You’ve all heard those PA systems in car dealerships. They’re pretty obnnoxious but they are necessary. Sometimes as the day winds down I have some fun with mine. I’ve not done this in ages and I might have even posted about it before but I don’t remember. What I do is download train sound effects here: (or somewhere like it)
And then the fun begins. I crank up my speakers and turn on the pager. We’re right next door to a very exclusive restaurant so When I play the sounds (The PA system is very loud) It really sounds like a train is passing through. Everybody waiting at the restaurant looks around to try and figure out where the train is. People walking down the street stop and look around too. I have a raging elephant trumpet sound that is pretty funny too.
I love trains!! Travel to Toronto and Montreal all the time by train.
In Canada’s centennial year, 1967, I travelled across Canada by train in the Canadian Armed Forces Military Tattoo, just like the circus. A different town or city every night or every other night. It was a blast.
Thanks for posting Paul. I think I would like to try your trick some night at the library, it would be a real toot!
I do too. My wife used to take the train to and from home in China. A 36 hour+ trip back in the 70’s & 80s. They were coal-burning steamers. She said if you sat up front you would get all sooty from the smoke.
Thanks for posting Paul. I think I would like to try your trick some night at the library, it would be a real toot!
MarkB
That would be hilarious! I’d love to be there for that one.
I negotiated unlimited Chiff and Fipple access time into my contract. I had to get a letter from Dale and all.
Yeah, I’m da boss. If one of my employees did something like that I wouldn’t get mad though. I’d probably have a good laugh at it. I try to keep things pretty fun around here when I can.
I’m a train nut too. I grew up in a railroad town, and used to fall asleep listening to the freights blowing “crossing” as they negotiated out of the railyards and through the city.
Hmmm, right next to a fancy restaurant. There was a 3 Stooges episode where the stooges were cooks in a restaurant. A cat ran through the dining room, seen by the patrons, and into the kitchen. Larry was really cranky about something, and was whacking at, and scolding, whatever he was chopping up on the cutting board, meanwhile he was inadvertantly stepping on the cat’s tail, making it shriek. When food was brought out, patrons assumed they were being served cat.
This has nothing to do with train sounds.
How could you sleep with such an unholy racket playing all night?
Joking aside,the link did remind me of all the great songs and tunes inspired by the sound of a train that crossover all genres of American music.People like Doc Watson,Sonny Terryand Brownie McGhee, Hank Williams spring to mind but there are many,many more not least the great fiddle showpiece The Orange Blossom Special - a tune which probably caused me more heartache and wrist pain than any other when I first began to play it.
all the great songs and tunes inspired by the sound of a train that crossover all genres of American music
My zydeco band does a tune that we’ve kind of coverted to a train song. The main thing is the driving rhythm. My wife loved it so much she bought me a Duluth Trading Co. train whistle to use as an introduction.
Ten and one half inches of black walnut, 4 chambered, takes enough air to make a sousaphone player wilt. Great sound, though. As your air gives out, the lower notes cut off, leaving the higher notes to give an echo effect.
Paul, since you’re in Atlanta, maybe I could loan it to you to play with at work. There’s got to be some way you could hook it up to an air hose.
Oh boy! Nice pics! Do they come in a low D? Cuz if they do, I can use on the river while kayaking and freak out the lake freighters on a clear day, sounding like a fog horn
The title of this thread reminds me of a family story…
One of my uncles was well-known as a youngster for taking things apart to see how they worked. As he grew older, he became just as skilled at putting them back together.
This knowledge came in handy when he took a trip to the junkyard one day, and found a discarded train horn. (one from an actual ful-sized train)
He figured out how to work it as part of his car’s horn, so that each time he blew the horn, it sounded like a train barrelling down the road. Needless to say, there were a LOT of folks who were quite happy to get out of his way when that horn sounded.
That would be hilarious! I’d love to be there for that one.
If one of my employees did something like that I wouldn’t get mad though. I’d probably have a good laugh at it. I try to keep things pretty fun around here when I can.