Steam Whistle

Does anyone know where I can aquire a small whistle and/or find plans to make one. I want to put one on a small tank and compressor hooked up to an engine and run it at the county fair this season. I thought I had seen an add from a company in Calif. awhile back, but I lost my hard drive a couple of weeks ago so anything that was on the puter was lost.

Thanks in advance Paul Hokanson

Boothman & Johnson Specialty Products has some BEAUTIFUL reproduction steam whistles...One in particular Of the Southern Railway Long bell three chime..But the are pricey! try this link

David M.




http://www.boothmanandjohnson.com/products.htm

Here's another steam whistle link that is not as expensive

David M.




http://www.angelfire.com/biz2/brasswhistle/

I used to see a lot at shows, now very few, and those are either priced high or sold fast. I think a lot of whistle sales have moved to the internet. For a few years it was a sellers paradise. But supply is catching up with demand.

You might be surprised. With a little patience, you can get nice small whistle (1/2 or 3/4 inch pipe thread) on ebay for around 100 bucks more or less. Names like crosby and lunkenheimer are more pricy. The biggest sizes are very high, but the smaller sizes are cheeper than those prices I just saw for the modern reproductions. And you have the real deal.

A few cautionary notes on ebay. The thing with ebay is conditions vary. Sometimes you get a some hungry new buyers who bid like crazy, and sometimes the sellers may get friends to enter bogus bids. While at other times thing sell pretty low. Be patient and you can get what you are looking for.

If you are not familar with ebay, the key to sucessful bidding is: not to tip your hand until the last possable seconds. Bid as late as you can or use a sniping program. What ever you do - Dont bid early and get into a bidding war. Be smart, be patient, bid last. also check seller feedback and ask questions. Look carefully, there are a lot of junky whistles , cracked, broken or badly repaired.

Im not sure but I recall something once in the Archives about making your own? I heard it can be done with simple PVC tubing. Also there seems to be a science to it. Ive tried a couple times and failed. Maybe someone here can blow the whistle on the secret to making a whistle?

Hi Paul,

Check out the following site for a homemade whistle: http://www.trainweb.org/riverview/whistle.html

Good luck with your project, keep us posted on your progress.

George Fair




http://www.trainweb.org/riverview/whistle.html