Leslie 5-Chime

Discussion in 'Diesel General' started by meteor910, Aug 23, 2013.

  1. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    At the direction of my boss (the spousal unit, as Karl would say), I am cleaning up my hobby area in an attempt to return it to an organized, civilized status. I have a big stack of articles from several railroad magazines which was approaching two feet in height! As I was going through them to weed them out to only the important ones, I came across a one-page article from Trains, July, 1999: "The 'Leslie 5': Requiem for a fallen friend". It has a picture in it of SD45 SLSF 915 (with the nose coonskin) sporting the usual Leslie S-5T-RF, with three horns facing forward and two facing to the rear. The author was Bruce Feld.

    Mr Feld doesn't say much about the Frisco in the article other than that they were big Leslie users. But, he does well describe the "rich, haunting, melodic" tone that the Leslie design offered. It's a good read for those who never heard the Leslie sound, or who, like me, miss hearing it. Sadly, Leslie no longer makes the S-5T (all five horns forward) or the S-5T-RF, so their favored sound is largely a sound of the past. The preference for the Leslie horn was yet another indication of the class the Frisco displayed.

    I was at a golf center at Tree Court yesterday afternoon - which is situated right along the SLSF Eastern Division. While working on my pathetic golf game, a BNSF westbound came along. I couldn't see the train, so I don't know what the power was, but as he blew for a crossing, I heard a series of very flat sounding "blaaat" sounds. Yuk, I thought, another Nathan.

    A good read if you can find the article. Wish I could post it.

    Ken
     
  2. Sirfoldalot

    Sirfoldalot Frisco.org Supporter Frisco.org Supporter

    Any info on why they are no longer using the Leslie's? Cost, maintenance, or what?

    Your post has me thinking of bygone days when, on a still night, I could hear the KCS horns very plainly even though they were over a mile away .. Wonder what they were using?
     
  3. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Sherrel - Though I don't have any details, my suspicion is that the answer to your questions are "yes" and "yes'. I think the Leslie S-5's cost a bit more, and they did require periodic maintenance. I recall hearing some Frisco Leslies now and then that were obviously in need of an overhaul. Their tones were not "rich or melodic", but were indeed "haunting" in a different way.

    I don't know what the KCS preferred, but I just took a quick look at some pictures of KCS locomotives. I saw a lot of them with the standard EMD horns (Wabco "blats") on F's and GP's, and several other later units had Nathan M-5's. I saw one that might have been a three horn Leslie, or a look-alike.

    Ken
     
  4. yardmaster

    yardmaster Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    Interesting info, Ken. Over the years, I've often thought that I've not heard any other horns that sounded, to me, like what I recall hearing living just up the hill from the old passenger depot and crew change point in Chaffee. Some of the units sounded the same, but as Cascade Green became more prevalent and Mandarin Orange faded into memory. However, I often thought that locomotives at any other train watching locations - UP, SP, NS, KCS - just didn't sound right.

    I can still remember hearing my first middle-of-the-night Amtrak blasting its way through the Arcadia Valley on the old MoP line, thinking that horns made it sound like an exorcism was warranted.
     
  5. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

    From the time I was just a little guy I could hear the whistle of a West bound Frisco miles away out in West Texas (Swearingen) along the old QA&P. I would here the hoghead whistle for the Doc Mayo xing on the curve atop Pease River hill (ruling grade on the QA&P) all I could see was the silhouette of the train on the horizon, it was still 5-6 miles away. Everything stopped in my world right then and there till he was finished whistling for the xings at Swearingen and that train was gone and I could not hear it anymore. That was just the way I rolled, everyone knew that when a train was around I was watching and listening to it. The Frisco' Leslie had a kind of solemn lonely sound to me that was mesmerizing, letting everyone know that he was about to occupy the grade crossing whether you were there or not. And while they weren't anywhere near a steam whistle, at least the engineer had a valve lever in hand to make them work as opposed to the button in front, beside of you that goes to a relay that goes to a valve on the things we see today, that's why they all sound like BLAT horns no matter how many chimes to me.
    Interesting Read Ken, Sherrel, Chris and all.|-||-|
     
  6. Sirfoldalot

    Sirfoldalot Frisco.org Supporter Frisco.org Supporter

    Anymore, around here that is, I don't have the luxury of much of a comparison to go by. However, the BNSF ones I have heard in San Diego and San Bernardino certainly don't sound BLAT! They really let you know they are around!

    i apologize for not knowing the model of the locomotive .. Just like all the jellybean autos, they all look alike to me.
    Guess that I just have not tried to learn the makes and models. My diesel world seems to have stopped about 1975.
     
  7. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member Staff Member

    Thanks Sherrel, but the BLAT I was referring to is you cant feather into the whistle anymore you mash the button and is opens that valve, it either all or nothing. That is the Blat I was talking about:eek: Should have been more clear, seems some the new ones have 5 chime horns but they are sound different.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 24, 2013
  8. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    When I was at Tree Court Thursday, there was a switcher active over in Valley Park. Don't know if it was Frisco (BNSF) or MoP (UP), but it was Blat, blat, blatting away for about 30 minutes. Then the train came through westbound on the Frisco (BNSF) that I mentioned - more blats at the crossings. Bah humbug!

    Ken
     
  9. Sirfoldalot

    Sirfoldalot Frisco.org Supporter Frisco.org Supporter

    Ahhh ... Now I copy what you mean, Thanks.
     

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