Knoxville Area Model Railroaders Forums - Horn Honk Event at Oak Ridge K-25 Plant

HORN HONK RETURNING TO OAK RIDGE MUSEUM

Horn Honk, a national gathering of locomotive air horn collectors, is again
returning to the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum (SARM) in Oak Ridge,
Tennessee. On Friday, September 23, air horn collectors from around the
country will begin two days of activities which will include an informal
swap meet, sessions on air horn restoration and maintenance, and the actual
operation of many of the collector's horns on the locomotives of the Museum.

This is the third year in a row that SARM has hosted the event. Previously,
it rotated around the U.S., but the facilities and equipment at the Museum and
the low cost of holding the event in the Oak Ridge area have kept the gathering
in Tennessee. "A big advantage that we have is the ability to operate our
trains in a rural environment," explained SARM spokesman Barton Jennings. "Most
railroad museums are located close to houses and businesses that would be
bothered by such an event, but we are out in the country on the edge of the
Department of Energy reservation where events like this won't bother many
people. We often are amazed about the things that the DOE facilities are
perfect far, events such as Horn Honk, things that no one ever thought of
when the Manhattan Project facilities were built during World War II."

Horn Honk registration and workshops begin on Friday morning at 8am at SARM's
equipment maintenance facility at the East Tennessee Technology Park and
last until noon. The afternoon and evening will feature, as well as all day
Saturday, numerous operating locomotives using the participants air horns.
The event will finish with a charter train ride over the Secret City Scenic's
excursion route using the air horns selected as the best sounding by the
weekend's participants. With the route running through the Poplar Creek
valley, the sound of the air horns echoing off the nearby hillsides is a
popular ending to the event.

After Horn Honk, many of the locomotive horns will remain at the railroad
museum and be used on the upcoming fall color train rides based out of Oak
Ridge. Additionally, sound recordings made during the weekend will be
available for purchase from SARM. For further information on the Horn Honk,
Southern Appalachia Railway Museum, or their series of fall colors train
rides, contact the Museum at 865-241-2140 or check out their website
at "www.southernappalachia.railway.museum".

This is a cross posting of Larry's e-mail announcement. I stopped in on this last year and it was a hoot, or was it a blast, I mean it was mind blowing! You would be amazed at how folks rig their vehicles to operate these horns while driving. Not to mention that they take turns remounting the units on an engine and record the train going by while sounding off!