Train sounds

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ScottC4746

OBS Chief
Joined
Jan 11, 2009
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850
Location
Redondo Beach, CA
Someone on another thread posted the question about jointed rails which makes me wonder, are there still any routes you can hear the traditional train sounds: Wheels clicking, grade crossings dinging, horn blowing, from inside the train. My last three trips SSL 1 and 2 and SWC 3 I barely heard the horn but the clicking not so much and don't recall hearing grade crossings anymore like one did years ago.
 
You don't hear the grade crossings as much from the upper level of the Superliners. You only hear the clickity-clack on jointed rail, which is becoming rare, but the Chief has a good long stretch of it. But again, you don't hear it so much from the upper level of the Superliners.
 
As for the horn, it depends on which end of the train you are on. Because I travel by coach, I am usually, not always, but usually at the end of the train, so it is less likely that I will hear the horn loudly. And as has been said before unless you are in the lower level, which I am because of my disability, you do not hear the crossing signals as much, we hear them and the clickity clack and bang of the rails from the lower level for sure.
 
I can listen to the K5LA Horn all night and then some and really love it when the Sleepers are up front and you have just enough distance to smooth out the sound. When the Engineer has his/her Long, Long, Short, Long down to a perfect pattern it is nothing less than an orchestra.
 
I can listen to the K5LA Horn all night and then some and really love it when the Sleepers are up front and you have just enough distance to smooth out the sound. When the Engineer has his/her Long, Long, Short, Long down to a perfect pattern it is nothing less than an orchestra.
Wow, that's nice to hear. I thought I was a weirdo for loving that sound. I always get a smile on my face even if I'm semi-asleep. :)
 
I can hear the horn all the way in the last coach. I always seem to be in the last one.

On the CL, in the mountains, you can hear the flanges squealing all night long.
 
I have extremely sensitive hearing, so I can hear the tracks and such, even in an upper level sleeper. I can also hear the horn all the way back in the rear of coach.

I love the horn. It makes me sleepy. :) I love being on the train in general, though, so all of the sounds create a symphony. Even if I can't fall asleep, I love listening to the klickety-klack, the Doppler roar as the cars pass a building or another train, and the horn.
 
On the Texas Eagle you can hear the horn all day and night long. They have so many crossings on that route. Honestly, the horn was quite bothersome to hear all night.
 
I actually sleep better with the horn going. I took a roomette on SSLTD1 and then a bedroom on SSLTD2. The section between HOU and SAS seemed rougher in the bedroom. I mentioned that to the SCA the next morning and he said there was a lot of freight traffic during the night. I figured it was the direction of the bed.
 
I love hearing train horns, too. I grew up within pleasant earshot of a track, and I still live about the same distance, in another area, from that same track (freight only) farther up the line. I don't notice the horns much in the daytime, but I love hearing them in the distance at night. Very pleasant and soothing sounds to me. :wub:

Are we AU'ers weird?
 
I love hearing train horns, too. I grew up within pleasant earshot of a track, and I still live about the same distance, in another area, from that same track (freight only) farther up the line. I don't notice the horns much in the daytime, but I love hearing them in the distance at night. Very pleasant and soothing sounds to me. :wub:
Are we AU'ers weird?
A nice weird

Aloha
 
Although I had my share of baby dolls, cooking sets, and tea sets, the first toy I specifically have a memory of was a wind-up train that ran on a track that my daddy had fastened to a large sheet of plywood. I must've been about four or five years old. Not the usual girl toy back in the dino days! I used to love for him to tell me all about the freight trains. He was shipping and inventory manager for a textile factory that shipped a lot by rail.

I guess the train gene shows its effects early!
 
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