Rose Parade loco float

[Keith Taylor]

> Incidentally the Pasadena Rose Parade came through--at least Honda
> did. There was a beautiful 4-8-4 (Northern) and it was so
> realistic--steam coming from the cyl drain cocks and a "leaky" piston
> rod packing.
Hi Geoff,
We watched the parade, as my wife is a flower and parade fan. I saw the
Honda float, and while it did look admirable, I was not happy when they
"blew the whistle," which was not a whistle at all! But rather an air
horn right off of a diesel electric locomotive. You'd think after doing
all the research to get an accurate rendition of a Walschaerts valve
gear, the least they could have done is to use a real whistle! At the
very least, a Nathan Air Chime, which is a warning device that the
Nathan Co. developed that used air whistles that sounded a musical chime
tuned just like a steam whistle. While I was running back on Conrail
they had a bunch of old EMD diesel switchers off the old New Haven RR
that used the Nathan air whistles, and they sounded great, just didn't
carry quite as far as a steam whistle. (which is why the NH had them, so
they wouldn't upset the folks living in the expensive New York City
suburbs!)
Keith