@wjstix posted:BTW what do you mean by "tired" horn honkings exactly? Is it the same long-long-short-long for a grade crossing but quieter, or some other series of honks? If the latter, the engineer might be using the horn to signal some action other than crossing the street at grade.
Assuming the horn control is a valve that the engineer pulls, the "tired sound" seemed as though the valve was just opened partway, so the full air pressure was not used to toot horn, kind of a weak sound than full on/off blasts.
