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 Post subject: RSD1 Horns
PostPosted: Wed Oct 29, 2025 8:27 pm 

Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 11:54 am
Posts: 2055
Location: New Franklin, OH
I'm trying to determine what horns the USATC RSD1s were shipped with. Any horn gurus out there have a good guess? Best I can come up with is possible Leslie A200 or A125 or possibly Wabco E2 I think. I have no clue on the pitch.

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 Post subject: Re: RSD1 Horns
PostPosted: Wed Oct 29, 2025 10:48 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:51 pm
Posts: 12152
Location: Somewhere east of Prescott, AZ along the old Santa Fe "Prescott & Eastern"
I've just gone through all my RSD1 photos, and none of them are of help. The horns tended to be hidden from view in any ground-level photos.

From what I can tell, the ones shipped to Iran had their single horns mounted under the rim of the cab roof on the long-hood side of the cab, and that they were quite small by American rail standards.


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 Post subject: Re: RSD1 Horns
PostPosted: Wed Oct 29, 2025 11:47 pm 

Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm
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I forgot about "The Diesel that was Drafted" in Trains magazine, from back in the days when I would read every word of the issue, several times. https://utahrails.net/pdf/Alco-RSD-1_Tr ... l-1980.pdf It looks like a single chime (bell I think they are called) horn like a Wabco E2, as you noted. Judging by the utube videos a Wabco E2 was not particularly loud but was a hooter-style sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc9ssCxcUmA


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 Post subject: Re: RSD1 Horns
PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2025 11:23 am 

Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:09 pm
Posts: 597
From the photo on page 26 - it looks like a long bell Wabco AA (aka an A-2), which were common on Alco switchers.

http://atsf.railfan.net/airhorns/a2.html

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 Post subject: Re: RSD1 Horns
PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2025 9:21 pm 

Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 11:54 am
Posts: 2055
Location: New Franklin, OH
I'll have to get on the hood and look at the original brackets as they still exist and whether the air line was bottom or rear feed. Yes, the horn was mounted under the overhang. Somewhere along the way the overhang was drilled to mount a horn. One of our members mounted a Typhon on the roof overhang for the time being. It's a bit floppy up there with no reinforcement. He said there's a bracket on both ends of the cab for whatever the original horn or horns were. When we inherited it, it had a Hancock air whistle on the roof.

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