>A very realistic simulation, Elhardt! Thanks for sharing it.
Yeah, buddy! Captures the character of it very well. The average person
would be completely fooled. The metallic noise of the trucks on the cars is
very nicely done.
Now, speaking as a longtime railfan who's stood alongside the tracks at
3:00AM and just drank in this sort of thing...there should be much more of
a roar as the locomotives pass. The only thing louder than this roar are
the horns themselves. Also, the "song" of the horns is close but not quite
right. The pattern for approaching a grade crossing goes like this:
long long short looooonnnnngggg (with the last one whizzing by center stage
just as it's about to fade out for maximum dramatic effect).
But like I said--people are not train fanatics would be amazed as it is.
>I am
>interested in the train horn sounds and have wondered about their
>tunings. I found these links.
>
>http://atsf.railfan.net/airhorns/index.html
>
>http://www.dieselairhorns.com/sounds.html
Yes, I have wondered about those tunings!
>Here you can find recordings of actual train horns and a good deal of
>information about them. If you think about it, train horns are part of
>the mystique of the train. Not just an attention-getting device, a
>train horn carries a message of weighty authority, at the same time
>musical to the ear. The people who built them must have intended to
>project an image of the corporation that owned the trains, too, I
>imagine. The sound does not have much 'brand recognition' to the casual
>bystander, but to afficianados horns must be like fine wines in their
>aesthetic characters. It is such an immediate, stunning sound, you
>hardly stop to ponder its origin.
You're preaching to the choir. I have no horns in my collection. 8^(
Another part that Ken might have some trouble simulating without special PA
equipment is the wake--the wind that blasts you in the face about thirty
seconds after the train goes by. Some very large drivers that can handle a
large, sustained (minutes in duration) DC signal would be needed for this
effect. My stereo isn't up to the task...
--
Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"