Your favourite railway "sound"?

[Rugd1022]

Just thought of something that I really do miss... the echoing sound of tools and machinery in use when I used to wander around Swindon Works on the regular Wednesday afternoon guided tours... especially A-Shop which was vast.

 

Another one which I still manage to recreate today when the mood strikes... the rattling of my old enamel tea can on the hotplate of a 66, just as the water boils the handle starts rattling about and it always takes me back to my early days as a secondman on 47s and 50s.... happy days

[Welly]

It's the clackity-clack of jointed track .... slowly disappearing from the mainline but thankfully will remain in areas of complex pointwork.

[James]

In case it's not been mentioned, but I sound I love is hearing, from outside, the sound of levers moving and block bells ringing

[Guest Max Stafford]

So many good sounds. I've only heard Peter Handford's recordings but the sound of an off-beat V2 slogging it up to Whitrope as the sound echoes around is superb.

Another favourite of mine is the comforting ring of B4 wheelsets on CWR.

 

Dave.

[robmcg]

I think for me the most intensely powerful recorded sound I have ever heard from real railways was the effect of the fast-approaching express, running late, heard through layers of morning fog and frost, changes in air density wreaking all kinds of things to exhaust beats, then long shrieking whistles distorted by the air, telling the signalman over a mile ahead that this train does not want a suburban train put out in front of it for the last twenty miles of its overnight journey.  The train was fifty minutes late, well out of its signalling 'path' and the whistles told the signalman in no uncertain terms that this train was in a hurry!  When it did go by, a roller-brearing 4-8-2 'Ja' class of the New Zealand Railways in 1957, it slightly overhwelmed the BBC-quality microphones powered by car batteries!

 

Hard to replicate in model form, certainly.

 

Rob

[jasp]

The sound of 3 cylinder Gresley locomotives, at speed

[Oldddudders]

Wot a nice thread - 6 pages and nobody's wrong!

 

My own fave noise would have to be the sound of the 0320 Victoria - Brighton paper train, sitting in Redhill platform at about 0400, with the high-speed compressor (I think) going on the EDL - a sort of whistling, almost screeching noise, cutting the night air. Can't have heard that since I did my last week of nights in Redhill Control in 1969 - the office moved to Croydon in the July.

[Downendian]

What a choice - all childhood and distant memories, sorry no steam never (knowingly) saw it in BR service. Many mentioned before!

 

The sound of a distant approaching Western storming up Patchway bank- and the anticipation of the drama to come.

The slight drop in tone of the Maybachs as a Western sits down on its haunches before the transmission kicks in and all hell breaks loose as a heavy freight powers away

the distinctive sound of a 40 whistle that seemed to carry on the wind for miles

The revumberation and throbbing around King's cross underground station as you walk up the steps having no doubt a deltic was on the blocks. Both sound and feel!

The clanking of loose shunted wagons (especially over the hump shunt at STJ)

The hissing of the tracks at Winterbourne before a train bursts across the bridge heading West.

The spluttering struggle of a class 25 heading Northbound with a train of VVVs heading up from Avonmouth

The variety of sounds and flange squeal from a badly maintained train of unfitted wagons

 

Oh and the distinctive sound of a Merlin or Griffin engined spitfire flying over Bristol Parkway into Filton airfield (a thing of the past too now )

 

Neil

Edit : weird font size on work PC

[GreenDiesel]

There are several railway sounds that I really like.  My favourite ones would be from steam trains.  Also, since I live in Canada but often visit the UK, I enjoy the different sounds of Canadian & British trains.

 

I do like the sound of a North American diesel (especially a freight train) droning & labouring away in the distance, as well as the air horn of North American diesels.  I also like the clickety-clack sound of wheel on the track.   On British trains, I think the sound of the guard blowing his whistle is pretty cool as well as the "peep-peep" sound of a British steam loco's whistle.  Other sounds:  the chuff-chuff of a steam engine and the various hissing & throbbing sounds.

 

However, my favourite is probably that of a North American steam engine's deep, throaty whistle echoing in the distance. That has always given me goosebumps!

 

Rob

[Obi-Jiff Kenobi]

The sound of 3 cylinder Gresley locomotives, at speed

A shame I can only click the 'like' button once on this one.

[Rugd1022]

Catching up over the last page or two it strikes me just how many of our favourite railway sounds are now lost forever, aside from our own memories or recordings of them that is. Funny how 'the everyday things' we thought would always be there just vanish!

 

Listening to 'Western Sounds' in the car last week I was reminded of the posh lady announcer at Reading with her lovely 'Ealing Comedy' tones and nuances.... something along the lines of ''the next train to arrive at pletform four is the 10.15 sahvice to London Peddington...''. All this, with the sound of Hymek D7022 idling in the Up Relief platform making a right old din makes me thankful for the likes of Nigel Fletcher, Peter Handford etc.... well done chaps, and thanks a million!

[Sasquatch]

Another of my favorites was sitting on our deck in evening when we lived by emegrent  lake Oregon, enjoying a cold beer listening to the evening frieght working hard to get up to the Siskyou pass on its way south to California. You can hear the rumble like thunder 10 miles away.

[The Stationmaster]

Catching up over the last page or two it strikes me just how many of our favourite railway sounds are now lost forever, aside from our own memories or recordings of them that is. Funny how 'the everyday things' we thought would always be there just vanish!

 

Listening to 'Western Sounds' in the car last week I was reminded of the posh lady announcer at Reading with her lovely 'Ealing Comedy' tones and nuances.... something along the lines of ''the next train to arrive at pletform four is the 10.15 sahvice to London Peddington...''. All this, with the sound of Hymek D7022 idling in the Up Relief platform making a right old din makes me thankful for the likes of Nigel Fletcher, Peter Handford etc.... well done chaps, and thanks a million!

Many years ago for some peculiar reason a Hymek used to be stabled on one of the Down lines actually in Westbury station and right opposite the Regional Training School (which was residential - and thus masses of complaints about the loco stabling).  Quite why it was stabled there I never found out and the practice - along with most of the Hymeks alas - had finished before I arrived in the area but I have a suspicion it was done on purpose  

 

Downendian's comments about loose shunted wagons over the hump at STJ reminds me of one of my less favourite sounds - a freight being shunted 'smartly' into a siding which was already full, in that case the clattering of clashing buffers is quickly drowned out by all sorts of other noises as what went up into the air comes back down onto whatever it happens to land on, and an empty Grampus landing on another empty Grampus from about 8 feet vertically above it makes a very interesting racket.  Almost as good as Shockhigh part loaded with concrete sleepers riding over the buffers and headstocks of the two adjacent wagons and going straight through the ends of both of them.

[46444]

Bit late posting on this one.

 

I really love the sound of a signal box, the bells sounding and levers being pulled. Then the signal wire going taught making that noise.

 

I also like the sound of a Stanier 'hooter' whistle and the sound of a GWR engine working hard.

 

But like a few others have said from my early twenties living in Plymouth it must be the sound heard about 11.15 falling out of the pub in Lipson Vale. In the distance you can hear a growl in Mutley Tunnel and the crescendo increases and before your eyes two 37's pass over the road bridge at speed with their clay train, the noise reverberating around Lipson heading towards Laira and beyond. The sound lingering in the night.

 

This video on YouTube always brings a smile to my face, It features 37668 which was a BZ engine. I remember it painted freshly in this EW&S livery at Par-next to it one of those new fangled Class 66's at the time.

 

 

 

How things have changed.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[asa]

The sound of Deltics passing Dunbar at night while in a caravan on honeymoon and the noise of wagons being shunted in Glasgow,it travelled for miles.

[Guest maxthemapman]

Anyone who likes electric train noises MUST travel to Milan and ride on the Peter Witt cars there. Built in the 1920s and still in front line service, sitting in one when the driver is in a hurry, and there is no traffic, ramping it up to full speed, is like nothing on earth. Its like sitting inside the motor on a Southern electric.

[New Haven Neil]

I need a 'like everything' button.

 

I think I mentioned earlier I'm 'sound centric', (resulting in spending almost as much on hi-fi as I do on trains), I just love the sounds our railways make, or made, all over the world.  Thanks to Peter Handford and others we can enjoy the past sounds of British trains, and a few others, in our lounges and railway rooms (garage!).

[lankyphil]

The clunk-clatter of a lever going back into the frame.

 

The ring from the rails of an approaching train.

 

A rapid almost staccato exhaust beat with the accompanying shriek of a either a Gresley chime or a Bulleid or Riddles hooter.

[The Lurker]

diddle-dee dum diddle-dee dum

 

the sound of jointed track for me!

[Guest maxthemapman]

This is from "District Dave" several years ago, but I can't find the original post to link to it. Unfortunately, my favourite train sound of all is lost forever, never heard it, no sound recordings, just a verbal account. This is what O/P stock trains on the Underground originally sounded like, posted by "Hindenburg"

 

********************************************************

 

THE METADYNE MACHINE.

 

Let talk a bit about the operation of the machine and what happened from the drivers point of view.

 

 

 

Now all O/P stock were fitted with a Met Vickers controller handle made of brass and a different shape to a standard BTH model. These had no 'latch' like a BTH controller and had be pressed on hard all the while to keep them down which gave you an ache in the arm and consequently were not popular with drivers. In addition to that a Met Vickers controller whilst having 3 positions the same as a BTH, only 2 were used in normal operation. [More on that shortly]

 

 

 

Driving a metadyne was unique experience. The reason for their fitting was that LTE wanted to do away with unnecessary waste of electricity in resistances on starting and to use the current generated by the motors for braking. In that respect they were successful if complicated. The type of machine fitted to an O stock was different to a P but they both did the same thing.

 

 

 

So when a driver got the bell from the guard the following happened. He depressed the controller and brought it round to the 6 o'clock position. The train did not immediately move but 'hung fire' for 2 or 3 seconds. In that 2/3 seconds you heard the Metadyne start it's 'howl' which sounded rather like an air raid siren. This was as it was running up to speed to generate the current for the traction motors. Then there would be a loud 'clack' as the breakers closed to allow the current being generated to get to the motors. The motors would start to take the current and demand more and the Metadyne howl would increase in pitch as it sped up faster. The train would now be moving and do so at an increasingly faster rate. This was incredibly smooth indeed. Very near to the sensation experience in a DAF car or a Wankel rotary engine. No jerky notching feelings at all. More like a jet engine in fact.

 

 

 

So this would increase continuously until you shut off or the machines 'overspeed relay device' tripped. The OSRD would shut the machine down totally and you had to go into the car and reset the thing which was under a passenger seat. That was to be avoided so you manually keep to the line speed limit. There was no auto cutoff connected to the speedo like there is now. There was a speedometer in the cab but it was wildly inaccurate to say the least and they were eventually disconnected.

 

 

 

Now you are trundling along at about 35 MPH with the metadyne howling away and the motors in full song. By now you were approaching the next station so you shut off and now the music really started. You pulled on the brake handle to 'Regen 1' and there would instantly be a lot of clicks and clacks as relays opened and closed. This was followed by the motor noise rapidly descending the musical scale and the metadyne howling at high pitch as it took the current and fed it back to the juice. If you were not decelerating fast enough you moved the brake to 'Regen 2' and so increased retardation. That was followed by the both the motors and Metadyne slowing down as you stopped and silence reigned. The regen dropped out at about 5 MPH and the finish was on EP. All this gave a very smooth stop.

 

 

 

There was one major drawback with the regen brake though in that if there were a rail gap encountered whilst braking you lost all brakes for a second or two until the EP kicked in. They tried to counter this by fitting bus lines within units so that at least one set of shoes were in contact with the current rails but at places like Aldgate junction etc where there were lots of gaps it did not always work.

 

 

 

Now back the Met Vickers controller. This as I said had three positions like a BTH, but whereas a BTH was 3, 6 and 9 o'clock the Met Vick was 3, 6 and 8' o clock, To get to the 8 o'clock position there was a button on the top of the controller pedestal that had to be depressed to release the lock You could then move the handle. The 8 'o clock position was rather like a weak field flag in that it gave a higher speed but in this case you actually did get quite a boost from it's operation. By boost I mean as much as 15mph greater speed than normal. This would be near on 60mph. Consequently it was only allowed to be used north of Finchley Road.

 

 

 

An 8 car O/P stock in full chat rocketing down the hill to Neasden was an absolute joy. The motors would be in full song. The Metadyne screaming at the top of its voice, Oh what lovely memories. Best of all though was braking to a stop at Wembley Park. The descending sounds of the Metadyne and motors from high speed was a concert never to be missed.

 

 

 

Sadly the machines got more and more unreliable with age due to their complications and so they were replaced with PCM equipment and became CO and CP. The trains were never the same again as the conversion took the life out of them. You boys missed all the fun!

[tetleys]

For us steam age train spotting wrinklies from Yorkshire, the Chime whistle of an A4, the (at the time) disappointment of 'yet another WD' clanking it's way through but then the sheer magic of those twin Deltic Engines winding up to leave a station and the latter stayed with me through my working years until they were withdrawn.

 

Dave Shakespeare

['CHARD]

The sound of Deltics passing Dunbar at night while in a caravan on honeymoon and the noise of wagons being shunted in Glasgow,it travelled for miles.

 

It must have done, if you were honeymooning in Dunbar...

[coachmann]

Sound of Deltics, Class 50s, 37s, DMU's..........?

So you've never heard an L&Y 'A' class 0-6-0 trying to leave a yard....the sound of steam rushing down internal passages to fill cylinders, a judder of the wheels as a coupling rod shoots to the end of its pins, a momentary slip, a huge whoooof as smoke steam and water are ejected from the chimney, and then movement as the wagon couplings begin to take up to the accompaniment of a stupendouslallydotias exhaust. It wouldn't matter if you were 9 or 90, your heart would be tearing it way through your shirt, a lump would be in your throat and sh*t would be in your eyes, but by heck you'de be there to watch this spectacle day after day if life would let you!

[Andy M]

The sound for me is the Great Western 'bark' - that superb noise that almost all GWR locomotives make at the chimney

Castle

This gets my vote as well.

 

Had a great trip behind Large Prairie 5164 last week on the Severn Valley Railway. The sound on the misty morning air as she lifted seven north out of Highley through the woods was fantastic. Closing my eyes it could just have been the first train of the day to Moretonhampstead!

 

Regards,

 

Andy.

[Iain Popplewell]

Favourite childhood memory lying awake on a still light hot summer night and listening to the clanking of waggon buffers from the hump shunting at Tees Yard Middlesbrough. Falling asleep to the sound of old ex.NER loco,s and  modern standards pounding through the night with long trains of freight.Oh God I wish I could go back to those days.

 

 

Another memory 1970's, the terrific earth trembling rumbling of pent up power in a Deltic on tickover at York station.