1953 IC 2-8-2 Steam Locomotive Nathan P3 @2025 Ed. K HSC Honk

I’m sure this one is gonna raise some eyebrows because mine are peaked😂 Picked this one up in an auction lot of 4 horns. This is an old cast oval inlet P3 off an Illinois Central 2-8-2 steam locomotive. I was insanely skeptical of what I was told by the buyer but the more I got into this horn, the more the arrows started to align for steam. For starters, “1586” is scratched into the #1 bell. This existed as a 2-8-2 locomotive on the IC’s roster. 2nd, this horn got HOT. All the cushion rings were either melted to the thick copper diaphragms or the bells themselves. The cushion rings are about half the thickness they should be and are much wider. Steam engines ran around 150-200 ish on the resivour based off a quick internet search so I’m not the least bit surprised that all 6 diaphragms were either shattered or cracked. The metal springs that keep tension on the nozzles are all loose and it also looks like someone put the nozzles on a sizzling hot frying pan because they are the flattest I’ve ever seen. Last but not least, this horn is covered in coal dust, not diesel soot. Something that I noticed instantly in both smell and feel. The horn wasn’t sticky or oily at all like diesel sooted horns are. It’s actually quite the opposite and feels “chalky” when touched. This horn also has stainless steel backcaps that are very thin. I’ve only ever seen one other horn like this and it’s owned by Trae Pederson who has a 1953 MKT P5. It sports the exact same backcaps with the same relief holes. These were confirmed to be the prototype backcaps before the sandcast aluminum backcap was introduced. Nathan also stamped serial numbers and dates onto the sides of the bells by Month/year/serial number. 9/53/59 9/53/68 9/53/113 I did a strictly operational restoration on this horn. Nathan used self tapping flange bolts for the backcaps so a ton of helicoils were used as well as all new bolts and internals. Left all the coal soot and the corrosion. I really wanted to run this horn again with copper diaphrams but my dream horn came up in a trade opportunity so this horn has moved on with a very well known collector where it’s safe! If you have any questions on what you have seen in this video, feel free to ask and I’ll reply ASAP! These videos are NOT made for kids. Train horns are illegal to use in most states and can be very dangerous to your hearing health if proper hearing protection is not used. Made with Splice