One must remember that trains overseas did not have the greatest whistles to start with. There is a reason for that. They didn't use whistles that frequently over there. In Germany for example the majority of right-of-way was enclosed, with gated crossings, and fences. You rarely heard grade crossing whistles which are so common in the U.S. Over there it was common knowledge that you looked out for the train!
Most of the european whistles were the peanut-whistle type, like in the UK, or France, but German engines were a little deeper.
Most foreign railroads had bad sounding whistles compared to US steam. There were a few nice ones in South Africa, particularly on the George-Knysna class 24 2-8-4's(baby Berks). Also some of the South American engines had American built engines and whistles. Other than that forget whistles. What I liked about South African steam was the great sounding exhuasts which were missing in Europe for the most part!
Americans are spoiled with great whistles on steam here.
I just read on another board where they used the whistle cord from the SF 3751 for the movie Polar Express. Anyone know why! 5 points for the correct answer. That and $1.00 will buy you a cup of coffee!
Greg Scholl
PS Below is a low resolution shot of a Class 24 on the Kaimanns River Bridge along the Indian Ocean in South Africa, circa 1984. I have a 16 x 20 of this at home.