San Jose Train Whistle

I got this whistle years ago and finally built an action for it. The whistle is installed above the console and a rope with a red handle will be reachable from console. Nathan can’t wait to pull on it… though he doesn’t know that yet.

Yeah, the guy in San Jose had it in the bottom boot of the Vox Humana. But I kind of need that pipe to play so I built this action. And I also wanted to be able to modulate the sound with varying degrees of “pull” on the cord. Should work, but I’m not sure what the whistle is capable of doing…like if it will go from 0-60 or just 50 to 60. It’s done for now and I can make tweaks later if need be. Now I can play “the train song” and pull the cord! Fun stuff for me.

Slightly more elegant than a box...

Drilled to inset hooks (to hold the return springs to valve) and keep the thing as short as possible....

Other end of box for pull string to exit...

Nylon insert so pull cable won't chew up wood....

Kind of shows concept. Supply air is at bottom and lines up with whistle on top board. When slider valve in the middle is pulled, the holes line up and the air do flow. Screw that is visible is my keep for the nylon insert.

Bumper pads muffle valve stop. Eye hook hits insert hold. White leather on bottom of valve needs to seal when whistle at rest....

Green felt is to help valve slide and also put pressure on white leather to help it seal.

Springs said "boing" so I wrapped them in heavy felt and mounted it to the sides so it won't bunch. Highly effective. Almost invisible but there is a small wood dowel drilled from the bottom up that defines resting position of the valve.

And the lovely bushed pulley alters direction by one-quarter to head the rope to me at the console. I'll put a nice rope with a big red handle. The kids will love it! So will I....