A picture of Zig Zag Railway #1049 (the engine thought to be the responsible for the recording.)
A picture of Zig Zag Railway #1072 (The engine that is the ACTUAL responsible for the recording.)
A picture of the Australian 3 chime steam whistle (The kind of whistle heard in the track) This one is from engine #1049.
This sound effect can be found on the Soundstorm Sound Effects Library, which was made by SoundDogs.
The whistle heard in this sound effect came from Zig Zag Railway steam locomotive #1072 Australian 3 chime steam whistle. It was unknown which locomotive was the responsible of the recording because both 1072 and 1049 had the same type of whistle. But since the 1049 wasn't in operations in the 80's to 1994, is now accepted that 1072 is the responsible because she was in operations those years.
It possibly originated from an unidentified 1980s sound library.
Clean, Full Length and Unedited Link to the Sound Effect
Similar Variations
- Discovery Sound, TRAIN: STEAM - Horn-2 (The shortened version of this sound)
Used In
TV Shows
- The Adventures of Tintin (TV Series) (Heard in "The Broken Ear - Part 2".)
- American Dad! (Heard once in "Ninety North, Zero West".)
- Amphibia (Heard once in “Combat Camp”.)
- Animaniacs
- Eureka! (Heard once in "Everybody Lava Pizza".)
- The Fairly OddParents (Heard in some episodes, most notably to be used for a diesel locomotive’s horn.)
- GeoTrax (Animated Series) (Whistle only; can be heard in various different higher pitches.)
- Gerald McBoing Boing (2005) (Whistle only, Heard once in "Fairs, Mimes and Dragons".)
- Gumby Adventures
- Madeline (1993 TV Series) (Can be heard once in the 1993 intro.)
- MasterChef: Dynamic Duos (Whistle only; heard once in the introduction segment of "Train to Table")
- Max & Ruby
- Pig Goat Banana Cricket
- Popeye: Untold
- Rolie Polie Olie
- Ruby Gloom
- Shining Time Station (Heard twice in "A Place Unlike Any Other".)
- Timon & Pumbaa (Heard twice in "Gabon with the Wind")
- T.U.F.F. Puppy
- VeggieTales (Can be heard in "The Asparagus of La Mancha" and "Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler".)
Movies
- 3:10 to Yuma (2007) (The whistle can be heard twice in a lower pitch when the train whistles as it departs the station at the end of the film.)
- Ant-Man (2015)
- The Cider House Rules (1999) (Heard at low volume.)
- The Delinquents (1989)
- Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) (Heard once at the beginning.)
- Lady and the Tramp (2019)
Shorts
- Club Oscar (2005) (Shorts) (Used along with Factory Buzzer Rever TE020301.)
- Locomotion (1989) (Used as the whistle on Engine No. 9.)
Trailers
- Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go (Trailers) (Used for Percy's whistle.)
YouTube Videos
- 1995express (Used once for an off-screen engine leaving Knapford Station in "Thomas and the Magic Railroad sound effects: Small Engines/Phone call".)
- Fanofthomas31
- The MilanToon Channel
Image Gallery
Audio Samples
(The entire sound effect, with the chugging and steam hisses.)
(The whistle, as its own separate sound.)







