1. Why Would I Want A Train Horn?
Well, owning a train horn will certainly amplify your concern and make others aware in an emergency situation. Sometimes regular vehicle horns are not heard or are ignored. No One will ignore the sound of your train horn, that’s for sure. Your new train horn will be heeded in all situations, whatever it may be…a child about to run out into the streets, an animal standing in the road, that obnoxious driver cutting you off…they will all know of your presence.
Oh yeah, and if you just want to have a bit of fun, we can pretty much guarantee that will happen.
2. I’m Not A Gearhead, How Tough Is It To Install My Train Horn Kit? Is This Something I Can Do Myself?
Our train horn kits are designed for easy installation. Everything that you need for a smooth and hassle free installation is included.
Simply follow the directions closely for a good installation. Of course it would be nice to know your way around under the hood somewhat, but with a knowledgeable friend helping out it may ease the process. If you choose to have an auto shop or repair shop install your train horn, just make sure that you go someplace you feel comfortable with. We recommend contacting a shop that has aftermarket experience like one who does alarms, custom lighting or custom audio installations. Also, make sure they are very familiar with 12V DC wire hook-ups.
3. What about support?
Our toll free number is 1-800-343-5701 and you can get a hold of us by emailing us at support@trainhornsdirect.com.
4. After I order, how long until I receive my train horn?
Most of our train horns are in stock and often ship within 48 hours from order. Certain products take up to 72 hours to ship. In the continental US, shipping time is typically 5-7 business days. International order shipping time is commonly 1-2 weeks. We will contact you if there is an undue delay in the processing or shipping of your order. We will require your signature at delivery for our more expensive train horn kits such for your protection and ours. Shipping must be to the address on the credit card used when you placed your order.
5. I’ve seen cheaper train horns outfits. What’s the difference?
Train horns have become very popular and there are a lot of people trying to get into the marketplace. Unfortunately there are a lot of inferior products. Yes, there are cheaper train horn kits available. However, Caveat Emptor! buyer Beware…You get what you pay for. Buy a quality system that you can trust with the penetrating loud air horn sound you’re looking for.
6. Why don’t I see db ratings for your kits?
Looking for dB ratings is a fools game. These numbers are very misleading. Many factors influence db ratings. Such as:
- under what circumstances were the decibels determined
- How far away from the horn was the measurement taken
- What device was used to measure?
- who measured it
- is it certified
- will the db level be guaranteed on my vehicle
- when was it last calibrated
- what was the input psi
BEWARE OF THE DB RACE! Most ratings we see are nonsense. Any exposure to a true 150+ dB sound causes immediate ear damage (and causes actual pain). Be assured our horns are very loud. We design that right in from the get-go. Generally, the higher the stage/level, the louder the horn. Our kits/horns fall in the 140-150 db range which is extremely loud and will be heard in all real life situations.
7. Do Our Train Horn Kits Have Warranties?
Yes. Our products carry the standard warranty for these type components. See our Terms and Conditions under “Links” for details.
8. There’s So Many Brands. What’s The Difference? How Do You Know Which Is Better?
TrainHornsDirect only carries the highest quality manufactured systems. We are approached all the time by dealers and manufacturers asking us to feature their line of train horns. Most won’t make it to this site. While there are horns available at a cheaper price, we simply won’t carry them. We want our customers to be happy and we know you don’t want to spend time on the phone dealing with the hassle of inferior products…we don’t either.
Have a great time with your new train horn and order with confidence from TrainHornsDirect! And if you have more questions please leave us a comment
The blast of train horns has the local commando politicians upset and the area hotel guests are complaining that they can’t get their beauty sleep.
Aw…seems like one of the best reasons we have heard of in some time to actually install a train horn kit on your pimped out car or truck!
The city officials of Mobile, Alabama, with obviously nothing else to do…have instituted what they are deeming a “quiet zone” downtown. Oh, how quaint and sweet. Makes me just want to pull up in front of the Mayor’s house at about 3AM and give him a taste of just how sweet sounding one of our train horn kits can be.
Check this out. This is where it gets really absurd. In a time of economic hardship, which I am sure has affected the tourism of Mobile, Alabama (yeah..I said that with a straignt face…), Mayor Sam Jones spent about $200,000.00 of hard earned tax payer dollars to implement the so called “quiet no-train horns zones”.
I guess the pigeon fountain will have to wait until next year. This quiet zone was much more important!
We say this is BS and somewhat crazy. So Mr. Mayor Jones, we gotta blast ya!
Can’t Be Beat Lowest Price Guarantee
We want to provide you with the best train horn deals to be found anywhere. We check our competition regularly and we will NOT be undersold!
We stand behind this so strongly that if you can find one of the products being advertised on TrainHornsDirect available for a lower price within 30 days of purchase of any one of our Train Horn Kits, we’ll gladly pay you DOUBLE the difference between our price and the lower price found.
Are you about to purchase something that you’ve seen somewhere else for less?
Call us or email us and provide the following information and we’ll give you a better deal!
1. Your first & last name
2. Your email address
3. The product(s) you’re considering
4. Competitor’s price
5. Web site address of competitor’s product
We guarantee to beat any competitor’s price hands down! If you are in the market for a train horn and you have found a cheaper price for the same item, we guarantee to beat the price advertised. Call us at 1-800-343-5701 or send us an email to info@trainhornsdirect.com BEFORE you buy elsewhere.
Small print …….(you know there has to be some small print because there are some idiots out there who try to take advantage of people)
Please note that the item must be the exact same product, it must be in stock, and the competitor’s true total price must be determined before doing the price comparison (true total price is the price after shipping, handling, tax, and any other fees). This pricing guarantee does not apply to any clearance items or used or refurbished train horns. We only sell NEW Train Horns!
This also does not apply to competitor’s that run a paid membership site that offers discounts to it’s paid members unless of course you’d like to send us a monthly membership fee…but I don’t see that happening. Nor would we ask you to do so!
So what exactly is a Train Horn Kit?
Well, it’s the components necessary to make your loud ass train horn. Train horn kits for pimped out cars, SUV’s, and trucks are becoming wildly popular. In fact we can pretty much assume that once you have your train horn installed you’ll probably forget to ever use that weak, wimpy stock horn that came with your vehicle.
So What’s In The Box
Our train horn kit buyers usually buy a complete kit to ensure a simple, no-hassle installation. Although labeled a train horn, your new vehicle horn that is as loud as the horn on a barreling locomotive is sized to fit just about any vehicle including compact cars.
Here’s what you get when you buy a train horn kit:
The Air Tank
The air tanks comes in various sizes. For a SUV or truck installation, the common tank installed is in the applications, the 1 to 5 gallon size range. The air tanks maintains the pressure that the compressor regulates. There can be a number of air ports for accessibility and there is usually an air gauge attached.
The Compressor
A compressor is an air pump that when activated fills the air tank with compressed air. Compressor capacities are generally matched to the size tank. the first time you fill it may take a couple of minutes but don’t worry, re-filling the compressor is a bit quicker thereafter.
It is becoming increasingly common among train horn owners to have two compressors operating in tandem for super-quick re-fills.
The Horn
Train horns come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Individual separate trumpets are slim and can be up to two feet long. In an attached design, there are two trumpet horns, three trumpet horns and even four trumpet horns. It’s generally believed that you need three or more trumpets in the array to product as authentic train horn tone. Each trumpet sounds a different note. It’s the combination of these notes that produce the distinction “blat” that immediately says “train horn.”
The better train horns are made of metal. Plastic horns are OK in low priced value kits but they are not considered the “real deal” by most train horn enthusiasts. But if you’re running a bit tight, you can always start with a plastic model. Steel, zinc, brass and copper are common metals. Horns are either chrome or gold plated or painted black.
Horns are activated by a solenoid that resides within the horn. Horns (and compressors) are energized by your 12 volt source. The horn can be activated by your regular horn button or you can buy a new separate horn switch. It’s all in the installation.
Sometimes you will see decibel ratings given in a horn’s specs. To adequately compare across systems, the reading must be taken with the same instrument, properly calibrated and at the same distance from the horn. This is rarely the case so take these readings with a large grain of salt.
These are the basic components of any train horn kit. You should receive enough air hose, fittings and hook-up wire to do the job. Don’t be shy about having a pro do the job. Shops that specialize in aftermarket installations of sound systems and alarms would be an appropriate choice.
You back again? Can’t get enough can you? Instead of just buying a train horn and living free and doing as you feel, you’re here wondering if what you want to buy is legal.
Ok Shirley, let me take you by the hand and talk to you about the proper way to use a train horn. Everybody else, go about your business and go buy one of our loud ass train horns while I take ol’ Shirl here and school him a bit.
Well, as these are “train horns” we are selling one can infer with reasonable certainty that these items were made for TRAINS!! As cities grew and began encroaching upon the railroad tracks, people started having their vehicles colliding with gazillion ton locomotives that just so happen are absent the ability to stop quickly.
So in an effort to warn the numbnuts who can’t see the train or who ignore the flashing lights..train horns, albeit loud ass train horns, were installed to sound an audible warning to the moron who is in the path of a train and about to become pulverized into oblivion.
But then came the tree-huggers and they complained that the loud ass train horn was dangering the environment and they took matters to the streets and instituted “quiet zones”. Then guess what happened, people started dying and then they said ok…you can blast your friggin train horns as long as it is in response to an emergency situation. Duh….go eat some granola!
Lately however, train horns have become quite popular. While were at it..you can stop reading and go buy one of our train horns if you’d like. We really won’t be upset if you stop reading and go buy something. We really have some great deals on train horns….now back to our story (that’s a call to action..don’t worry about it, it’s for us serious marketing types!)
Anyway, where was I..oh yeah…so these train horns started becoming popular and lo and behold people started stealing them off of parked trains to sell. Who wouldda thunk it?
I read this admonition on a website this morning and it cracked me up. It said that “train horns are extremely powerful devices, and…the use of one while in traffic has the potential to cause an accident. Improper use of train horns may violate local noise ordinances and will result in hearing loss for persons unprotected”. You know what we say??? SO!!
Check this out, in our grand State of Florida there was a time when train horns were outlawed on anything but an actual train…or hockey arena…but the accident rate doubled and the brain trust in the Florida government did a 180 and we’re all free to blast away.
Now check out our loud ass, ear-splitting train horns and go buy one. You’ll be glad that you did. Then send us a picture or a video and we’ll post it in our gallery.
photographer, Harvey Henkelmann
C’mon people! This is supposed to be an after market product that you use to seriously pimp out your ride. I mean c’mon, you don’t put lipstick on a pig and you have to have the right ride to install a train horn on.
Hey, I am happy to sell you the loudest ass train horn on the market and it’s yours to do with it what you will but do you seriously want to put your brand new train horn on that piece of crap junker you call a ride?
Well it’s your business all together but if you put your train horn on a vehicle that looks like it came straight out of the Dukes of Hazzard outtakes, then people might just be talking about you for something other than your train horn.
Hey, but I am not here to piss on your shoes. You want a loud ass train horn? Then I’m not going to judge you. In fact I would appreciate it that if you buy one of our train horns that you email us a picture of the vehicle that you installed it on.
If you send us an email with a picture of the car, truck or boat that you installed your train horn on we’ll post it in an article right here on Train horns Direct and we’ll let everyone else comment on it. Let’s see what the public has to say!
If you send us a video, we’d love it even more. We’d love to show everyone how you are putting our train horns to good use. And don’t worry. If you install it on a piece of crap, we won’t say anything bad about you. But I can’t speak for our readers.
Send in your pictures and videos! But first…buy a train horn!
Are you kidding me? Instead of blasting your friends away at the mall, you want to know the history of a train horn. Ok Poindexter, after we tell you this we’ll also show you what your $%^# is for…but anyway….
As locomotives (that’s a train mullet head) began to become more powerful and as steam operated trains become increasingly inefficient, trains were fitted with horns that were powered by their own exhaust. For obvious reasons, not the least of which was the belly-aching tree-huggers, these train horns were phased out in favor of the air horn being utilized on big rigs then modified to be a helluva lot louder.
I guess they figured if you couldn’t see a 1,000 ton train barreling down on you or didn’t realize what the fancy bells and red lights meant, then maybe you might hear the blast of the train horn it before you were vaporized by the impact.
We checked in the archives of the National Train Horns Museum and found out that Westinghouse was probably one of the earliest manufacturers of train horns in the modern era after the steam horn went the way of the dodo bird (you do know what that is …don’t ya?). Oh by the way…there is no train horn museum but we figured if you wanted to know the history of the train horn then we would make it sound all official for you.
In 1949 this dude named Robert Swanson, who was an inventor, decided he wanted to up the ante on train horns. Instead of a train horn just blasting one loud as blast. Swanson, who might have been a visionary, designed a train horn that could play six notes per blast. Then he refined it with Chinese technology to play a very sweet 5 notes per blast…then he died. Well not really, he moved to Canada somewhere and word has it gave up train horns for a gig on Dancing With The Stars..but that’s another story altogether.
Thankfully, now we have our simple loud ass train horns as the world knows today. Buy one here on Train Horns Direct.
Welcome to Train Horns Direct. We are your source for the widest selection of the loudest friggin train horns made and available on the market. We have found that while train horns are in quite demand these days many people really have no idea what a train horn is.
We also realize that as long as you can have the loudest train horn that you can get, that you might not really care about the history of a train horn…but for those few out there who want to be educated about the product before they blast the crap out of people, this article is for you.
Simply put. A train horn is a warning sounding device usually found on locomotives. That would be a train for the vocabulary challenged among us. As you might imagine, a train horn is normally and primarily used to alert people and animals to the presence of an oncoming train, especially when approaching at a railroad crossing. Although when I was in college I am sure that the train operator leaned on his friggin horn at 4:00AM to blast us drunk fraternity boys out of bed. It worked!
Another use for a train horn is that of a signaling system by and between railroad engineers and workes for various operations like switching tracks and such.
So there you have it. A very simple definition. Now go ahead and take a look around our train horn storefront here and check out the various train horns we have available. If you have any questions feel free to drop us a comment below and we’ll respond as soon as possible. If you ahve an immediate question go ahead and give us a call at 1-800-343-5701.
Our train horns are all brand new, shipped directly to you. Buy a train horn today and you’ll be annoying the hell out of your neighborhood this weekend!
