History
Hancock was a familiar name to railroads during the days of steam. The company produced many appliances, one of which was the popular long-bell three-chime steam whistle. When railroads began dieselising, Hancock, along with other manufacturers of railroad equipment, adjusted their offerings in order to remain competitive. And so Hancock modified their whistle design so they could be used on diesel locomotives.
Hancock already had vast experience with whistles, and practically none with horns. Also, diesel locomotives were an emerging technology, and most early models were equipped with single-note 'honkers'. These horns were anything but appealing to the general public. Therefore, Hancock developed their line of air whistles in an attempt to romanticize the diesel locomotives.
Production of these air whistles spanned from the late 1950s until the late 1960s.
The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad was a large user of these whistles, and every FL9 purchased by the New Haven came from the factory equipped with a Hancock air whistle on the roof. Unfortunately, it was found that at high speeds, the whistles were difficult to hear. Class I railroads eventually replaced their Hancock whistles with horns, namely for safety reasons. There are, however, short line railroads which continue to use these whistles.
Read more about this topic: Hancock Air Whistle
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