New to the train horn world but have been itching for a set for forever and a day. Well, it seems to be forever and the day after a day and I am now the proud father of a Nathan K5LA!
I finally saved up some scratch and was going to by one of those “train horn” kits until I caught this one on kijjiji (or however the heck they spell it) for 600 bucks. I said to myself, the hell with the fake train horns and jumped on the deal (I haven’t seen that good a price anywhere I have ever looked).
I’ll post some pics tomorrow before and after I power spray the grime off them. For now I’m going to lurk about and find some info on 12v compressors and compatibility with the big a r s e tank I will be using and set ups and such.
Welcome to the forum. Great price for a set of K5’s! … is there a tag on them and have you sounded them yet?
Use the site search for finding heaps of info on compressors and air kits. Here’s a quick link to a compressor chart which may come in handy in your search. Hasn’t been updated for a while but still relevant…
You’ll want 10 gallons or more for a horn like that so keep that in mind when searching for compressors. Oasis is the best but if your budget doesn’t stretch that far look for twin sets from Viair or Air Zenith.
Lots of friendly advice to be had on this forum so don’t be afraid to ask if you need any help for your install.
You know, I’ve looked up and down and left to right and have not seen a tag of any sort. I hope I haven’t been hosed being that I know nothing about this world. They look and feel pretty darn serious though.
I was going to take the tank off my functional 30 gal Dvair compressor but decided I’d use an 11 gal tank off a non-functional compressor I have kicking about. From what I’ve read 11 gal should be fine for beeps and giggles.
I saw a K5 horn kit for sale that had a pretty nice looking 12v belt driven compressor but I haven’t been able to track one down anywere. Ever heard of such a compressor?
Here are a few pics, they are dirty as all heck, I’ll need to give them a power wash and get all that soot off of them.
I’ll be testing them out tomorrow I think. Won’t have a 1/2" input but I’m sure they’ll still put out. I thought they were k5la but after doing some research I have come to believe they are a k5h or k5hl being that bells 3 and 4 are not 3a and 4a.
I’ll do a video and show the results of my first blast. I guess I should wait until church is out across the street though. LoL
I’ll take some after shots tomorrow when I pressure wash them. I’ll keep my distance though, I don’t know if they are painted black or just soot. I don’t want to peel the paint off of them just in case.
I found the tags when I was cleaning them up. They were buried under the soot and just looked like a seam on the bell or something.
They have green paint on them and I think if I hit them with paint remover I could damage the tags if they have painted lettering. There are two tags both with the same serial number and stamped K5 LA (even though the 2 and 3 bells aren’t 2 with a stamped A and 3 with a stamped A).
Here’s a shot of the tags, does this tell you anything just from what is seen?
Good score! - I think you may have yourself a Canadian Holden by looks of that bottom tag… or at least a bell from Holden, even if the unit isn’t one piece genuine assembly from them. You should head over to the Horn and Whistle board to post your pictures - those guys will know more about the heritage than anyone.
FYI… Holden was the Canadian distributor of the Nathan Airchime
Thanks for the info, I appreciate any help I can get (being a train horn virgin and all).
I’m certainly glad I spent my coin on this beauty rather than the “train horn” kit I would of probably bought for the convenience of having everything I need for turn key honks.
I have an 11 gallon tank and will be going the solenoid route for now, I figure if I keep the solenoid downstream from the K5’s they won’t get pounded so hard on the get go.
So my biggest cost at the moment is setting myself up with air. I definitely can’t afford an Oasis so I figure I’ll save up some coin for a dual Viair set up (I hate being flatass broke all the time LoL). Then it’s just a matter of lines, fittings and so forth.
