Steam near Raleigh NC??

[Len]

My house is just a few blocks from the CSX and NS tracks that run through a small town just west of Raleigh, NC. Around 8:30 this morning I was startled to hear what was definately the whistle of a steam locomotive passing through the town from east to west. It was completely different from the various diesels we hear several times a day. And went on a lot longer than the usual road crossing signals we usually hear. Like the kind of thing often done for railfans along the track.

Unfortunately, there was no way to get from my house to the tracks before whatever it may have been was long gone. I hadn't seen anything about a steam loco in the local news lately, so I'm wondering if anyone is aware of any steam loco movement that was supposed to happen in North Carolina today??

Len

[trainman203]

Some of those Nathan horn clusters can fool you.  I've heard a few lately that at a distance with the right resonance and echo could easily have been a steam engine.

[Len]

That's a posibility. Not being able to get tot he tracks in time, I'll never know for sure. But the pattern of whistles and 'toots' was completely different than anything I'me heard in the 25 years I lived here. If it was a diesel, it sure fooled me.

Len

[trainman203]

This anywhere near you?

https://www.triangletrain.com/

[trainman203]

Also,, I'm not sure when diesel airhorns started being operated by push buttons instead of a whistle cord, but when they had whistle cords, an inspired hogger might sometimes try to emulate the steam whistle artistry whippoorwill sounds of old. 

In our south Mississippi area there once was one particular old L&N hogger now long deceased who had run steam early in his career.  He was known for whistle artistry sounds, the younger engineers he trained tried to do it too, and you'd hear them passing quite often.  That was a long time ago, and those young guys have all retired now as well, but every now and then I think I hear it on the CSX passing.

[trainman203]

Last night at the distance, I heard a deep-toned CSX airhorn that could've been an Illinois Central steamboat whistle ..... at a distance.  It sounded like nothing I'd ever heard before on the railroad here.

[Len]

This anywhere near you?

https://www.triangletrain.com/

Yes! I've been there many times.

Len

[Len]

Last night at the distance, I heard a deep-toned CSX airhorn that could've been an Illinois Central steamboat whistle ..... at a distance.  It sounded like nothing I'd ever heard before on the railroad here.

Bingo!! According to the neighborhood newsletter, one of the CSX 'Heritage' locos passed through here that morning. Wish I'd known it was coming, I would have been at the tracks with a camera myself.

Len