My two biggest fears in life are foam and mediocrity. I attribute both to being a child of Dick McCulloch. Lurking around every corner of my youth was a roll or piece of egg-crate foam somehow perfectly placed to be inadvertently brushed up against. The thought of feeling the low-density soft foam against my skin makes my fingers quiver, my heart rate rise, and my breath shorten even as I type this. I realize it's an odd fear. Many people have tried to analyze the roots of my irrational phobia, but there is no explanation. I just don't like foam. It's my kryptonite! My dad loved the it, he used it inside of every tent, camper, musical instrument case, under car seats, on beds, in the garage, in the kitchen, and so on. It was everywhere. Mediocrity, on the other hand, was in short supply. For the first few years of my time on this Earth I was blissfully unaware such a concept existed.
One of my Dad's many vehicles was the Caboose Truck. It contained of lots of foam, but absolutely no mediocrity. The first iteration was before my time, but the last three variants (read 3 trucks and 3 builds) all hold vivid memories of parades, bluegrass festivals, summer fairs, and camping trips. The last evolution of caboose truck was the most advanced. It had an onboard pneumatic compressor that powered two sets of train horns, a pair of steam whistles, and venturi style water squirters that mimicked steam being blown off from the roof and lower sides of the truck. There was a loud speaker that played train sounds, a locomotive style bumper, and faux train utility wheels on each corner. The camper section in the back was a hand built caboose, complete with rear deck, cupola, and a sleeper compartment.
The Caboose Truck
(sans train horns)
When my Dad passed, I got the MG Midget and my brother Andrew got the Caboose Truck. We often speculated about which required more intensive maintenance, a hand built, 6000 lb caboose truck or 1970's British engineering. Over time the former edged out the latter by a tiny margin, but enough so that this fall retirement of the Caboose Truck became inevitable. I guess I had the advantage of size in my favor. When the midget goes down it occupies only a small corner of my garage. When the caboose truck goes down it takes up two parking spaces and is nearly as tall. Rather than let it and all the accessories that made it special rot in a state of eternal disrepair, Andrew made the tough decision to part out all the sentimental bits and send the truck off to a good home. One of those bits was a 1960's era Leslie Supertyfon train horn - that's the correct spelling, see the pics if you don't believe me.
The Leslie Supertyfon
In Service
Mounted on the Horn Bar of the Caboose Truck
The Leslie Supertyfon is a three note train horn that could be configured with all three notes forward or two notes forward and one note rearward. It was introduced on early diesel engines and has remained in use for the past sixty years. One note was tuned to be off key to make a "less-pleasing chord" which would "work better as a warning device." Dad had it plumbed directly to a 100 gallon air tank through half inch iron piping. Our first order of business was to delicately remove them from the caboose truck and rig up a tank. It took a few trips to the hardware store and some creative plumbing but we had a portable air tank rigged in no time. Then we set about terrorizing the uptight patrons of a nearby Starbucks in Columbia, Maryland.
Make Shift Portable Air Tank and Adaptor
Test Blast
Blasting Route 40 from the Starbucks Parking Lot
After terrorizing unsuspecting Marylanders we shipped the Supertyfon to Colorado. The most logical home for the Supertyfon was on the Midget, which also resides in the mountain west. Automobile-mounted train horns are most commonly found on large statements of male insecurity otherwise known as "bro-trucks." The Midget would be a perfect contrasting home, highlighting the size inverse at the heart of such male insecurity! Dad would have wanted it that way. It took some creative engineering, but after a few more trips to the hardware store I had the Supertyfon mounted in the only place it would fit - the half open trunk.
Leslie Supertyfon Mounted in the Midget
In Action
2 comments:
They are awesome horns. My friend has some of these horns, like 3 huge ones, in his truck under the bed. It sounds like a train!!! It shakes the ground too and can be herd miles away. Freaken awesome!
Looking for anyone with a rebuilt or new Nathan series train horn. The K series, or M series, would be ideal.
I have one for sale. A beautiful Leslie supertyfon 3 horn with air adapter already
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