Specifically asking about the 377, is there a keyboard shortcut to sound the whistle? I did search some of the manuals that I have & also Google. Does anyone know?
So, now that I have gotten home & tried it.. Space & N are the high & low horns. I am looking for the shortcut for the whistle.
There are six standard keyboard shortcuts for sounds: Bell 1: B Bell 2: Ctrl-B Horn 1 high: space Horn 1 low: N Horn 2 high: Ctrl-space Horn 2 low: Ctrl-NI don't have ECW so I have no idea what sounds there are on the 377, but perhaps one of these is mapped to the whistle.
Unfortunately, none of these are it.. Again, specifically with the 377, what do you do at the whistle boards?
Well, I don't play ECW, and NTP (the route I play most) does not appear to have any whistle boards, but on TVL, I sound the horn, like any other driver. Steam locomotives have whistles. London Underground trains have whistles, but modent main-line trains in Britain have horns.
Yeah i think it's just an issue of semantics. The "Whistle" marker, at least in the US, just means to blow the horn according to the rule of that particular railroad (e.g. long-long-short). Tbh, i don't really know what the UK rule is (low horn vs high, etc).
The only time I could see the whistle instead of the horn being used on the Class 377 is in a depot. E.g. Whenever you start moving in a depot or shed, give a whistle to let staff (e.g. shunters, maintenance staff, other drivers) know that the train is about to move. Personally, I think it’s redundant and wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not even used under company working instructions. E.g. in the above example, you would use low tone on the horn like on any other traction. At Whistle boards, the rulebook instruction is to give a blast on the horn using the Low tone and if applicable, using the Loud tone. The Class 377s and a lot of traction don’t have Loud/Soft tones so you can ignore the second part for now. The times the Whistle board applies are between 0600-2359. I.e. if you are driving a train at 0100, you ignore the whistle board. You wouldn’t use the ‘whistle’ on the Class 377 for whistle boards.
As stated above, I am sure the whistle is there for depot and shunting use not on the main line. It may be only "Southern Region" stock which have it now, I was surprised when I pressed the button and the whistle sounded as I had no idea modern trains had them, I have no idea if the whistle is ever used!
I'm on PS4, where it is just labeled: Whistle. Had it been labeled as Depot Whistle, I would not have even bothered asking about it..
It is labelled Whistle because that is what it is. Very few UK trains have them so the drivers are not going to ignore the Whistle Board and instead use the Horn
I know this is a 3 year old thread but... It is probably by passing air through a small hole. Most referees are not full of steam, and yet they can operate a whistle just fine! However, a steaming cup of tea has never operated a whistle.