Photo here: T1 and in background the Outlaw. T1 has 60 gallon surge with Dial-a-Chime and the Outlaw has 80 gallon surge with both Select-a-Chime and Dial-a-Chime.
Our three horn blowing “rigs” are specially set up for long blows and recording sessions.
T1 (Trumpeter 1) uses 1 NT, regulated to one 60 gallon surge tank then to horn through our Dial-A-Chime system (This is still secret, but you guys would not need it anyway for the way you use your horns.) This truck can blow even large 5/16" inlet M5’s to full power. Air line from surge tank to DAC system, to valve, valve-to-horn is 3/4" ID.
T2 uses a special bed-rack to accommodate three NT’s hooked together then regulated to two 60 gallon surge tanks which go to Dial-a-chime to Viloco AW206 chime horn valve to horn. This rig is able to get an hour or more out of the most powerful and air-hungry locomotive horn on earth a 5/16" inlet ABF M5. Air line from surge-to-DAC, then to-valve, and valve-to-horn is 3/4" ID.
T3 is coming next.
We also use the glorious “Outlaw” rig, a Chevy Silverado pickup which uses one to three full size NT’s, 80 gallon surge tank, SAC, DAC, and Viloco or twin-lever Nathan valve. I also have a one-of-a-kind twin-lever Leslie horn valve, all brass. We like to use vintage valves for vintage horns.
Here is link to some recordings, some stationary and made back in the late 1970’s and early 80’s to recent MP3/MP4 recordings using T1, T2 and stereo digital recordings.
60 Gallons is just way too big and scary. I’d be interested in seeing pics of your double metering valves though and the one for the leslie. I’m currently exploring and shopping for the best valve to support my ‘big bang’ mod.
We use 120 gallons, since Digital Deane has several monster air-hog M5’s. H-series, N-series and M-series are my specialty, and I keep some around for tooting. We are planning an early 2016 get-together and slosh-session and blow at Area 92. Our blows are from midnight to the wee hours of the morning and there are no human beings for at least a twenty mile radius, plus about ten miles to our south is the NS super-main with trains running constantly, blowing for a crossing on the road we use for our blowing and recording sessions. The echoes are spectacular, often never decaying between horn blasts…
The Nathan 2-lever horn valve is rather uncommon, but they do sometimes show up on fleaBay, so keep your eyes open. My late buddy John gave me the brass 2-lever Leslie valve, the soft blow lever is fully adjustable, kind of a neat technology. John told me that they only made this one, and to compete with Nathan back in the day, so a cool old relic from the factory.
I will send photos of the valves to Pete, he can put them in this post.
I sent the photos to Stinky Pete, but I think he only did that one photo for a favor so I have no way of posting. Please some moderator here needs to [COLOR=Red]One: Lose the photo size restrictions, a professional site like this should have none, look at the AFCA’s incredible site, you can even post a 4mb picture as your avatar, the site will automatically resize for you.
Two: Fix the photo-posting problem. I like to post pictures with my posts but am unable. If this is to be the ultimate train horn community, then it needs to have the ultimate site like the AFCA does. I collect and restore antique electric fans too…[/COLOR]
I know the image problem is a little restrictive but keep in mind this site is free and the space needed to run it is covered by Hornblasters with no additional advertising blasting you left right & center, for which I’m sure we’re all grateful. Posting large images is the biggest contributors to forum size blowing out - I’ve run several in the past and it’s always a battle, not only in maintenance but also to keep the growing costs for data traffic (i.e. bandwidth) and storage space under control.
Now, having said that - the best way to get your images onto this forum is to link them in. IMO it makes it easier and nicer to read the posts anyway when you see the photo inline with the message rather than a small thumbnail at the base (as with an attachment).
Here’s a quick tutorial/refresher on how-to post an image via a link:
[ol]
[li]Post your image on any of the free image hosting sites - there’s so many now, you can lose count (e.g. imgur, google photos etc etc).[/li]
The following demo uses http://postimage.org/ which I like because you don’t need to sign up, create an account etc, plus it lets you resize automatically.
Go to postimage.org
[li]Click “Browse”, then select your image[/li][li]Select your resize option from the drop down (I suggest a resize of 800x600; please avoid posting huge images)[/li][li]Select the “Family Safe” option, then click “Upload It!”[/li][li]Once the image has uploaded you’ll be shown a bunch of different links to your image. Select the button to copy the “Direct Link” to your clipboard. [/li]
[li]Now go to your forum post and click on the “Insert Image” button[/li]
This action will show a pop-up window to insert your image link.
[li]Paste the link from your clipboard into the URL text box, then click on OK.[/li]
[li]Done! Your image should now appear in the body of your posted message. It will stay there as long as the link to your image host is valid.[/li][/ol]
Hope that helps.
Photo: Rear view of cab of outlaw showing 80 gallon surge with Select-a-Chime system, rig is able to blow 3 horns at once if need be. You can also see part of one NT in bed. Note that all the plumbing and airlines are 3/4" ID. We blow some pretty big, air-hungry horns!
Thanks, my friend. John told me that they only made this one as an experiment to compete with the Nathan dual lever, but they never went into production and this one was turned over to me. The bolt on the soft tone lever adjusts air volume so valve can be used on different horn models without having to switch metering orifices inside the valves, like you need to do for the Nathan, Viloco and todaze Graham White models. BTW, my Nathan valve is an oldie-but-goodie, internally orificed for use on the M5 horn. I have another, internally orificed for the P-series, and it is great for metering light CFM air to big tag and other modern K5LA horns so they lose the harshness.
Gotta rig up a scuba tank to the K3’s and go blast them there 
