 1000, make melodious modulation tones which sound like a musical scale.
@@JBF-GST-Tanda Thanks, I guess I do! It does sound like a modulation so is the change in frequency is about efficiency and reducing losses? There must be a youtube channel about this. Variable voltage variable frequency, just looked it up! Another technology to research....thanks for the lead
I had a drill instructor who must have descended from rail ceatures. He had a little bell. He had a little whistle. He had a great voice recording that yelled, "Lights on, Dips**ts!" I love real train whistles, though--the kind attached to a great, chuffing, steel, fire-breathing, steaming beast. Thank you, Jago, for another trip down memory lane.
The Southern Railway and then the BR(SR) were fitted with whistles. There were even whistle codes to pass messages to signalman including telling them of route requirements. These can be found in Sectional Appendices, some of which can be found on line (Limit of Shunt has several).
I've always been curious why, and this has answered my question well. Lots of drivers sound the whistle for trainspotters, and you can even get some serious hellfire when you're in more rural areas such as Mill Hill East. Click 'read more' some quick trivia: - The quietest whistle is on the 1972 stock (Bakerloo), but the loudest is a tie between the Northern and Jubilee lines (95 and 96 stock respectively). - Whistles are not only used for depots, but sidings too. Take Willesden Green for example, drivers often sound it just before entering. This also applies to underground sidings such as Tooting Broadway. - Every tube stock is fittest with a whistle switch which has the regular off mode, and two whistle switches, one operating the whistle with less air pressure (quieter) and vice versa (with more). Additional fact is that not all stock used to be like this. The D, 1967 and MkI 1972 stock (to name a few) used to have a simple button to activate it. - The line that sounds the whistle for spotters the most is the Bakerloo Line. More will be edited in if I remember any others.
The C69/77 stock also had a one-tone whistle activated with a button, which is how they appear on World Of Subways 3: Circle Line. The game will penalise you for doing some things wrong (such as late-running or overshooting a platform), but mis-use of the whistle is not one of them, even though whistle boards are included on the Paddington - Hammersmith section. Most of our trains here in Sydney also have two horn modes: Town (quieter) and country (louder). On some trains (the XPT most notably) both can be sounded in harmony. I’ve been on the receiving end of some country horn blasts: They can be extremely loud. There is also a “yard” tone on some of the newer electric trains although that’s less of a horn and sounds more like a lorry’s reversing signal. Really, it’s for use in depots where a full-blown (ha!) horn would be unsuitable but some warning is still needed. I have heard them sounded in regular service on occasion too.
Thank you Jago for this fascinating from the Tales from the Tube. You are the copious quantities of wind to my whistle. I took a photo of the cab of an ex-1938 stock running as a NSE liveried class 483 at Ryde Pier Head Stn (IoW) featuring its whistle just before I boarded it bound for Shanklin. The 483s had just arrived on the Isle of Wight. My previous visit enabled me to travel on the previous class 485 (sad to see them go). Happy days. At least the ex- UndergrounD trains are keeping the tradition with the ex- D78 as class 484. I remember using the Bakerloo Line Trafalgar Sq in the early 1970s and a 1927 trailer in a 1938 stock train. Best wishes from Oxfordshire.
You evoked Johnny Mercer’s lyrics to Harold Arlen’s Song ‘Blues in the Night’ ,,,Now the rain's a fallin', hear the train a callin', oooo-ee Hear the lonesome whistle blowin' 'cross the trestle, oooo-ee Oooo-ee-a-oooo-ee, ol' clickety-clack Comes echoing back the blues in the night…
Many fire engines in rural areas still used bells in to the 1990s to warn of their approach as bells were deemed to be less frightening to farm animals and horses.
Fire appliances still have a bell as a backup to the two tone, only a short while ago had a hand rung one also as a backup to the backup bell, not seen a bell on modern ambulances, may have them though. The era of the P6 Rovers were the last Police cars they were seen on. Bells are difficult to hear over the traffic noise today.
Fire engines are the only emergency vehicles (in North Wales at least) that still use two-tone sirens, everyone else has moved on to the multi-tone sirens. Don't know why. Perhaps one of the correspondents here could elucidate. I know why the sirens: more tones helps with 'direction finding', listeners can judge where the siren is coming from & whether it's travelling towards or away from the listener. It's the two-toned fire engines I'm questioning. This is also the second time in as many days I've used the word 'elucidate'. Can't remember when, if at all, I last used it. Anyway... Sirens.
Nice to see Roding Valley in the footage. The least used of all Underground stations (Though its important to put in perspective its still used enough to get a 20 minute service which some (cough) outside London would kill for)
The most memorable whistle I can remember is that of a DMU travelling from Tottenham Hale to Stratford Low Level; it sounded like what can only be described as a wet fart.
As a passenger, I always do a few bars of 'Colonel Bogie' whenever I see a whistle board. It pleases the other passengers up no end. They rarely join in though.
During my two week in London with dozens of tube rides I never once heard a whistle, then again when your focus is making sure you are on the correct platform to get back to the station where you got on the wrong line to get back to area your hotel is in you might just miss that
I lived in London for 15 years and took the district line every day, as well as using other lines regularly. I don't recall ever hearing a whistle. Perhaps I didn't notice but the sound from this video is completely unfamiliar.
@@NenadVukicevicI don't remember hearing a whistle on the district line either on a visit back in 1971. (My clumsy fingers nearly put in 1771 but neither the tube nor myself were around back then!)
I used to live at the top of the hill on Fairlop Road in Leytonstone, a good half mile from the station, yet you could still hear the whistles from the trains and the station announcements late at night and early in the morning when everything else was sort of quiet. It was sort of comforting once you got used to it of course.
my understanding for the not whistling at night is the main purpose is for track workers, and on LU you cant work on open track after dark, so theres not that many hours overlap. also, the bakerloo has two whistles, a quieter one for in tunnels, and a louder one to comply with Network Rail's track
Reminds me of a similar feature on trams, the bell (or gong, as it's technically known here in Canada). Typically it rings twice upon accelerating from a stop. Older models have a physical bell; the newer ones in my area use an electronic reproduction.
When I was in uni, the trams would have a little bell that would ring before setting off, and if the driver thought someone was going to be in the way (followed by a loud foghorn if they remained in the way!)
Yah, our heritage streetcar line here (Minneapolis-St Paul, MN, US) uses the physical bells on the old trolley cars before they start, and when they're crossing a street with them. There's even a signal bell inside at both ends of the car, used by the conductor and the motorman when they're running in two-man operation. Meanwhile, our modern light rail trains play a recording of a bell sound when starting and stopping, or when running through street intersections where the line runs down the middle of a street.
@@mattcannon2 Here in San Francisco, there are a couple of streets where drivers will enter the intersection even though there's a traffic jam on the other side, and get trapped when the light changes and the pedestrians assert their right of way. When this happens, the tram drivers like to creep up to about six inches from the stuck motorist, loom over the car, and lay on the horn! It's always fun to watch the drivers realize that there are even bigger vehicles they share the road with :-)
Re. Jago's story about the train horn; a friend of mine fitted *TWO* to his Land Rover, mounted on the roof of the cab, fed from a fire extinguisher body used as a compressed air reservoir, and the pressure was topped up by an electric tyre pump with an auto pressure cut-out. He dropped the pressure down quite a bit from the level used by trains, but it was still *VERY* loud! They worked a treat on the berks who trickle out of side turnings in front of you, looking *LEFT* instead of *right*; he said they slammed the brakes on in blind panic, thinking that a 44 tonne artic was bearing down on them . . . :))
I can say from experience that a whistle from a train entering a deep-level station when standing on the platform is effing loud and makes you jump out of your skin. I mean seriously loud in terms of heart-attack inducing possibly, for certain people. Empty trains running through, sometimes seem to do this and I really dont think they should.
On Heritage railways it is fairly routine to sound a whistle or horn on departure from a station, usually in response to the Guard's Right Away signal. I can think of a Heritage line in Cambridgeshire which has a bridleway which crosses the line adjacent to a river. Typically, when driving, I would sound the horn around a 1/4 mile away so as not to alarm approaching horses who may then throw a rider into the water if startled. By the same token I was always prepared to stop short of the bridleway if a horse emerged on the approach.
Here in NYC if I hear two whistle/horn blasts it means the train is skipping the station. It’s definitely saved me from looking foolish when trying to get on.
As a youngster I travelled a lot on the Western reaches of the Metropolitan line. There was always lots of whistling as we bypassed Northwood, Northwood Hills and PInner stations.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a tube train whistle - I commuted using the tube for 3 years! Maybe I didn’t think about it at the time. Very interesting. I’m now going to be listening out next time on the tube!
I was waiting outside White City station for a while once and I kept hearing this sound. There was building work going on down the road, so I wondered if it was some site-related sound. Now I know. Whistles are definitely the prettiest feature of any railway.
You Brits are so lucky to have whistles. I live in the DC area and I’ve been nearly deafened a number of times when a Metro train blasts its horn while passing through a station. Because the stations on the DC Metro are huge and arched, they echo like crazy and the horn on a Metro train is loud enough to make me wince from the pain in my eardrums.
Legend has it that train drivers crossing the North York moors used their two-tone horns to sound out the first 5 notes of that famous song, 'On Ilkely Moor Bar Tat'. I so want that to be true!
Jago. I can't believe that you missed out another very important occasion when the tube train driver beeps his whistle with two short blasts. There is a bridge that goes over the train tracks which run from Woodford station to South Woodford at the end of Gordon Road. I remember as a child, growing up in the 1970s, whenever we used that bridge, we would wait in the centre of the bridge for a train to come out the station and as it was heading towards us, we would wave to the train. This was always met by a wave from the driver and two short blasts of the whistle, toot toot. Around 15-20 years ago I took my children there a few times to wait for a train and sure enough, to their utter delight, they were met by a wave and a toot toot. Last year my parents took their great-grandchildren (my grandchildren) to the bridge and sure enough, they also witnessed a wave from the driver, a big smile on his face and a toot toot!😊This has been a tradition in our family for over 50 years. I'm sure that the bridge over Gordon Road isn't the only place where this happens? Perhaps it deserved some research and a video on the subject?
The Piccadilly line ran alongside our local park. The whistle sign was located where the swings etc. were. We used to play a game that we had to be off the ground before the whistle sounded. Innocent days!!!!😂😂😂🚂
I have a very vague memory of a collector bringing one of these whistles to the organ building company I worked for, it need to have an adjustment done to it( I think it was a voicing problem) and the collector didn't know how to do it, so we did.
@@dazasc3994 Manders in Bethnal Green in London. The companies gone now, but the name was taken over by another organ building company in Kent, called F H Brown.
Another great video! Sooo... My follow-on questions are: What does the DLR use? (I don't recall hearing anything from those) Also, the overground when it goes underground? Do the tube trains still whistle when above ground? Surely a horn would be better out in the open. What about Glasgow and Liverpool? I could be mistaken, but I'm sure I've heard Manchester and Blackpool trams peeping from time to time. Paris Metro, etc.? I'm in for a sleepless night, now, with all these questions!
I had to Google it; if only to satisfy my own curiosity having travelled on DLR since launch (and subsequent visits to the smoke) and never heard one on a DLR train. It appears that they use a very boring, car like horn: czcams.com/video/7tB2XrlKtXc/video.html
D200 on the London to Norwich service. I remember train spotting at Ilford and when the two tone horn was heard in the distance a cry of "Diesel" would go up. It was the excitement of the new.
Good vid.Audible train warnings are important particularly where there are maintenance crews working near the line and the warning has to be acknowledged by all personnel with a raised hand signal.The driver of a train authorised to pass a signal at danger will give a warning and usually a train passing a busy platform at an intermediate station at speed especially freights /containers etc.These comments refer perhaps more to the national network .Push /Pull trains with the driving trailers leading are particularly (and dangerously) quiet so an audible warning is essential.Last but not least , thankfully ,the runaway train warning.Most of the modern trains and locomotives are fitted with an unsocial hours horn control.
I assume tube trains never had conductors… so was the whistle doing the job of the conductor (with his whistle) for surface trains. I did/do love the sound of that whistle preceding departure, not to mention, abundant platform staff, happy days. Oxford Road Manchester, I always found to offer a very real experience.
The tube absolutely had Conductors/Guards back in the day, I think the last to go where in 2001 although I'd happy to be corrected on this, Maybe Jago will bless us with a video on when each of the lines lost them.
In New York,the IRT,BMTand IND,all had whistles,and even the cars,nowadays carry whistles! Additionally,Chinese steam engines,like the Union Pacific engines carried both whistles and air horns! Plus,the Long Island and Pennsylvania MP54'S carried whistles!! So much for the minutea of rolling stock and engines! Thank you 😇 😊!!
Excellent video as always Mr Hazzard. Not something I've ever felt the need to think of, but now youve mentioned it, it was most interesting and informative. There are quite a few videos on YT of drivers obliging fans with a blast and some bringing it into the higher echelons of drivers that can play "Ilkley Moor ba T''hat, on a diesel two-tone horn. One that I actually managed to fairly reasonably pick up during a DMU driver experience day, on the Ecclesbourne Railway in Derbyshire. A skill indeed.
Living in Sheffield where the trams have bells (and monster air horns if someone hasn’t taken the hint), it always seems novel to me when I go to Manchester that their trams have what I think is a very pleasing whistle that makes a hoot sound. Sadly though I think on their newer trams it is synthesised by a sounder playing the whistle noise (and perhaps capable of other noises as its probably a very similar system to the siren/PA on a modern emergency vehicle) rather than an actual live air powered whistle so maybe their days are numbered, though hopefully good old railway legislation will keep the traditional approved system going.
On US railroads, three short blasts on the whistle or horn signals that the train is going to reverse, one long or two short is the signal that a train is going to start moving, and two long, one short, one long is for grade crossings. In suburban Long Island NY, near where I live, the Long Island Rail Road trains whistle at all hours, and as we are only a few blocks away from a grade crossing, we hear them all night long.
@@leeroberts1192 most US railroads operate under nearly identical rules, because there was and is a lot of interoperation between the different companies where trains of one company interchange with others, so everyone needs to be on the same page rules wise. There are two major sets of operating rules in the US, NORAC for the eastern half of the country and GCOR for the west, but they’re not tremendously different as far as I know.
There is one other occasion when a tube whistles and that is when it is reversing, I should explain. One day while riding the Piccadilly Line from Cockfosters we got as far as the line between Southgate and Arnos Grove (my memory is a little fuzzy on this as we had two incidents a couple of months apart) where we stopped. I think there was a issue with the train ahead and it was serious enough that we had to back up to Southgate. Very slowly I might add. Roughly every ten seconds or so the driver used the whistle. We made it back to Southgate, got off and left the station. Ten minutes later, while trying to figure out an alternative route, a staff member came out and said it was all fine you can use it now. For those who don't know the section between Southgate and Arnos Grove is above ground.
We had to detain from a Northern line trim yesterday morning due to a train fault, this was at South Wimbledon. And that’s the last time I heard that lovely muted whistle sound just before the empty train headed north into the tunnel.
A higher pitched whistle (as opposed to a ship's deep and much more easily propagated one) is much preferable for underground task as it is *much easier to localize* as well as not propagating great lengths like lower pitches are. In other words, the purpose isn't for platform patrons miles down the tube, it's for those persons in the *immediate vicinity* to be aware and/or react. Lower frequencies are perceived as 'non-directional' by the human ear. Upper pitches, very directional.
Always like the whistle on the 'Drain', when stock emerges from underground sidings at Waterloo. I seem to remember that the W&C whistled even while it was SR property.
Worth noting that there's a standard London Underground whistle pattern which was taken from the first steam engines to be used on the lines, and whic has stayed the same ever since. Or so legend has it...
Dear Jago. Love your series and have picked up many interesting discussion points as I perambulate across the District line. One question I have is why the trains now screech so much. The Jubilee line is particularly bad, but the District is catching up. I have lived in Fulham for a while now and it has never been so bad. I wonder if this is a function of a lack of maintenance of the rolling stock. Thought you would be the kindof guru that would look into this matter. All the best with your excellent channel.
Whistles in other areas may be limited, but I definitely hear the west coast main line sounding horns all through the night. In distinct patterns. Kind of comforting to know that the world is still there while I'm trying to sleep. I have never heard a tube whistle and recognised it as such. I always assumed it was the train's brakes, and I generally have headphones going whenever I'm in London on my own. Loudly, to drown out all the noise.
I had no idea Tube trains had whistle or horns or anything. As I understood Hill Organ Builders invented a signalling device to be used in railway stations which they went onto develop into the Tuba Stop, which is always the loudest stop on any organ that has one! Liverpool (CfE) Cathedral, the largest cathedral in the UK, has a Tuba Magna that has now been fully restored to be back on its original 50 inches of wind pressure and its resonators corrected - there is no missing this stop when it used!!
Stamford Brook was "my" station when I worked in London and while waiting for a delayed train to Richmond I'd enjoy the Piccadilly trains sounding off and flashing through at speed. Every so often they stopped at the normally no-service westbound inner platform without opening the doors, which perplexed me a bit. Probably just stopping for a signal.
Our Group's Class 419 MLVs used on the Boat Trains to take the trains down to the quay sides. S68001 in preservation reverted back to as was when first built in the 1950's have whistles very similar. Whilst S68002 (9002) is as when the type at the end of their careers in the 1990's has Horns. Type of work the Motor Luggage Vans use to do including shunting watching this is interesting and makes a lot of sense.
whistles get ignored at night for the usual reason: If the locals are being complete idiots in ways that endanger themselves and others and/or make everything objectively worse for everyone, officials will listen to them almost without fail (if they can find a relatively low effort way to avoid any legal consequences of doing so, at least), while if something causes or will cause legitimate issues that should be addressed, you can reliably assume it will be ignored (unless doing so is likely to lead to significant unfortunate legal consequences for the officials involved). There are exceptions, but that's the default. Short version: some idiots complained, some other idiots went along with their complaint on the basis that it would make the first idiots shut up and go away (or possibly increase their odds of reelection). The reality is that if the wistle is unnecessary it shouldn't be used regardless of the hour, and if it's necessary it should be used regardless of the hour.
"East of the Iron Curtain" has gone for full-swing deafening horns. And they get used really rarely (to make people mind the gap or to signify the maintenance personnel the consist follows through the section)
my guess for why it can be ignored at night is as youd probably be able to see the lights well enough even around tight bends and thus theres no need to upset those sleeping, of course, this is just a guess
I remember the first trains north & south on the northern line always blew their whistles as they passed Hendon police training centre every morning to wake up the recruits 🤣🤣🤣
Have ridden in the cab jumpseat many times for work and the driver will often sound the whistle approaching a crowded tube platform if there’s someone trying to squeeze along the edge of the platform or standing between the yellow line and the platform edge.
Sometimes handy having a railwayman relative hehe One thing my brother and I did was liberate two rail detonators from my father's work bag, we unwrapped the legs and put them under the back wheels of next door neighbours car... expecting the sort of bang you got from a cap gun, oh noes, not being compressed by a rail wheel they went BANG and blew both wheels clean off. We were suitably chastised and in the naughty corner for ages over that one, even the neighbour in the end thought it funny but not me moody grumpy father lol Wasn't all bad mind, me dad used to bring home cases of light bulbs, Izal toilet roll, whole tea chests of BR standard tea bags and loose tea by the caseload, batteries, electrical stuff including insulation tape, crimps, reels o' wire. I remember too when we rewired the whole house getting rid of the round pin stuff and putting in all modern MEK stuff (some filched from Auntie BR) and he paid his mate a few quid to come round and fit the new meter, as he had the legal crimps etc. So his mate says to him, hey look if I put this extra loom in all hidden etc you can switch the meter out of the loop... free electricity and me father was like all moody and even threatened to dob his mate in O.o
Love the Diesel horn in your Uncle's car - many occasions when I wish I'd had one. Different but related, my Dad worked as an engineer for BEA/British Airways, and one of his colleagues decided he didn't like drivers tailgating him. His solution? Fitting the back of his car with an aircraft landing light. One brief flash was all it took.
And on the main line, we still call them whistle boards (indicated by the W in a circular sign) despite having horns. Whistle boards restricted 0600 to midnight, so slightly different to the tubes restricted times.
Metro North in New York City has fitted whistles on their subways and also on the Long Island Railroad commuter trains. It seems out of place seeing brand new Kawasaki M8s tooting little whistles in and around the stations on the Long Island Railroad.
I've always wondered why British and American whistles developed in such different directions. I'm sure that back in the olden days US locomotives had the higher pitched British style whistles since many of the earliest engines came from Britain, but over the next century or so you go from that to the N&W 611/1218, the UP's 4014 and many others.
Before the leaving "The Smoke" some time ago, I travelled on the tube regularly for about 30 years. I don't once ever recall hearing a tube train whistle, so this was a genuine surprise to me. I thought Jago was going to be talking about the whooshing sound the trains make through the tunnels!
Because they don't know the words! 😂😂
that was my first thought when I saw the title.
You devil
Me too!!! Beaten to it!!
🙃
😅😅😅😅😅😅😅
As a kid, I used to love standing on bridges and getting tube drivers to whistle…. and they often obliged, fair play to them! 😊 Happy times!
In North America, when another vehicles passes a truck, and one of the vehicle occupants makes a motion like he's pulling a handle down from the ceiling, the truck driver is obliged to sound the horn.
czcams.com/video/GBPT4xUOFW0/video.html
@@fosterfuchs That’s the exact same motion I used to use!
@@marksinthehouse1968 Yes! ;-)
@@fosterfuchs That's very much a thing here in old Blighty as well, though I tend to get odd looks doing it now as a 30 something year old man.
Sweet or sour we used to call it, tallying up the responses. I play that game with my kids these days.
Jago really pulled out the bells and whistles for this one. Not that I’m complaining.
Groan 😂😂
I hope you don't get dinged for this joke.
Just take your up vote and think seriously about what you've done!
Very good 😀🚂🚂🚂
It's not polite to expose your bells and whistle in public!
This is a fairly interesting topic as I wasn't even aware the underground trains whistled until now
In a similar vein, I love that modern trams generally still use real bells instead of horns.
Here in Manchester our trams toot their whistles frequently in town to warn cars and pedestrians to get out of the way.
@@simonjones1342 because they identifies themself as London Underground ;)
On some models it sounds like they use speakers, but it’s nice that they at least imitate the sound of a bell.
Where I live, even some buses appear to have a speaker for that. They don’t use it much, I wish they did it more often, especially at the terminal.
@@muncherofpizza Some Japanese trains even have short music snippets programmed into the circuitry of "speaker whistle"
In Belgium the newer trams use a digital bell (At least in Flanders) instead of a real bell, but still a bell sound.
There are several reasons why a tube train sounds its whistle, and as you rightly surmised, they're all to do with reasons of safety.
As a quick note, the whistle has two settings that can be used, loud and soft. 'Soft' is to be used inside tunnels or other enclosed spaces, 'loud' is to be used outside. In practice, both carry just as far and most drivers only ever use 'soft'. Why not 'loud' all the time? Many, if not all, drivers have at one point been caught at the wrong end of a whistle blast and are aware of how incredibly loud the whistle is when you are near it. Why use 'loud' when 'soft' will do? (they're also two different notes, so you could in theory play a simple melody using just the whistle of a tube train, but I digress)
According to the rulebook, there are some moves that must be accompanied by a blast of the whistle, or several. Usually these moves are done in an emergency or other unusual situation, and they serve to warn people who might legitimately be around the track at that time of the presence of a train coming from an unusual direction. It might, as an example, be necessary for a tube train to travel the wrong way on a line for a short distance, and in that case the driver must sound the whistle on set intervals or in a set pattern.
Whistles are also sounded where a deep level tube exits to the surface, to warn people who might be around the tunnel mouth that a train will soon be leaving the tunnel.
Trains leaving service out of a station are also expected to sound the whistle, because they are likely to be taking an unusual route to a siding rather than staying on a main line. All of this is to warn people on or near the track, even if none are visible. Especially if none are visible.
The whistle is also used to gain the attention of workers on or near the track, who must respond to the whistle signal by some form of positive hand signal (or light signal if in darkness). That way the driver of the train can be confident that the people on the track are aware of the train and they can proceed in safety.
Frequently, on some lines, the whistle is still used for its original purpose: to scare away wildlife on the track. My line doesn't have any risk of cows on the track, but there have been occasions I've had to frighten off smaller wildlife (such as foxes. So many foxes!) and even deer.
Lastly, but by no means least, whistles are also sounded when a train will be passing through a station that is closed. After all there might be people on that closed platform carrying out works, who need to be alerted that a train will soon be passing through at relatively high speed.
So in short, because I have rambled a bit here, the whistle is a safety device, used whenever the train is doing something which is either unusual or might endanger someone be they seen or unseen.
Bonus trivia facts about the Northern line:
There is a whistle board for trains when leaving for Morden depot from Morden platform 2. This is because the official walkway from that depot runs under the bridge and along the side of the building at the southern end of platform 2, creating a path of limited clearance. Many drivers take a perverse pleasure in waiting until an approaching driver on foot is nearly level with the cab, and then sounding the whistle. There is also a whistle board for trains leaving the depot and entering Morden station, to alert passengers that a train is approaching from the opposite end they might be expecting.
For that same reason, a train must whistle when entering Euston (Bank branch) southbound from the King's Cross loop. It's a rare move, but it does mean the train approaches the platform from the opposite and thus utterly unexpected direction.
There is a board between Finchley Central and West Finchley instructing drivers to only use their whistles for reasons of safety. This is because there is a footbridge over the line, which is a favoured observation point for children to watch trains during the summer months. Naturally they signal for us to whistle. Of course we are happy to oblige. If anyone ever asks why I whistled there, I shall blame a fox :)
Thanks for the information
> in theory play a simple melody using just the whistle of a tube train, but I digress
The London Transport Museum should put on a show!
"there have been occasions I've had to frighten off smaller wildlife (such as foxes. So many foxes!) and even deer."
Out in the sticks on the "big railway" I can tell you from too much experience that deer respond badly to both tones of a two-tone horn - as in they *always* then veer into the path of the train rather than away from it - so I've given up using both tones.
They (usually) shift out of the way if you use repeated blasts of one tone instead, as do birds of prey, but when deer do insist on committing suicide, muntjac make a much bigger bang than roe deer. :(
Pheasants and pigeons are simply suicidal. Pigeons are greasy and leave a huge grey mark on the windscreen which is impossible to see through and takes a lot of screenwash to remove, except when they hit the windscreen wiper arms and simply explode, which is as disgusting as it sounds.
Very interesting. Are their also visual alerts for the hard of hearing, deaf and foxes who are not paying attention?
Thanks for taking the time to explain all of that - even though Ilive in Scotland and seldom use the Tube!
While traveling to London and taking the Underground, I had never heard a tube whistle until I watched CZcams videos of tube trains whistling.
On national rail, the theory is that in the hours of darkness, people should be able to see that a train is approaching from the headlights standing out against the darkness and therefore the horn or whistle is not as necessary as during the day.
Also it wakes people up who are trying to sleep, and that would cause a lot of angry people, looking for someone to blame.
Yet when I’m on track at night, they still like to blast their horns when they’re 10ft behind me.
Unless of course you are facing the other direction away from the train
Presumably there must have been a rule change in the last 50 years because steam trains and first-generation diesels weren't fitted with headlights. The Chinley accident in 1986, where a driver got routed over a crossover on to the wrong line after a power failure and didn't realise, wouldn't have happened if he'd had a headlight.
Decent headlights started to be fitted in the eighties -possibly to passenger trains first. All modern stock has to meet certain requirements. There is normally a day mode and night mode.
If they have a high-level headlight above the cab window then they don’t have to have yellow ends either.
Whistle codes are still used. When approaching Ashwell signal box, if you're driving a train that is heading off to Corby at Manton Junction then you need to use '1 long, 1 short' on the horn....this lets the signalman at Ashwell know he has to advise Oakham then Manton Junction which train you are, and which way you need to be signalled.
Another instance to use the whistle is when "Applying the rule", ie, passing a failed signal at danger.
Also, another code that still sticks with me from my tube days was the one or two blasts depending on the direction of travel so trackworkers would know which way we were coming from.
We had a handy acronym to help us remember.
Outer rail, Up, Southbound, Eastbound (OUSE) = 1 blast.
West bound, Inner, Northbound, Down (WIND) = 2 blasts.
Now when I first read the title to this I, being a nerd as well as an electronics engineer which would be a triple point score in scrabble, I thought it meant the inverter-like sounds you sometimes get when certain trains start up. I would not call todays horns whistles but then I go back to the days of steam, like last weekend when I visited the Watercress line. Another great video Jago thanks even without the bells.
Not an electronics engineer but had exactly the same thought when I first read the title. 😀
You mean the sound of VVVF modulation? That's a quite interesting factor through which experienced railfans distinguish different models of trains easily.
Some trains equipped with Siemens GTO-VVVF inverters, e.g. Keikyu Model 1000, make melodious modulation tones which sound like a musical scale.
@@JBF-GST-Tanda Thanks, I guess I do! It does sound like a modulation so is the change in frequency is about efficiency and reducing losses? There must be a youtube channel about this. Variable voltage variable frequency, just looked it up! Another technology to research....thanks for the lead
that was...a blast of an episode. I see my self out
I had a drill instructor who must have descended from rail ceatures. He had a little bell. He had a little whistle. He had a great voice recording that yelled, "Lights on, Dips**ts!" I love real train whistles, though--the kind attached to a great, chuffing, steel, fire-breathing, steaming beast. Thank you, Jago, for another trip down memory lane.
The Southern Railway and then the BR(SR) were fitted with whistles.
There were even whistle codes to pass messages to signalman including telling them of route requirements. These can be found in Sectional Appendices, some of which can be found on line (Limit of Shunt has several).
Oh, so those aren't just someone playing with the buttons to play tunes?
I've always been curious why, and this has answered my question well.
Lots of drivers sound the whistle for trainspotters, and you can even get some serious hellfire when you're in more rural areas such as Mill Hill East. Click 'read more' some quick trivia:
- The quietest whistle is on the 1972 stock (Bakerloo), but the loudest is a tie between the Northern and Jubilee lines (95 and 96 stock respectively).
- Whistles are not only used for depots, but sidings too. Take Willesden Green for example, drivers often sound it just before entering. This also applies to underground sidings such as Tooting Broadway.
- Every tube stock is fittest with a whistle switch which has the regular off mode, and two whistle switches, one operating the whistle with less air pressure (quieter) and vice versa (with more). Additional fact is that not all stock used to be like this. The D, 1967 and MkI 1972 stock (to name a few) used to have a simple button to activate it.
- The line that sounds the whistle for spotters the most is the Bakerloo Line.
More will be edited in if I remember any others.
I love the more booming yet low tone the 72 stock whistle has.
The C69/77 stock also had a one-tone whistle activated with a button, which is how they appear on World Of Subways 3: Circle Line. The game will penalise you for doing some things wrong (such as late-running or overshooting a platform), but mis-use of the whistle is not one of them, even though whistle boards are included on the Paddington - Hammersmith section.
Most of our trains here in Sydney also have two horn modes: Town (quieter) and country (louder). On some trains (the XPT most notably) both can be sounded in harmony. I’ve been on the receiving end of some country horn blasts: They can be extremely loud.
There is also a “yard” tone on some of the newer electric trains although that’s less of a horn and sounds more like a lorry’s reversing signal. Really, it’s for use in depots where a full-blown (ha!) horn would be unsuitable but some warning is still needed. I have heard them sounded in regular service on occasion too.
@@TheBritFromOz008 How interesting!
Thank you Jago for this fascinating from the Tales from the Tube.
You are the copious quantities of wind to my whistle.
I took a photo of the cab of an ex-1938 stock running as a NSE liveried class 483 at Ryde Pier Head Stn (IoW) featuring its whistle just before I boarded it bound for Shanklin. The 483s had just arrived on the Isle of Wight. My previous visit enabled me to travel on the previous class 485 (sad to see them go). Happy days. At least the ex- UndergrounD trains are keeping the tradition with the ex- D78 as class 484. I remember using the Bakerloo Line Trafalgar Sq in the early 1970s and a 1927 trailer in a 1938 stock train. Best wishes from Oxfordshire.
You evoked Johnny Mercer’s lyrics to Harold Arlen’s Song ‘Blues in the Night’
,,,Now the rain's a fallin', hear the train a callin', oooo-ee
Hear the lonesome whistle blowin' 'cross the trestle, oooo-ee
Oooo-ee-a-oooo-ee, ol' clickety-clack
Comes echoing back the blues in the night…
Many fire engines in rural areas still used bells in to the 1990s to warn of their approach as bells were deemed to be less frightening to farm animals and horses.
Sometimes it's just amazing what the comments section of a video can bring up.
I’ve just watched the feature film version of ‘The Sweeney’ (1976) and DI Regan’s Consul Granada is fitted with a bell!
Fire appliances still have a bell as a backup to the two tone, only a short while ago had a hand rung one also as a backup to the backup bell, not seen a bell on modern ambulances, may have them though. The era of the P6 Rovers were the last Police cars they were seen on. Bells are difficult to hear over the traffic noise today.
@@tonys1636 wasn't aware they still had bells,. Thanks for that.
Fire engines are the only emergency vehicles (in North Wales at least) that still use two-tone sirens, everyone else has moved on to the multi-tone sirens. Don't know why. Perhaps one of the correspondents here could elucidate. I know why the sirens: more tones helps with 'direction finding', listeners can judge where the siren is coming from & whether it's travelling towards or away from the listener. It's the two-toned fire engines I'm questioning.
This is also the second time in as many days I've used the word 'elucidate'. Can't remember when, if at all, I last used it.
Anyway... Sirens.
They don't know the words. I'll see myself out.
Nice to see Roding Valley in the footage. The least used of all Underground stations (Though its important to put in perspective its still used enough to get a 20 minute service which some (cough) outside London would kill for)
The most memorable whistle I can remember is that of a DMU travelling from Tottenham Hale to Stratford Low Level; it sounded like what can only be described as a wet fart.
As a passenger, I always do a few bars of 'Colonel Bogie' whenever I see a whistle board. It pleases the other passengers up no end.
They rarely join in though.
That's that song about what Hitler's got, right? 😂
@@ssbohio Indeed it is.
@@ianthomson9363 And what goebels had not.
During my two week in London with dozens of tube rides I never once heard a whistle, then again when your focus is making sure you are on the correct platform to get back to the station where you got on the wrong line to get back to area your hotel is in you might just miss that
I lived in London for 15 years and took the district line every day, as well as using other lines regularly. I don't recall ever hearing a whistle. Perhaps I didn't notice but the sound from this video is completely unfamiliar.
@@NenadVukicevic hear plenty, mostly on Empty stock movements platform to depot at Morden
@@NenadVukicevicI don't remember hearing a whistle on the district line either on a visit back in 1971. (My clumsy fingers nearly put in 1771 but neither the tube nor myself were around back then!)
I used to live at the top of the hill on Fairlop Road in Leytonstone, a good half mile from the station, yet you could still hear the whistles from the trains and the station announcements late at night and early in the morning when everything else was sort of quiet.
It was sort of comforting once you got used to it of course.
In the old days, American Interurban trains had Air Whistles and Air Gongs. Very fascinating, Jago sir!
my understanding for the not whistling at night is the main purpose is for track workers, and on LU you cant work on open track after dark, so theres not that many hours overlap.
also, the bakerloo has two whistles, a quieter one for in tunnels, and a louder one to comply with Network Rail's track
The loud whistle is hardly a traditional whistle, more of a buzzer and the whistle together, but it is a curious feature of the train
1:57 APT-P SPOTTED
I saw a not in service Piccadilly Line train passing through Wood Green Station recently whistle, and luckily managed to just capture it on video
Bells and horns which are both used on modern diesel locomotives and plenty of steam locomotives had bells
Reminds me of a similar feature on trams, the bell (or gong, as it's technically known here in Canada). Typically it rings twice upon accelerating from a stop. Older models have a physical bell; the newer ones in my area use an electronic reproduction.
When I was in uni, the trams would have a little bell that would ring before setting off, and if the driver thought someone was going to be in the way (followed by a loud foghorn if they remained in the way!)
Yah, our heritage streetcar line here (Minneapolis-St Paul, MN, US) uses the physical bells on the old trolley cars before they start, and when they're crossing a street with them. There's even a signal bell inside at both ends of the car, used by the conductor and the motorman when they're running in two-man operation.
Meanwhile, our modern light rail trains play a recording of a bell sound when starting and stopping, or when running through street intersections where the line runs down the middle of a street.
@@mattcannon2 Here in San Francisco, there are a couple of streets where drivers will enter the intersection even though there's a traffic jam on the other side, and get trapped when the light changes and the pedestrians assert their right of way. When this happens, the tram drivers like to creep up to about six inches from the stuck motorist, loom over the car, and lay on the horn! It's always fun to watch the drivers realize that there are even bigger vehicles they share the road with :-)
Re. Jago's story about the train horn; a friend of mine fitted *TWO* to his Land Rover, mounted on the roof of the cab, fed from a fire extinguisher body used as a compressed air reservoir, and the pressure was topped up by an electric tyre pump with an auto pressure cut-out. He dropped the pressure down quite a bit from the level used by trains, but it was still *VERY* loud! They worked a treat on the berks who trickle out of side turnings in front of you, looking *LEFT* instead of *right*; he said they slammed the brakes on in blind panic, thinking that a 44 tonne artic was bearing down on them . . .
:))
I can say from experience that a whistle from a train entering a deep-level station when standing on the platform is effing loud and makes you jump out of your skin.
I mean seriously loud in terms of heart-attack inducing possibly, for certain people. Empty trains running through, sometimes seem to do this and I really dont think they should.
On Heritage railways it is fairly routine to sound a whistle or horn on departure from a station, usually in response to the Guard's Right Away signal. I can think of a Heritage line in Cambridgeshire which has a bridleway which crosses the line adjacent to a river. Typically, when driving, I would sound the horn around a 1/4 mile away so as not to alarm approaching horses who may then throw a rider into the water if startled. By the same token I was always prepared to stop short of the bridleway if a horse emerged on the approach.
I dont recall ever hearing a Tube train whistle! But thanks for whistling up a quick video on the subject!
Here in NYC if I hear two whistle/horn blasts it means the train is skipping the station. It’s definitely saved me from looking foolish when trying to get on.
10 years. I lived in london for ten years & caught the tube every day. I've never ever ever a whistle. You are making this up.
As a youngster I travelled a lot on the Western reaches of the Metropolitan line. There was always lots of whistling as we bypassed Northwood, Northwood Hills and PInner stations.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a tube train whistle - I commuted using the tube for 3 years! Maybe I didn’t think about it at the time. Very interesting. I’m now going to be listening out next time on the tube!
It's interesting as most modern multiple units have depot whistles too, I'm sure I've heard a class 377 use it's whistle before
They do have depot whistles, at least the 375s do
Me too
Yeah Class 377’s do have depot whistles
Indeed. A number of Bombardier Electrostars and Bombardier/Alstom Aventras (Class 730, for example) are still being fitted from new.
I think that might just be a Southern thing.
I was waiting outside White City station for a while once and I kept hearing this sound. There was building work going on down the road, so I wondered if it was some site-related sound. Now I know.
Whistles are definitely the prettiest feature of any railway.
1:45 this man’s uncle really stole a horn I respect that
You Brits are so lucky to have whistles. I live in the DC area and I’ve been nearly deafened a number of times when a Metro train blasts its horn while passing through a station. Because the stations on the DC Metro are huge and arched, they echo like crazy and the horn on a Metro train is loud enough to make me wince from the pain in my eardrums.
Basically the same response as when I hear the screeching of the tube trains on the sharp bend at Bank station! {shudders}
Legend has it that train drivers crossing the North York moors used their two-tone horns to sound out the first 5 notes of that famous song, 'On Ilkely Moor Bar Tat'. I so want that to be true!
There's a few clips on CZcams of drivers using the two-tone to play a little bit of "The Imperial March" from Star Wars
Cracking video sir, I think the whistle limit is because a load of train sheds are in residential areas and whistles can annoy the locals!
Jago. I can't believe that you missed out another very important occasion when the tube train driver beeps his whistle with two short blasts. There is a bridge that goes over the train tracks which run from Woodford station to South Woodford at the end of Gordon Road. I remember as a child, growing up in the 1970s, whenever we used that bridge, we would wait in the centre of the bridge for a train to come out the station and as it was heading towards us, we would wave to the train. This was always met by a wave from the driver and two short blasts of the whistle, toot toot. Around 15-20 years ago I took my children there a few times to wait for a train and sure enough, to their utter delight, they were met by a wave and a toot toot. Last year my parents took their great-grandchildren (my grandchildren) to the bridge and sure enough, they also witnessed a wave from the driver, a big smile on his face and a toot toot!😊This has been a tradition in our family for over 50 years. I'm sure that the bridge over Gordon Road isn't the only place where this happens? Perhaps it deserved some research and a video on the subject?
The Piccadilly line ran alongside our local park. The whistle sign was located where the swings etc. were. We used to play a game that we had to be off the ground before the whistle sounded. Innocent days!!!!😂😂😂🚂
I have a very vague memory of a collector bringing one of these whistles to the organ building company I worked for, it need to have an adjustment done to it( I think it was a voicing problem) and the collector didn't know how to do it, so we did.
which organ company out of curiosity?
@@dazasc3994 Manders in Bethnal Green in London. The companies gone now, but the name was taken over by another organ building company in Kent, called F H Brown.
@@mrwibble70 Noel Mander built a house organ for the father of my closest friend. It was a wonderful instrument and beautifully voiced.
Don't think i ever heard the whistle before, great stuff, thanks.
Another great video!
Sooo... My follow-on questions are:
What does the DLR use? (I don't recall hearing anything from those) Also, the overground when it goes underground?
Do the tube trains still whistle when above ground? Surely a horn would be better out in the open.
What about Glasgow and Liverpool?
I could be mistaken, but I'm sure I've heard Manchester and Blackpool trams peeping from time to time.
Paris Metro, etc.?
I'm in for a sleepless night, now, with all these questions!
I had to Google it; if only to satisfy my own curiosity having travelled on DLR since launch (and subsequent visits to the smoke) and never heard one on a DLR train. It appears that they use a very boring, car like horn: czcams.com/video/7tB2XrlKtXc/video.html
D200 on the London to Norwich service. I remember train spotting at Ilford and when the two tone horn was heard in the distance a cry of "Diesel" would go up. It was the excitement of the new.
Good vid.Audible train warnings are important particularly where there are maintenance crews working near the line and the warning has to be acknowledged by all personnel with a raised hand signal.The driver of a train authorised to pass a signal at danger will give a warning and usually a train passing a busy platform at an intermediate station at speed especially freights /containers etc.These comments refer perhaps more to the national network .Push /Pull trains with the driving trailers leading are particularly (and dangerously) quiet so an audible warning is essential.Last but not least , thankfully ,the runaway train warning.Most of the modern trains and locomotives are fitted with an unsocial hours horn control.
I assume tube trains never had conductors… so was the whistle doing the job of the conductor (with his whistle) for surface trains. I did/do love the sound of that whistle preceding departure, not to mention, abundant platform staff, happy days. Oxford Road Manchester, I always found to offer a very real experience.
The tube absolutely had Conductors/Guards back in the day,
I think the last to go where in 2001 although I'd happy to be corrected on this, Maybe Jago will bless us with a video on when each of the lines lost them.
@@JJmoogle The last tube trains with guards were the 1959 stock, which last ran (in revenue service) on 27 January 2000 on the Northern line.
i love watching these videos and listening to music while i cook, it's very relaxing
BR Class 08/09 diesel shunting locos had whistles too as they worked mainly in yards, depots and sidings.
In New York,the IRT,BMTand IND,all had whistles,and even the cars,nowadays carry whistles! Additionally,Chinese steam engines,like the Union Pacific engines carried both whistles and air horns! Plus,the Long Island and Pennsylvania MP54'S carried whistles!! So much for the minutea of rolling stock and engines! Thank you 😇 😊!!
Excellent video as always Mr Hazzard.
Not something I've ever felt the need to think of, but now youve mentioned it, it was most interesting and informative.
There are quite a few videos on YT of drivers obliging fans with a blast and some bringing it into the higher echelons of drivers that can play "Ilkley Moor ba T''hat, on a diesel two-tone horn.
One that I actually managed to fairly reasonably pick up during a DMU driver experience day, on the Ecclesbourne Railway in Derbyshire.
A skill indeed.
Living in Sheffield where the trams have bells (and monster air horns if someone hasn’t taken the hint), it always seems novel to me when I go to Manchester that their trams have what I think is a very pleasing whistle that makes a hoot sound.
Sadly though I think on their newer trams it is synthesised by a sounder playing the whistle noise (and perhaps capable of other noises as its probably a very similar system to the siren/PA on a modern emergency vehicle) rather than an actual live air powered whistle so maybe their days are numbered, though hopefully good old railway legislation will keep the traditional approved system going.
we used to go to the bridge at epping station, there we'd wave to the trains and get the double toot. good memories right there.
On US railroads, three short blasts on the whistle or horn signals that the train is going to reverse, one long or two short is the signal that a train is going to start moving, and two long, one short, one long is for grade crossings. In suburban Long Island NY, near where I live, the Long Island Rail Road trains whistle at all hours, and as we are only a few blocks away from a grade crossing, we hear them all night long.
I know that American trains are split between a number of companies, are all bell, horn and whistle codes standardised across all companies?
@@leeroberts1192 most US railroads operate under nearly identical rules, because there was and is a lot of interoperation between the different companies where trains of one company interchange with others, so everyone needs to be on the same page rules wise. There are two major sets of operating rules in the US, NORAC for the eastern half of the country and GCOR for the west, but they’re not tremendously different as far as I know.
There is one other occasion when a tube whistles and that is when it is reversing, I should explain. One day while riding the Piccadilly Line from Cockfosters we got as far as the line between Southgate and Arnos Grove (my memory is a little fuzzy on this as we had two incidents a couple of months apart) where we stopped. I think there was a issue with the train ahead and it was serious enough that we had to back up to Southgate. Very slowly I might add. Roughly every ten seconds or so the driver used the whistle. We made it back to Southgate, got off and left the station. Ten minutes later, while trying to figure out an alternative route, a staff member came out and said it was all fine you can use it now. For those who don't know the section between Southgate and Arnos Grove is above ground.
I wonder when the name "Cockfosters"will be the victim of censorship because even Monty Python/John Cleese isn't Holy anymore nowadays😉😉
@@johnsamu I'll know when it has gone too far when the station signs read ****fosters! ;)
@@johnsamu But there is nothing rude about the name, the first bit refers to a male chicken i.e. a cock bird.
@@JohnyG29 So the station will presumably be renamed to "MalechickenAustralianlager".
@@JohnyG29 There's also nothing rude about the name "Dick" said the woman who asked "Have you seen my Dick?" when she was looking for her husband 😉😁
We had to detain from a Northern line trim yesterday morning due to a train fault, this was at South Wimbledon. And that’s the last time I heard that lovely muted whistle sound just before the empty train headed north into the tunnel.
A higher pitched whistle (as opposed to a ship's deep and much more easily propagated one) is much preferable for underground task as it is *much easier to localize* as well as not propagating great lengths like lower pitches are. In other words, the purpose isn't for platform patrons miles down the tube, it's for those persons in the *immediate vicinity* to be aware and/or react.
Lower frequencies are perceived as 'non-directional' by the human ear. Upper pitches, very directional.
Always like the whistle on the 'Drain', when stock emerges from underground sidings at Waterloo. I seem to remember that the W&C whistled even while it was SR property.
Another lovely, charming video from Jago. Terrific!
Worth noting that there's a standard London Underground whistle pattern which was taken from the first steam engines to be used on the lines, and whic has stayed the same ever since.
Or so legend has it...
Alf , the ex mining diesel locomotive has a whistle the same as a tube train , at the Talyllyn Railway
Dear Jago. Love your series and have picked up many interesting discussion points as I perambulate across the District line. One question I have is why the trains now screech so much. The Jubilee line is particularly bad, but the District is catching up. I have lived in Fulham for a while now and it has never been so bad. I wonder if this is a function of a lack of maintenance of the rolling stock. Thought you would be the kindof guru that would look into this matter. All the best with your excellent channel.
I believe he’s done a video on that, “Why the Underground is so loud” or something similar! 😊
The last subway cars here in New York that used a whistle was the R1-9 subway cars (B Division / IND), which were all retired by 1977.
Interesting, will keep my ears open on the Stockholm tunnelbana for any whistles.
Today's catchphrase guess: "You are the horns to my signal system."
Whistles in other areas may be limited, but I definitely hear the west coast main line sounding horns all through the night. In distinct patterns.
Kind of comforting to know that the world is still there while I'm trying to sleep.
I have never heard a tube whistle and recognised it as such. I always assumed it was the train's brakes, and I generally have headphones going whenever I'm in London on my own. Loudly, to drown out all the noise.
I had no idea Tube trains had whistle or horns or anything. As I understood Hill Organ Builders invented a signalling device to be used in railway stations which they went onto develop into the Tuba Stop, which is always the loudest stop on any organ that has one! Liverpool (CfE) Cathedral, the largest cathedral in the UK, has a Tuba Magna that has now been fully restored to be back on its original 50 inches of wind pressure and its resonators corrected - there is no missing this stop when it used!!
I believe that yet another organ builder, Hope-Jones, developed a stop called the Diaphone, which Trinity House developed as a foghorn..
I gather that in BR steam days a continuous sequence of short whistle blasts (sometimes called pop-pop-pop-pop-pop...) meant "runaway train" !
Stamford Brook was "my" station when I worked in London and while waiting for a delayed train to Richmond I'd enjoy the Piccadilly trains sounding off and flashing through at speed. Every so often they stopped at the normally no-service westbound inner platform without opening the doors, which perplexed me a bit. Probably just stopping for a signal.
Because they don't know the words 😂
😂
Managed to guess the 'You are the _____ to my _____' line!
I used to love the whistle of tube trains when I lived in London. Incidentally, most modern tram systems use the noise of bells.
Towards the end of the video was good old Roding Valley. Want customers? Go whistle for them !!
Trust Jago to come up with the best research questions.
The evening image at 3:30 is downright beautiful. I especially appreciate the light spilling out of the doors onto the platform.
Time for a whistle stop tour 🚂
Our Group's Class 419 MLVs used on the Boat Trains to take the trains down to the quay sides. S68001 in preservation reverted back to as was when first built in the 1950's have whistles very similar. Whilst S68002 (9002) is as when the type at the end of their careers in the 1990's has Horns. Type of work the Motor Luggage Vans use to do including shunting watching this is interesting and makes a lot of sense.
Thanks Jango. Another reason the why whistle is used is to check the whistle is working.
"you are the compressed air to my whistle"
That was way too romantic
I think all the Electrostars (certainly the 378s), and probably other mainline units, are equipped with depot whistles as well as the louder horns
I think you're working towards the most esoteric subject for a video. Ever. You're not there yet but well on the way with this one.
I'm eagerly awaiting Jago's biopic "Great Uncle Mike"
whistles get ignored at night for the usual reason: If the locals are being complete idiots in ways that endanger themselves and others and/or make everything objectively worse for everyone, officials will listen to them almost without fail (if they can find a relatively low effort way to avoid any legal consequences of doing so, at least), while if something causes or will cause legitimate issues that should be addressed, you can reliably assume it will be ignored (unless doing so is likely to lead to significant unfortunate legal consequences for the officials involved).
There are exceptions, but that's the default.
Short version: some idiots complained, some other idiots went along with their complaint on the basis that it would make the first idiots shut up and go away (or possibly increase their odds of reelection).
The reality is that if the wistle is unnecessary it shouldn't be used regardless of the hour, and if it's necessary it should be used regardless of the hour.
I live almost next to morden depo and they toot toot at pretty much any hour, one of my favourite things about living here!
"East of the Iron Curtain" has gone for full-swing deafening horns. And they get used really rarely (to make people mind the gap or to signify the maintenance personnel the consist follows through the section)
my guess for why it can be ignored at night is as youd probably be able to see the lights well enough even around tight bends and thus theres no need to upset those sleeping, of course, this is just a guess
I remember the first trains north & south on the northern line always blew their whistles as they passed Hendon police training centre every morning to wake up the recruits 🤣🤣🤣
Nice to see that Jago has his whistle properly whetted.
I've noticed that trains on the national network don't use their horns nearly as much as they used to. I suppose drivers were told to...tone it down.
Have ridden in the cab jumpseat many times for work and the driver will often sound the whistle approaching a crowded tube platform if there’s someone trying to squeeze along the edge of the platform or standing between the yellow line and the platform edge.
Sometimes handy having a railwayman relative hehe One thing my brother and I did was liberate two rail detonators from my father's work bag, we unwrapped the legs and put them under the back wheels of next door neighbours car... expecting the sort of bang you got from a cap gun, oh noes, not being compressed by a rail wheel they went BANG and blew both wheels clean off. We were suitably chastised and in the naughty corner for ages over that one, even the neighbour in the end thought it funny but not me moody grumpy father lol Wasn't all bad mind, me dad used to bring home cases of light bulbs, Izal toilet roll, whole tea chests of BR standard tea bags and loose tea by the caseload, batteries, electrical stuff including insulation tape, crimps, reels o' wire. I remember too when we rewired the whole house getting rid of the round pin stuff and putting in all modern MEK stuff (some filched from Auntie BR) and he paid his mate a few quid to come round and fit the new meter, as he had the legal crimps etc. So his mate says to him, hey look if I put this extra loom in all hidden etc you can switch the meter out of the loop... free electricity and me father was like all moody and even threatened to dob his mate in O.o
Love the Diesel horn in your Uncle's car - many occasions when I wish I'd had one.
Different but related, my Dad worked as an engineer for BEA/British Airways, and one of his colleagues decided he didn't like drivers tailgating him. His solution? Fitting the back of his car with an aircraft landing light. One brief flash was all it took.
I suppose early tunnelling had canaries to warn of gases underground. Their happy chirping was the inspiration to the whistling trains.
And on the main line, we still call them whistle boards (indicated by the W in a circular sign) despite having horns. Whistle boards restricted 0600 to midnight, so slightly different to the tubes restricted times.
Metro North in New York City has fitted whistles on their subways and also on the Long Island Railroad commuter trains. It seems out of place seeing brand new Kawasaki M8s tooting little whistles in and around the stations on the Long Island Railroad.
Your great-uncle Mike is the MVP of this video 😂
I've always wondered why British and American whistles developed in such different directions. I'm sure that back in the olden days US locomotives had the higher pitched British style whistles since many of the earliest engines came from Britain, but over the next century or so you go from that to the N&W 611/1218, the UP's 4014 and many others.
Before the leaving "The Smoke" some time ago, I travelled on the tube regularly for about 30 years. I don't once ever recall hearing a tube train whistle, so this was a genuine surprise to me.
I thought Jago was going to be talking about the whooshing sound the trains make through the tunnels!