Newtons Traction Maintenance Depot's Hooter

[RSC Friends]

Hi,
I am working on some new interpretation for Newton Abbot Museum's GWR Room. We have the hooter that used to sound at Newton's Traction Maintenance Depot.
Does anyone remember hearing it? What did it sound like, how often did it sound? And any other similar useful memories would be good, please

Thanks

 

[Taunton]

I would expect this to be for the locomotive worksops, which on railways were always independent of the day-to-day running sheds (that eventually got renamed TMDs). They did the periodic overhauls and any big damage repairs. The Works were the old stone building, still there, on Forde Road, to the north of the loco shed, which has gone. Newton Abbot was one of the four loco works on the GWR, the principal of course being Swindon. Unlike the loco shed, where men reported at all odd times of day and night, it would have large numbers of engineering workers on fixed shifts, starting say at 8 am and finishing at 5 pm, for whom the hooter might be blown. This was common in industrial towns in the old days, in Newton Abbot it was doubtless a bit of a novelty.

As you have got it and want to know what it sounds like, why not put an air compressor on it? Ensure someone does this who knows about compressors!

 

[Cowley]

Depending on what kind of pipes are on it I may be able to help. Could you post a photo showing the pipe work RSC?

 

[AndrewE]

As you have got it and want to know what it sounds like, why not put an air compressor on it? Ensure someone does this who knows about compressors!

Steam has a different density to compressed air, so it will not necessarily sound exactly the same. Also as the whistle warmed up and expanded on steam the note would change slightly.

I heard an American on the radio (or saw him on a Portillo programme) explaining that his father, a loco works engineer, made his money by patenting a compressed air horn that had the same sound - including the "warming up" as a steam whistle did. Anyone else remember it?
A

 

[Taunton]

I heard an American on the radio (or saw him on a Portillo programme) explaining that his father, a loco works engineer, made his money by patenting a compressed air horn that had the same sound - including the "warming up" as a steam whistle did. Anyone else remember it?
A

Possibly about Robert Swanson, actually a Canadian from Vancouver, who devised what is now the Nathan 5-chime, in lieu of the hard monotone of original North American diesel horns. Best heard as it approaches you coming from a distance through a mountain valley on a line with regular level crossings.

No interest in Newton Abbot though.

 

[AndrewE]

Possibly about Robert Swanson, actually a Canadian from Vancouver, who devised what is now the Nathan 5-chime, in lieu of the hard monotone of original North American diesel horns. Best heard as it approaches you coming from a distance through a mountain valley on a line with regular level crossings.

No interest in Newton Abbot though.

so a steam driven whistle will sound the same when run on air then?

 

[Bevan Price]

Hi,
I am working on some new interpretation for Newton Abbot Museum's GWR Room. We have the hooter that used to sound at Newton's Traction Maintenance Depot.
Does anyone remember hearing it? What did it sound like, how often did it sound? And any other similar useful memories would be good, please

Thanks

Cannot answer the specific question. However, in the past, when many people were unable to afford a watch, it was common practice for factories to have hooters or sirens. These would sound at (or before) the times for shift changes, and would often be loud enough to be heard a long distance from the factory. For those sounding before shift change times, the purpose was to remind workers "time to go to work". At that time, many workers would live within 5 to 10 minutes walk from the factory, sometimes in houses built by factory owners in order to ensure that they could get enough workers.

 

[Taunton]

The original poster may be interested that the "other" GW works, at Swindon, had a very well known hooter, here is an article all about it, complete with a timetable for its sounding (well, it was for a railway, after all).

http://www.swindonweb.com/index.asp?m=8&s=116&ss=338

 

[RSC Friends]

Thanks for the information and insights.
There is a photo attached of the hooter.
I have read about Swindon's double hooter - Ours was a smaller - and so less famous. Size counts in the world of hooters!

I don't think the museum volunteers include an expert in compressed air - but I will ask! I suspect it will not be heard again.