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Since there are so many new members, I would like to share with you a replacement horn for the dash-9. I made these two files on 6-16-2001, when MSTS was first new. I have become so used to using them that I forget about them. The real trains have a sequence button, so I thought MSTS should too. Below is a description of what the files do. There are two downloads, one for inside the cab, and one for the outside sounds. These replace the default Dash9 horn, but is a recording of the same sound, just in sequence. The filenames are d9cabwav.zip and d9outwav.zip. You will have to do a search to find the files since they are nearly at the beginning of the file list MSTS Dash 9 in cab horn and bell replacement sounds. Thes files make your horn play a long, long, short, long sequence when you press the spacebar. The bell dings for about 10 seconds instead of 2 seconds when you press the B button once. Pressing spacebar then B gives you the sequence and 10 seconds of the bell, then cuts off. Useful for crossings. These are heard from cab view only. By Kyle Hendrix.
While A LOT of the newer locomotives have the "TSI Automatic Horn Sequencer" (That's what it's called, TSI is the manufacturer) in them, not all do.In fact, most of them wind up getting disconnected due to problems with the foot switches. Santa Fe had disconnected most of theirs after engine service people would sweep out a cab at a yard, accidently (and unknowingly) trip the horn sequencer, and then the damn horn would be blowing away annoying everyone in a yard. It is a rare thing to hear a locomotive with the horn sequencer actually in operation nowadays. (Of course, most of the BNSF engineers down here in southern California rarely do the regulation Rule 14-L signal for crossings; usually they do a quick honk-honk and that's it if you're lucky....) While having the MSTS horn sequenced to blow the proper Rule 14-L signal for grade crossings, there are other instances when different rule signals might need to be sounded to afford maximum realism.
I agree with what you are saying, but with the factory D9 horn, I found it very difficult to do a LLSL, or "a quick honk, honk" either way. (Because of the looping etc). I found that the benefits outweighed the sacrifice. But that's me personally. In any event, you'd have nothing to loose by trying it as long as you follow the instructions and backup the originals. P.S. From my observations of CSX, here in the South, they seem to be pretty consistant in correctly blowing the crossings. Kyle
For the record, in Battle Creek, MI, they blow the 14-L sequence, but due to a local ordinance (not QUITE a whistle ban), they're required to use spacing between "barely audible" blasts to set the signal while in town. Result: Blat..........Blat...........BlatBlat.The only other place I've personally noticed a variation on the standard sequence is riding Amtrak through Portland, OR, just south of the "Steel Bridge" across the Columbia outside Union Station. There, the grade crossings come so frequently that they use a full signal for the first one, but then have only time for the last two blasts before reaching the next crossing. (I've used that effectively in certain towns on Marias Pass in MSTS, BTW, where there's two grade crossings a couple hundred yards apart.)RDF
The Steel Bridge is on the Willamette. The only place Amtrak crosses the Columbia River anywhere near Oregon is at the Columbia River Draw Bridge immediately south of the Vancouver, WA station.David Beach.
Ooops, you're right. *blush* Been a few years since I've been up there. (I really should know the rivers apart, since I lived in Eugene for a year...)RDF
