WABCo Train Horns History

To many railroaders, WABCo may be considered a household name. But for common people who are absolutely clueless about what WABCo is, the acronym actually stands for Westinghouse Air Brake Company. Nevertheless, the Westinghouse Air Brake Company or WABCo has a logo that a lot of people, railroaders or not, must be familiar with. The logo is a double X that has a line right through the middle. This logo appears in practically every product that the Westinghouse Air Brake Company produces.

The Westinghouse Air Brake Company or WABCo is a manufacturer of railroad, nautical and industrial products. It is among the well-known manufacturers in the land, producing valves, vents, cylinders, hoses, and all other types of pneumonic systems. WABCo is now called Wabtec and is believed to provide stiff competition against other manufacturers elsewhere in the world, including Australia.

The Westinghouse Air Brake Company (WABCo) has been existing for more than a hundred years. It is the first company to have produced railroad train horns. In fact, as can be seen in the earliest catalogs of WABCo, some of the featured train horns dated as far back as the year 1910! From that time on forward, WABCo has improved considerably the quality of its Pheuphonic Horns. Moreover, the company has likewise ventured into reselling replacement parts for train horns of other manufactures.

Westinghouse Air Brake Company is not, however, famous for producing air horns; although at some point, it did come up with certain varieties. These air horns are being put out in the market by the subsidiary of the company, the WABCo Locomotive Products.