What do the whistle signals mean?
The locomotive engineer uses whistle signals to communicate with the conductor and brakeman. There are several signals that are made with a combination of short and long whistle blasts. However, the most common signals that you will hear are these: One short blast means that the train has come to a complete stop. Two short blasts means that the train is about to move forward. Three short blasts means that the train is about to move backward. And of course there is the familiar long-long-short-long signal at every grade crossing.
