Re: 480's Whistle in 1987

John,
I ran the 480 quite often in 1986 and '87 and it had a full and warm sounding DRGW five chime at that time. I recall it had a larger diameter base (common) and there was not a wide range of pitch or volume as you pulled the cord. Kind of an on or off effect, if you will. It was removed later on (after the fire?) and for awhile the 480 carried a beautiful (IMHO) three chime that was on the 478 in the 70's and early 80's. A friend in the shop and I worked hard to get that thing to sound like I remembered it on the 478, but it just wasn't the same.
Inspection of old photos shows that "hoot" whistles were not uncommon on the 480's and 490's in the thirties and forties. It seems after quite a few standard gauge engines went to the torch in the 50's, and as they were stripped for parts, many more five chimes seem to show up on the narrow gauge variety. I found standard gauge loco #'s stamped on a few whistle parts in Durango.