What is the point of a train horn?

Its primary purpose is to alert persons and animals to an oncoming train, especially when approaching a level crossing. They are often extremely loud, allowing them to be heard from great distances. They are also used for acknowledging signals given by railroad employees, such as during switching operations.



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Anyway, don't blame the engineer: They're required to blow that horn. The regulation in question is called the Final Rule on the Use of Locomotive Horns—a name that strongly implies they've had just about enough of your bitching—and it requires four blasts 15 to 20 seconds before every crossing.

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As you saw from the DJD Labs test above, actual huge cast-metal locomotive horns top out at 149.4 decibels. Do you think a little electric horn or air horn can do more than 150 decibels? To put things in perspective, a firecracker or a shot from a rifle is around 150 decibels.

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Motormen rarely press the horns three times but when they do, it means they have lost control over the motor and that the guard has to immediately pull the vacuum brake.

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It is the standard signal used when the train is about to move forward. Two long blasts of the horn are for warning anyone near the train that it is about to move forward. There are other standardized horn signals like three short blasts for the train about to move backward.

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One short whistle means STOP. One long whistle (three to 10 seconds) means the train is approaching a station. Two short whistles mean that the engineer acknowledges that he or she heard or saw a signal that affects movement.

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If a sound is 100 dB at the source, it will be 94 dB at 1 meter, 88 dB at 2 meters, and so on. Therefore, you will generally be able to hear a 100 dB sound at a maximum of 16 meters.

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While owning and installing an aftermarket air horn or train horn is not illegal, some states have periodic inspections that your vehicle has to pass. For some of these inspections, having a train horn hooked up to your ride or, in some cases, having it wired up to be your only horn will cause you to fail inspection.

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The intensity of sound will vary at night, sometimes louder and sometimes softer. It has to do with the height and strength of a temperature inversion just above the ground. On clear, calm nights, it is cooler at the ground than higher up.

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Have you ever thought why trains blow their horns so often and so loudly? The truth is that they have to. And the main reason for that is safety. Locomotive engineers are required to honk every now and then, which is written down in the regulations called the Final Rule on the Use of Locomotive Horns.

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In a quiet zone, railroads have been directed to cease the routine sounding of their horns when approaching public highway-rail grade crossings. Train horns may still be used in emergency situations or to comply with other Federal regulations or railroad operating rules.

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Answer #1: It's a wave of communicating between the train driver and workers on the tracks to acknowledge that the driver has seen them. Answer #2: For safety reasons – to make sure the horn is working before you leave the station.

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Different tracks have different amounts of vibration at different frequencies. And of course high speed routes even if you could feel them you may still not have time to get out of the way before a train obliterates you. So in some cases you'll feel the vibrations before the train comes and in others you may not.

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The rule mandates when locomotive engineers sound horns — at least 15, but no more than 20 seconds, in advance of all public crossings; how they're sounded — in a pattern of two long, one short, one long blast; and how loud the horns are — between 96 and 110 decibels.

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Its primary purpose is to alert persons and animals to an oncoming train, especially when approaching a level crossing. They are often extremely loud, allowing them to be heard from great distances. They are also used for acknowledging signals given by railroad employees, such as during switching operations.

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Train whistles are safety devices that alert motorists and pedestrians to the presence of an approaching train. They also warn trespassers away from the rail right-of-way.

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A train whistle or air whistle (originally referred to as a steam trumpet) is an audible signaling device on a steam locomotive, used to warn that the train is approaching, and to communicate with rail workers.

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Locomotive horns serve a utilitarian function and in North America with its wide open spaces, sparsely populated areas between cities and infrequent rail traffic (compared to Europe) a louder horn and more frequent blasting makes practical sense.

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