Man, this sound takes me back. I used to watch the SP trains in my hometown of Berkeley, CA and this was the classic sound along with the rumbling chug of the engines. The UP horns which have replaced them will never measure up.
Thanks for posting. The Southern Pacific Railroad had such a different variety of things from the awesome Mars lighting that circled the night to the Beautiful sounding Nathan P3 horns on all of the locomotives and the awesome bay window cabooses. Brings back such great memories. The SP is truly missed. Thanks again for the post.
Yes, I too have great memories of the SP here in Eastern Kansas following the Rock Island's end of operations. Loved their Mars lights, variety of motive power, and the bay-window cabooses. I stopped railfanning mid-90's after the demise of the SP and the BNSF merger. Nothing interesting to watch out there anymore.
@@ishirotanakamy freind has a few sirens that do work but he can run them for 1 minute because his parents say it will get on their neighbors nerves and they will get a noise complaint
As a onetime engineer on the Joint Line (joke line) Denver to Pueblo,CO. I had the chance to operate SP SD40 8425 Pueblo to Denver.Loved the pull chord horn, loved the sound!!
Gawd, do I miss the sound the old Nathan P3's that were common in the Sacramento, CA area from 1995 and earlier. After the merger, all I heard was K3 and K5 variants used by UP. :-(
Friggin Awesome, that's tight there. Music to my ears. Definitely not the way these trains sound nowadays. Leslie's and Nathan's can't beat them. Great post. Mike in Fresno.
We have been building these from pvc piping. First one we built was a P3, but one of the bells won't work with the other two... so we are gonna use the single bell on a different car and rebuild the 3rd bell for a functional P3
BigDave8802008 I have a lot of respect for you guys that build the PVC horns, its a lot of work and I have heard some very realistic sounding ones. Me I prefer the real thing though.
Darn, I really miss that horn sound in the Sacramento, CA area after Union Pacific bought out Southern Pacfic. :-( All I hear nowadays in Sacramento are mostly K3LA/K3HA and K5LLA horns from various UP locomotives.
mafarnz Out here in Ogden utah we have a local usualy lead by two UP SD40-2s and one of the locomotives hosting a P3, suprisingly hasnt been replaced with a K3HA or K3LA. Is this a rare sight, or is this normal for many UP SD40-2s?
I just acquired an old cast P3, Sounds Great. It was used in the Houston area by Southern Pacific RR. I’m debating on restoring or just cleaning up. It’s Gray with Black Diesel soot all over it and the paint is flaking off. In your opinion, think I should restore?
That is completely up to you. Some horn collectors like unrestored horns, some like original paint but cleaned up and some like fancy shiny new paint jobs. The only reason I painted this one up like this was because I couldn't save the original paint.
Looks great and love the simulated coming and going away Doppler Effects! So why not go with Lark Dark Gray instead of primer or yoUPee-like harbour mist (piss) gray?!?
+espeeboy I had intended to go with a darker grey, but the paint chip at the store was a lot darker than what was actually in the can. One of these days I may redo the grey a bit darker.
+mafarnz Go for it! If you need real paint chip matching help, let me know. Have some paint formulas based on real SP color chips that I've coordinated with various RR museums to repaint their SP bloody nose scheme equipment
Something I just noticed watching. On old cast horns it seems as if the 1 bell only had the P1 lettering on one side. Meanwhile in New Cast, this is the case with the P2 bell.
Some railroads chose to use the P3 rather than twin A-200’s on their F units, and many more replaced failing A-200’s with P3’s at a later date. SP’s F’s were delivered with A-200’s but around the late 60’s most of those started getting P3 replacements. I believe the last few orders of F9’s came new with P3’s.
That's rather tasty, sir. And might I add, I'm quite jelly of your eBay find. Just out of personal taste, I think I would've painted those blank plates gray, but that's what separates everyone and makes each horn a little more individualized.
After I assembled the thing, the first thing I thought was that I should have done the blanker plates in grey. I may do that at a later time, wouldn't be that hard just lay new color over the red no need to strip.
It has to do with the mechanics of how the horn operates, specifically the fact that there is no metal to metal contact and all the seals are made with rubber gaskets.
Worked for SP as a Conductor/Brakeman starting in 1974 till 1996 (when the great yellow Satan bought us outright). The hours I have listened to that sound. Hearing loss in left ear because of them. Engineers lose it in right ear! Hearing protection wasn't protection wasn't required till late 70's early 80's. Nothing compared to riding the side of a car when going into a curve. Flange squeal could vibrate your teeth loose and make your ears feel like they had to be bleeding!!!! UP whistle just doesn't carry the same level of for a better word 'class' as today's UP'S do. CSX is next favorite...
The sound. Old cast says "PAT PENDING" on the foot of the bell where it attaches to the manifold. New cast says "PAT PEND" where it attaches to the manifold. ruclips.net/video/95-njjsZokw/видео.html
Justin Voelker P horns don't need a lot of pressure to work, all of mine I can get to sound at 10 PSI, most of my other horns stop workign at about 40 PSI. If anything, the one you are talking about is getting too much pressure and is being overblown, or otherwise has some other issue.
Justin Voelker 80 is great for a P3. Take it apart, make sure everything is clean, and make sure that the gaskets are in the right order, thin gasket, diaphragm, thick gasket.
Unless the rubber gaskets are deteriorating to the point they are in pieces you don’t need to replace anything. P horns are very robust and last a very long time.
Sounds like the Chesapeake And Albemarle GP7U No. 2158's Old P3. That Train Runs Right By My School. But Sadly it Has A Leslie S5T Or Canadian Style Nathan M3. You Probably dont know what Chesapeake And Albemarle Railroad Is.
I know this is probably an extremely foolish and stupid question, but would you ever sell her? I'm a HUGE SP guy and I've been trying to find a real SP horn. It does sound extremely beautiful regardless though, such a perfect sound.
@@mafarnz Thank your for your reply. It looks like a former railroad right of way. Thanks for sharing. I grew up in Lancaster, Calif. along the SP LA-Bakersfield main line and really miss that sound, thanks again.
Aren't the P series of horns an improved M series? Because I've seen two different sites say different stuff about it. One said the P series is an improved M series, and the other said it's completely Different.
The M series was invented by Airchime (Canadian company) the P series was invented by Nathan (American company) and was biased off a truck horn. The P series was designed to play the same chord, but that's where the similarities to an M end.
Nope, because I don't have a horn on the roof 24/7, and because I NEVER have one on the roof while driving around in town, even on a day I'm testing or making a recording.
Remember these horns very well from SP's time on the old Rock Island's Golden State Route through Topeka, KS. UP is just another evil empire. UP - and BNSF too for that matter - have terrible sounding air horns. They sound like a 5th grade trumpet section trying to tune up. Very hard on the ears. But that's what were stuck with in Kansas now.
mafarnz I know, just honestly was wondering why, judging from pictures of SP locos, I noticed most of them had that bell arrangment. But I'm curious why they did it like that.
Don't get me wrong, it's a wonderful sounding horn, some new Cast sound good, but most of them don't, mostly because they are slightly off pitch from the Old Cast bells. Also out of curiosity, could you possibly do a P horn with the 3 smallest bells?
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Man, this sound takes me back. I used to watch the SP trains in my hometown of Berkeley, CA and this was the classic sound along with the rumbling chug of the engines. The UP horns which have replaced them will never measure up.
Thanks for posting. The Southern Pacific Railroad had such a different variety of things from the awesome Mars lighting that circled the night to the Beautiful sounding Nathan P3 horns on all of the locomotives and the awesome bay window cabooses. Brings back such great memories. The SP is truly missed. Thanks again for the post.
Back in the days when different railroads had different equipment.
Yes, I too have great memories of the SP here in Eastern Kansas following the Rock Island's end of operations. Loved their Mars lights, variety of motive power, and the bay-window cabooses. I stopped railfanning mid-90's after the demise of the SP and the BNSF merger. Nothing interesting to watch out there anymore.
@@ishirotanakamy freind has a few sirens that do work but he can run them for
1 minute because his parents say it will get on their neighbors nerves and they will get a noise complaint
Why do I love these horns so much?!?!
Its just such a classic sound!
Me too! I miss hearing them in Houston on the old Sunset Route.
At 2:47 I Love That Doppler Effect
I like the sound of that Southern Pacific train horn it's got a unique sounding to it!!
Unstoppable 1206 Chases 777 (2010 Colorized)
LOL!!!
Love the sound of the Southern Pacific 📯.I used to watch these trains going through the Indio, California back in the 1980's and 1990's.
Nice Matt, reminds me of the old SD9s on the Northwestern Pacific.
I loved working for SP. Long live the Santa Barbara Sub.
SLO was pretty great during SP days
Another one of SP's great sounding horns!
P3s, next to RS5Ts, K5las, P5s, and Rs3s, are my favorite horn!
Same!
Darlene Kenny Hayes I love basically any train horn from the late 70s early 80s and on to the mid 2000s, that’s when the crappy K5HLs took over
Here's My Favorite Horns, P2's, P3's & P5's Are 1 Of My Favorite 1's
As a onetime engineer on the Joint Line (joke line) Denver to Pueblo,CO. I had the chance to operate SP SD40 8425 Pueblo to Denver.Loved the pull chord horn, loved the sound!!
That P3 literally sounds exactly like the train's horn in TF2 on the map called "Well".
And I love it! :)
I love the sound of that horn.
Literally in the RRmods SP C44-9W horn lol
Gawd, do I miss the sound the old Nathan P3's that were common in the Sacramento, CA area from 1995 and earlier. After the merger, all I heard was K3 and K5 variants used by UP. :-(
Friggin Awesome, that's tight there. Music to my ears. Definitely not the way these trains sound nowadays. Leslie's and Nathan's can't beat them. Great post. Mike in Fresno.
Leslie forever
Love the sound of the Southern Pacific horn 📯 and the sound of the units.
Sounds amazing! I love the Old Cast P's, 5 and 3 alike.
+Steven Michael Me too! I have this P3, a Rock Island P5 and P5A/0 Bell P5 parted together, all of them old cast.
LOVE the "Doppler effect"!!!
That's why I put them on the car. To get good recordings.
mafarnz : by the way, beautiful resto on those horns, very nice. Thanks for your reply.
Kind regards. Eric....
This is my favourite sound in the world
5 years ago
We have been building these from pvc piping. First one we built was a P3, but one of the bells won't work with the other two... so we are gonna use the single bell on a different car and rebuild the 3rd bell for a functional P3
BigDave8802008 I have a lot of respect for you guys that build the PVC horns, its a lot of work and I have heard some very realistic sounding ones. Me I prefer the real thing though.
I hear a P3 all the time cuz my local railroad has a gp10 with one. I actually just heard it earlier
Love that dopler effect, those nathan killers¡
My favorite horn, followed closely by the old cast P5.
ruclips.net/video/narcrucENpU/видео.html I got one of those too!
To think, you almost turned it into a P5!
Darn, I really miss that horn sound in the Sacramento, CA area after Union Pacific bought out Southern Pacfic. :-( All I hear nowadays in Sacramento are mostly K3LA/K3HA and K5LLA horns from various UP locomotives.
That's one of the biggest reasons I collect and restore horns, is to preserve the sounds that have all but disappeared from today's railroads.
mafarnz Out here in Ogden utah we have a local usualy lead by two UP SD40-2s and one of the locomotives hosting a P3, suprisingly hasnt been replaced with a K3HA or K3LA. Is this a rare sight, or is this normal for many UP SD40-2s?
Egon Spengler
I wouldn't say rare but uncommon. Railroads often won't replace a horn until it fails, no need to throw away a good part.
I very (x10) much liked the video! Thank you!
Yep! Southern Pacific has one of, if not the best sounding P3s ever!
The Northern Pacific had the P3 as well.
Lots of railroads did, however SP was probably the most famous for them.
I just acquired an old cast P3, Sounds Great. It was used in the Houston area by Southern Pacific RR.
I’m debating on restoring or just cleaning up.
It’s Gray with Black Diesel soot all over it and the paint is flaking off.
In your opinion, think I should restore?
That is completely up to you. Some horn collectors like unrestored horns, some like original paint but cleaned up and some like fancy shiny new paint jobs. The only reason I painted this one up like this was because I couldn't save the original paint.
Looks great and love the simulated coming and going away Doppler Effects! So why not go with Lark Dark Gray instead of primer or yoUPee-like harbour mist (piss) gray?!?
+espeeboy I had intended to go with a darker grey, but the paint chip at the store was a lot darker than what was actually in the can. One of these days I may redo the grey a bit darker.
+mafarnz Go for it! If you need real paint chip matching help, let me know. Have some paint formulas based on real SP color chips that I've coordinated with various RR museums to repaint their SP bloody nose scheme equipment
man, this sounds beautiful!!!!!!!!!
Am I the only one noticing that 1:40 was used in Roblox N&A 3? Lol. Man idk why they don’t ask for permission to use it in one of their games.
Those are some wonderful sounding horns, good find I bet they were cheap cause they did not know how good they were.
I got then for $450, which is about average for a P3 (at the time I bought them).
Something I just noticed watching. On old cast horns it seems as if the 1 bell only had the P1 lettering on one side. Meanwhile in New Cast, this is the case with the P2 bell.
+Metra163 - HD Video Productions not all old cast #1 bells are like that but it is common.
mafarnz Huh alrighty then. I need to get a rig up and running. Sucks having no way for runbys or stuff like that
this horn i think was used in sp's EMD f unit diesels but the later ones i cause the earlier ones i think used a leslie a200
Some railroads chose to use the P3 rather than twin A-200’s on their F units, and many more replaced failing A-200’s with P3’s at a later date. SP’s F’s were delivered with A-200’s but around the late 60’s most of those started getting P3 replacements. I believe the last few orders of F9’s came new with P3’s.
That sounds so good on the car as you are passing the camera.
Love the sound on the P3 Matt.
That’s why sounds k5lla Horn couple part
Southern Pacific all the way
I am planning to start collecting where should I start and where is this Arizona or something ?
Eastern Washington northern Idaho, in a region called The Palouse.
An Amazing P3!
May I use this video as a sample for a horn in a Train Simulator?
Sure, thanks for asking!
Yeah, no problem!
That's rather tasty, sir. And might I add, I'm quite jelly of your eBay find. Just out of personal taste, I think I would've painted those blank plates gray, but that's what separates everyone and makes each horn a little more individualized.
After I assembled the thing, the first thing I thought was that I should have done the blanker plates in grey. I may do that at a later time, wouldn't be that hard just lay new color over the red no need to strip.
mafarnz sounds like the horn that AWVR 1206 used in the movie unstoppable
The P3 train horn is one of those Hollywood stock sounds that shows up in almost every movie.
I love this horn. Would it be ok if I use the audio from your video to make a loksound file for my locomotives?
@@TheCHEVYKILLER yeah absolutely!
I never heard of this horn but I do like p3 horn
why does all "P" family horns have that little squeak at the beginning of the horn blast
It has to do with the mechanics of how the horn operates, specifically the fact that there is no metal to metal contact and all the seals are made with rubber gaskets.
Sounds like the Napa Valley Wine Train.
Sounds great
I love it
I like it.
I like when it is come at
You mentioned you "Accidentally got" the early casting P3...Is there a difference, I thought the early versions were more sought after
The sound is different
Nice
Worked for SP as a Conductor/Brakeman starting in 1974 till 1996 (when the great yellow Satan bought us outright). The hours I have listened to that sound. Hearing loss in left ear because of them. Engineers lose it in right ear! Hearing protection wasn't protection wasn't required till late 70's early 80's. Nothing compared to riding the side of a car when going into a curve. Flange squeal could vibrate your teeth loose and make your ears feel like they had to be bleeding!!!!
UP whistle just doesn't carry the same level of for a better word 'class' as today's UP'S do. CSX is next favorite...
Thank you for sharing your memories. That is the primary reason why I collect horns, to preserve the sounds that are no longer common.
I've got to ask, probably something simple, but what is the difference between old cast and new cast exactly?
The sound. Old cast says "PAT PENDING" on the foot of the bell where it attaches to the manifold. New cast says "PAT PEND" where it attaches to the manifold.
ruclips.net/video/95-njjsZokw/видео.html
@@mafarnz My curiosity is now satisfied!, Many thanks. I'm a retired engineer, I just blow the things, it's nice to know the little details.
Yup southern Pacific
A guy at my museum has one it sounds great to
Yeah, considering how many P3's the SP had they are not rare by any means, but they are famous.
But my friends has larger bells so I guess its newer but it also doesn't blow at full pressure do to not having enough air pressure
Justin Voelker
P horns don't need a lot of pressure to work, all of mine I can get to sound at 10 PSI, most of my other horns stop workign at about 40 PSI. If anything, the one you are talking about is getting too much pressure and is being overblown, or otherwise has some other issue.
Well we run it at 80PSI the max our street car can make
Justin Voelker
80 is great for a P3. Take it apart, make sure everything is clean, and make sure that the gaskets are in the right order, thin gasket, diaphragm, thick gasket.
Did the UP have these horns also?
Yes, after buying SP of course, and also on a few locomotives. I think the first order of SD70M's had P3's (new cast).
Hey mafarnz, where can you get parts for these? I just lucked out picking up an older P3 having #1,2,&4, would like to put in all new parts.
Unless the rubber gaskets are deteriorating to the point they are in pieces you don’t need to replace anything. P horns are very robust and last a very long time.
Great to know, but where would I get new gaskets & diaphrams if they were bad? Tks
The cork gaskets you can get on eBay.
Well they arrived! Hooked them up to onboard air using a 3/8" 1/4 turn valve, @175PSI, sounds awesome!
How the hell did you get this? I want one 😂
This one was so long ago I can’t remember.
What size nozzle do i need on my air compressor for one of these?
All locomotive horns need 1/2”. All fittings, valves, hoses, tank port, all 1/2”.
Sounds like the Chesapeake And Albemarle GP7U No. 2158's Old P3. That Train Runs Right By My School. But Sadly it Has A Leslie S5T Or Canadian Style Nathan M3. You Probably dont know what Chesapeake And Albemarle Railroad Is.
Cool story bro.
What paint colors did you use on this?
Rustolem red and grey.
@@mafarnz thanks!
I know this is probably an extremely foolish and stupid question, but would you ever sell her? I'm a HUGE SP guy and I've been trying to find a real SP horn. It does sound extremely beautiful regardless though, such a perfect sound.
I no longer have it. Traded it in 2017 for my ‘58 S3L
@@mafarnz darn.. Oh well then. To be honest, I was just gonna put it on my truck.
Where was this filmed?
East of Pullman Washington.
@@mafarnz Thank your for your reply. It looks like a former railroad right of way. Thanks for sharing. I grew up in Lancaster, Calif. along the SP LA-Bakersfield main line and really miss that sound, thanks again.
Awesome Awesome SP P3 horn so mafarnz i can tale you this tacoma rail sd45 has one its sounds great =)
Aren't the P series of horns an improved M series? Because I've seen two different sites say different stuff about it. One said the P series is an improved M series, and the other said it's completely Different.
The M series was invented by Airchime (Canadian company) the P series was invented by Nathan (American company) and was biased off a truck horn. The P series was designed to play the same chord, but that's where the similarities to an M end.
mafarnz okay, because the thing I read seemed very misleading when it said the P series a upgraded version of M.
That is incorrect.
mafarnz Thanks for the info.
Sweet music.
You do not get pulled over with that on your roof?
Nope, because I don't have a horn on the roof 24/7, and because I NEVER have one on the roof while driving around in town, even on a day I'm testing or making a recording.
OK thanks
Remember these horns very well from SP's time on the old Rock Island's Golden State Route through Topeka, KS. UP is just another evil empire. UP - and BNSF too for that matter - have terrible sounding air horns. They sound like a 5th grade trumpet section trying to tune up. Very hard on the ears. But that's what were stuck with in Kansas now.
Your car may be having some issues.
Yeah that car died after the timing belt slipped and bent the valves.
Sweet horn man
Hey I know you probably wont, but would you trade for a Leslie RS3L, It is a Rebuilt Horn EX UP I think
I already have three S3L's and an RS3L, I appreciate the offer but no thanks.
You know anyone that might want to trade for a p3?
*****
Yeah I'll ask around and see.
Have you ever considered doing SPs later bell arrangement, with one bell at each level, like this goo.gl/images/73PV8f it'll be SP 7661
I could just for cosmetics, but that wouldn't change the sound at all.
mafarnz I know, just honestly was wondering why, judging from pictures of SP locos, I noticed most of them had that bell arrangment. But I'm curious why they did it like that.
Don't get me wrong, it's a wonderful sounding horn, some new Cast sound good, but most of them don't, mostly because they are slightly off pitch from the Old Cast bells. Also out of curiosity, could you possibly do a P horn with the 3 smallest bells?
Ah, so this is where the generic train horn on kids shows come from.
Yeah, couldn't tell you why but sometime long ago a P3 because the standard "train horn" sound in a lot of TV shows and movies.
I also hear the K5L a lot in movies, Like in the Movie Boy's in the hood they are by train tracks and all I hear in the background is a K5L.