Lionel C&O Yellowbelly whistle

@Hump Yard Mike posted:

Was the yellow belly whistle based off of a real whistle?  

I used to think it was fun, but these days questioning why it sounds more like an old car horn instead.  

Yes ,( I have no idea if this whistle is accurate for the Yellow belly or not) it appears Lionel used a recording of The CP Royal Hudson 2860 's"air whistle".

Lionel also used that whistle on the Lionmaster J3a.

Mike, there’s a couple of us that have figured out how to “clean up” old RS 2.5 ….just ditching the antique speaker, and using a nicer pair of modern speakers is a world of difference …….it kinda blew my mind when I first did it!!….I’ve been trying to convince John to salvage his old RS 2.5 for his Yellow Belly project, …..not sure what route he’s going, …..I’ve cleaned up a couple of the Vanderbilt’s  ( same system as the Yellow Belly ) and I can post up a video after work,….as far as if it’s authentic or not, I can’t say, but the Yellow Belly has a haunting whistle IMO, and I’d imagine that board cleaned up would be impressive as well,…..Legacy, Shmegacy!…..who needs it??……..😉

Pat

Which speakers are you using for this?  I have ordered several different 8 ohm .5 watt speakers from Amazon and not had great results.  It would be great to hear the speaker improvement on a video.

You can transplant the RS 2.5 chips to a much more common RS4 board, they'll work fine in that environment.  If I did use the Yellowbelly whistle, I'd want it in a more modern board.

John,

Why do you think the newer board important if I already have the existing one?

It's a whole lot smaller, and I can put it in a tender with the matching power and AD-20 board and have wireless drawbar operation.

The smaller format is a good idea, especially if there is space constraints, or intending to go wireless,…….the RS 2.5 in the yellow belly, and the Vanderbilt are 14 foot long,…..😝

Pat

I'm going to put those chips in a RS4 board, and tinker with them.  We'll see if I like it better than some other option.

I believe the real C&O yellow belly L-1 hudsons had a Hancock 3 chime whistle which has a deep tone. Same whistle on the Big Boys and Challengers. The Lionel recording is not very close to this and has a very harsh attack IMO. I’ve read that the 490 class pacifics (which were rebuilt into the L-1 hudsons) would have had a 6 chime whistle which sounds more similar to an NYC hudson whistle. For my L-1, I’d like to take some artistic license and swap the sound for a Commodore Vanderbilt board. The idea being that the original whistle was left on the locomotive after it was rebuilt. The NYC hudsons had one of the most beautiful sounding whistles ever made and the RS2.5 recording is haunting.

I agree with Ryan. From what I've read the when the L1 streamlined Hudsons were rebuilt from F19 Pacifics the whistle changed from a 6 chime to a 3 chime. Here's a link to the C&O Hudson 3 chime.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ytC4KAOlFgM

Ken