Mike's Railroad Crossing Forum

I've always wondered about the standard long long short long horn sequence at crossings, does anyone know how long this rule has been around? the earliest i could find was early 1940s, i saw a railroad safety film from the time and you can clearly hear the horns blowing the sequence at a crossing. I have also seen sound videos of steam locomotives blowing that way at crossings in the 1950s. I can't help but wonder how much longer it had been around at that time? were wood burning 4-4-0s whistling long long short long at crossings in the 1870's? How long do you think this has been around?

From what I've heard (which might be wrong, so take it with a grain of salt), the standard crossing sequence heard today dates back to like the 1930s or something. Apparently, the sequence was originally Long-Long-Short-Short, but was changed to the current Long-Long-Short-Long because engineers found it easier to hold a long note through a crossing than a short note. Again, that's just what I've heard and I'm not sure if it's true or not.