Horns

AIR HORN ARRAY ATOP AMTRAK LOCOMOTIVE, EMERYVILLE, CALIFORNIA, MARCH 26, 2012

Pentax K-5
Sigma 17-70 DC at 70mm
1/250 sec. f8
ISO 1600

The air horns on an Amtrak P42 locomotive are recessed out of sight into the roof, but I captured these on a California Zephyr from the pedestrian overpass at Emeryville station. For railfans, they are the standard Nathan/Airchime K5LA five-chime array Amtrak uses on all locomotives, sounding D#, F#, G#, B and D# octave notes. The "snow cones" on the fronts keep out snow, ice and exhaust particles.