While I was living in Manassas Virginia, I met a gentleman at the Manassas depot. We introduced and became very good friends. His name is Fred Barry and he lived in Manasssas Park Va. and had a love for music as well as trains. What I found interesting in him was his ability(and with him having perfect c pitch hearing) to destinguish between every horn and each individual note and tell you which bell was out of tone and by how much.
One of our fun times was to go out and play his large collection of train horns. His love is in the collection is his Nathan horns, including a very rare one. We would meet and go to Blooms Crossing and record the music as reverbacated off of the hills and a good still night… the sound seemed to last for ever.
On the warm Southern ( Actually, it was F****** HOT) evening, as we made a stop at a filling statio and filled a 200 pound air tank and headed for one of our favorite stops for dinner, you know Burger king, Wendys, Roy Rogers or Mc Donalds. Because of the horns on Fred’s jeep, he liked to pull upto the front doors so we could watch them.
McDonalds in Manassas park was busiier than normal, families were treating the kids to Happy Meals, while others were partaking in cool drinks. The counter was all a bustle as the staff were working as fast as a fast mail train.
Fred sees a person leaving a spot right in front of the front doors. Just as the other car had cleared enough for him to pull in a car full of teenagers, going the wrong way, whipped into the spot, just missing the front of the jeep.
In Fred’s anger he grabbed a hold of the velaco valve, which was attached to a Nathan M-5 on the hood. His grip became a strangle hold and all of a sudden.
A young couple just opened the front door to the pack counter area, just a few feet away from… All at once 200 pounds of air rushed from the tank, through the 3/4 in tubing and against the plates.
In side this busy mc Donalds, hamburgers, quarter pounder, big Mac’s and ooooh the fries and drinks were flying through the air with the most ungrascious of ease.
A slender, shaken gentle man slowly staggers toward the jeep. The Manager looked at us, slowly turned to the crowd of shaken customers and said, were you gentleman coming in for dinner(?) I might recomend… for your own protection, you may want to try some place else.
After stopping at Roy Rogers, we resumed our trip to Manassas Parks Bloom’s crossing and played well into the we hours of the next day.
To this day I wonder how many of the frightened customers, or the car load of teenagers still are haunted by the full blast of a NAthan M5 at point blank range.
It has been a while since I have spoken to my good friend Fred and the times we had together. JJY
Welcome
What a story! Welcome to our forum. We look forward to reading from you again.
Wow! I want chapter two! Welcome to the THFC 
haha you so gave me an idea…
I saw we take all the scare stories on this forum and turn it into a book…
Welcome. I nominate jjy to write the stories…hahaha
when does the book come out lol
Interesting story. I’ve have spoke to Fred a few times. I’ll have to ask him to tell more about this. I’m not surprised.
When will the book be out and how much, I garantee that the book would make Someone a lot of money. And you can always make more books, have pictures of different vehicles and there horns mounted. Be a very good book
haha im seriously thinking about writing it…lol