The sound of trains

I remember the C-Liners, but not their sounds, unfortunately. The first time I paid attention to the sounds was when the C420's were delivered. I lived a few blocks away. I was certain that the sound was from some helicopter-like rotor where I now know the fuel/water tank was. I was about 7 then.

An amazingly loud sound was an MP15 dragging on train up that bridge at the west end of Yard A. I guess between the naturally loud MP, combined with the big canyon like walls, the volume was great.

Also cool, westbound work trains through Fox2 and Fox1 seem to be in Run-8 all the time, even at 30MPH.

A neat thing from Kings Park is hearing the trains as far east as Gyrodyne, and occassionally on the Mainline. I never seem to hear them west of Northport.

The best RR sound in my memory is off LI: 5 CP MLW's pulling a freight up Belden Hill east of Binghamton. It was awesome.

I'll add also, best RR sound in my memory is off LI: those big MILW ALCOs on the NYSW 2 weeks ago. I was in ALCO heaven! Brought back alot of memories.

Mike

I like the DE/DM sounds and the 5 chime horn on them. But I like the GP38's better and 607 before the 5 chime horn was added to it.

I remember hearing NYNH&H alcos (FA and RS units) at night to and from Hopewell Jct at night at my grandparent's house in Danbury. I remember the trains being damn long too.

I love the sound of any engine in the 8th notch, got to respect them all for what they are. Even those DE/DM's passing us at speed make a good sound.

Another good RR sound. At SUNY ESF at Syracuse circa 1975 and 76 listening to an unusual (to me) sound of diesels under load. The sound was louder, but lower pitched and smoother than I was used to on LI. Many days and nights I could hear trains on the other side of the cemetary west of the campus. I would often wonder what the trains looked like. By the early 80's I had started studying trains in earnest. Circa 1984 I was at the D&H yard in Buffalo and recognized the sound: 567 prime movers. A pair of leased BAR GP7's or 9's were making up a train. The locos I heard at Syracuse must have been EL GP's going up-grade toward Jamesville.

The FL9AC's when idle in the yard made a whistling noise that no other engine had including today's DE/DM's. Of coarse the FL9 non-rebuilds operated by Metro North weren't like that. The noise of the AC propulsion in them made a very wierd noise when idled in the "Off" mode in the yards.

Back in the '40's my family had a "summer place" way out on the Island. a house my uncle had built on Blydenberg Ave. in the village of The Branch in Smithtown. There was long sandy incline behind the house that led down to the PJ line. When I would hear the sound of the whistle on the WB at what I believe was Haupague Road/NY 111 I'd drop everything and half run, half tumble down the hill in time to wave to the folks in the engine as it passed. I'd have to be a lot quicker to catch the EB because the house was close to the Landing Ave crossing. However the train would just be getting up to speed after leaving the Smithtown station so I had a better than even chance to catch it as it went by.
Many, many years later I was to return to the Smithtown station only because the "ice house" adjacent to it was one of the few places one could then get Genesee beer.
Today I'm able to catch Amtrak's Downeaster when the morning SB and NB pass through Plaistow, NH around 1030. But now in addition to waving I'm able to shoot videos. I usually get an extra couple of tones from the horn as the train passes.

The ice house is long gone, but I am typing this about 35 feet from the where the house was. Based on a photo, I think it was razed in 1964. Regarding sounds, I am listening waiting for the WB freight due in a few minutes. With the hum of computers and AC (and my age?), I usually cannot hear the train until the Landing Ave crossing these days. Here it is now: a GP38, an MP15 and 8 cars.

An eastbound PJ rocket through Mineola with a GP38 in front with 12 cars. It would be blowing its horn all the way from the west end of the platform up until Roslyn Rd. Hopefully you weren't standing under the bridge at Mineola when it came through because you'd be deaf for the rest of the night.

Indiana

Indiana_Doc wrote:An eastbound PJ rocket through Mineola with a GP38 in front with 12 cars. It would be blowing its horn all the way from the west end of the platform up until Roslyn Rd. Hopefully you weren't standing under the bridge at Mineola when it came through because you'd be deaf for the rest of the night.

Indiana

-On my last shift at work (Conductor in training with the New England Central Railroad) We met a train at Brattleboro Vt to swap trains with the crew from Palmer Mass. Well, they had a consist of 4 GP38-2s, and hearing all 4 of those reving up and accellerating to clear the switch I was on was a beautiful sound. The sun was just starting to come up, so it was still fairly dark too...so you could see sparks coming out of the exhaust.

I grew up in Westbury, so my dad and I would often railfan at Mineola. Several "train sounds" from there still ring in my memory:

-The sound of the express from Jamaica to Huntington that blew through at around 5:30 PM double headed by 2 GP38-2s with 8 cars trailing, horn sounding at the west end of the platform.

-The sound of the locomotives off in the distance coming around the bend from East Williston to Mineola, as well as the trains heading back in the other direction TO Oyster Bay. That was a beautiful combination of site and sound....either a GP38-2 or an MP15 idling under the old bridge with the smoke trails still on it, and then the train would slowly start up chugging and echoing under the bridge as it emerged starting to sound the horn, and then the generators gearing down as the train entered the curve.

-I also miss the sound of the old deisels idling in the yard at Oyster Bay.

-These days I do enjoy the sounds of the DM/DE locos when they are going by at 40+ MPH. My favorite has to be that same Jamaica to Huntington Express that hits Carl Place around 5:30, standing just beyond the east end of the east bound platform, on that ground level pathway that connects the station platform to the street. Being on the ground as that set of 2 locomotives and 8 double-decker cars thunders by is thrilling!

One more; this one waiting on the platform at track 8 at Jamaica with a diesel consist pulling in. The low throaty rumble pulsating up and down as the engine approaches and passes the high platform. You can feel it right down to your shoes. Many years ago I had reel to reel tape of just such a sound and when I played it on my stereo my black Lab would look quizically and follow the sound from the left to the right.

I was always impressed with the public address system announcement for the loading and departure of The Cannonball, mid 60s thru early 70s era, on Jamaica track 8 on Friday afternoons. The use of the train's name as well as it's departure time, references to "all seats reserved", "parlor cars only" and "first stop Westhampton" conveyed the feeling that this train was different from every other train ... that it's passengers were those of means and importance ... people who going to participate in a rolling party from The City to The Hamptons. Should you have any doubts, you only had to look at the contented expressions on the faces of the people seated in director's chairs on STEAUKET's open observation platform as the departing Cannonball passed you, gaining speed on it's trek to the far east end of Long Island.

I remember My father taking me to New Hyde park Station when I was young, and hearing the whistle on the MU trains running to mineola. In the early to mid sixties, they still used whistles on mu equipment. It sounded just like an interlocking whistle sounds today. I guess horns started with the introduction of the worlds fair cars, and were upgrades for the other mu equipment after that.

Does any other 'Old Timer" like me remember the sound of the traction motors on the old mu's? I swear they sounded just like the enterprse going to warp on the old star trek tv show...