Evocative railway sounds - what 'tingles your spine' ?

[backontrack]

The clickety-clack of a Class 158 (particularly over rural bolted track), and the noises of a 170 in motion are nice, but my absolute favourite is the sound that IC125s and 225s make as they travel at speed on the ECML.

 

[47271]

The white noise of aircon and other fans on mk3 sleepers helps me sleep. I find it disturbing when the power goes off, say during a shunt. Everything goes quiet, apart from the man snoring in the next cabin.

 

[Taunton]

One of the pleasant aspects of heritage railways is the range of aural recollections that occur. Even, simplistically, the tone of a guard's whistle blown hard. A modernisation plan DMU working up through the gears, with that little hiss from something air or vacuum powered as they change gear. The "rude noise" of a GWR ejector when blowing the brakes off before departure. The starting sound of a Swindon loco that one eventually discovered was somehow different to a Gresley 3-cylinder one.

The ker-klang of a WR lower quadrant semaphore being pulled off is exactly what used to get me on my feet when watching lineside as a child west of Taunton station.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Is it me or was there a slight difference in sounds with the Networkers before some got retractioned?

Yes, lots of recordings of the old motors on youtube. Its 1 of my fave sounds too.

A modern day addition from me, but 1 im falling head over heals in love with is a class 68 with MK2s on accellerating hard away from Haymarket on the 17:08x Waverley, usually 2 or 3 down and taking the curve onto the Fife Line at full pelt!
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Network SouthEast clocks
Slamming of doors on Mk3 carriages
158/159/165/166s pulling away from standing, or getting a bit of extra throttle to climb a hill
The quiet mid-high pitched whine of a LU D-stock when stationary, there's nothing quite like it, brings back a lot of childhood memories!

and of course

a Paxman Valenta engined HST at full power.

Im totally with you on all the above. The D Stock sound is just great, hope they still make this sound in addition to the inevitable deezol hum when converted. Ironically I hated D Stock as a kid but now got a bit of a soft spot for it!
Best place anywhere for me for a true classic 158 performance is the S and C - a good steady climb then some fast running after Skipton where they are usually Fast Services.

 

[Tw99]

The old SR pneumatic brake pump mentioned by an earlier poster is a great one.

For me, the most evocative noise is probably a Hastings DEMU. They were always my favourite units to spot, and the 12 car sets used to hammer through Petts Wood at pretty high speed and making a nice racket with four motor coaches. Later on, my first job was in Tonbridge, and coming back home on a Hastings to CX service, I often used to have the front saloon to myself all the way back to Orpington. Happy days...

 

[ed1971]

A few subscribers to this thread have already listed the sounds of First Generation DMUs among their favourites. The ones with Leyland 680 engines are also amongst my favourites, which included Class 101s and 108s.

However, the sounds I miss the most are from the original spec Pacer with Leyland TL11 and SCG R500 gearbox. When they actually were working properly, they sounded great, not unlike, Bristol VRT, RE and Daimler Fleetline buses.

However, when the SCG gearboxes were replaced by Voith units, the TL11 engines were very noisy and clearly couldn't cope. Their replacement by Cummins LT10Rs didn't come fast enough.

 

[P156KWJ]

The noise before PA announcements on what I believe are all ex Virgin Trains mk3s now with Greater Anglia, Chiltern and GWR that sounds like a harp. Midland Mainline mk3s also got a three chime sound for the PA which just sticks in my mind for whatever reason.

 

[LowLevel]

Sometimes I have to admit I give a blast on my whistle at formerly bustling places that have seen better times just for the hell of it as if it might wake them up from their slumber - the noise echoing off the walls and canopy at somewhere like Boston, Skegness or Matlock late at night is almost ghostly. I can't magic up the clank of metal wheeled trolleys on platform slabs, the bustle of porters, slamming of doors and feathering of safety valves though - though it is a nice thought to have of the generations of my predecessors standing on the platform over the decades and centuries waiting for the same signal I'm looking at to come off and get underway.

Same as the hissing of signal wires and the rails singing as the train approaches. The railway is well and in my blood and I can't imagine myself doing anything else.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The noise before PA announcements on what I believe are all ex Virgin Trains mk3s now with Greater Anglia, Chiltern and GWR that sounds like a harp.

I thought it was more a guitar strum, which sort of fits with Virgin's roots! I was disappointed when the Pendolinos and Voyagers got that awful ear-splitting electronic bing-bong.

 

[47271]

You may think this an odd one, but I like the confident 'Northern Line' you get ahead of automated announcements on stations on the tube line. I don't know the purpose of it but it comes across as a nice bit of branding.

 

[Bletchleyite]

You may think this an odd one, but I like the confident 'Northern Line' you get ahead of automated announcements on stations on the tube line. I don't know the purpose of it but it comes across as a nice bit of branding.

It's probably useful in case you're in the wrong place ("oops, I wanted the Central Line"), but it seems to be pronounced very oddly with that distinctive Southern raised intonation at the end that seems to suggest, quite distinct from sounding confident, that the autoannouncer is not in fact all that sure if it is the Northern Line or not.

No harm in it, though, it's better than the irritating and pointless running commentary some LUL platform staff like to give.

 

[47271]

It's probably useful in case you're in the wrong place ("oops, I wanted the Central Line"), but it seems to be pronounced very oddly with that distinctive Southern raised intonation at the end that seems to suggest, quite distinct from sounding confident, that the autoannouncer is not in fact all that sure if it is the Northern Line or not.

No harm in it, though, it's better than the irritating and pointless running commentary some LUL platform staff like to give.

Ha, do you mean the 'goooood evening' man who's often on at Leicester Square?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Ha, do you mean the 'goooood evening' man who's often on at Leicester Square?

Nah, the more irritating ones seem to be on the northern side of the Circle.

 

[Rick1984]

The dong-dong-dong of station announcements, not many exist now if any

Is indeed still in use. Heard at Fratton recently

 

[PeterY]

I just love the noises on the railways in general and it's surprising what I know which class it is even without seeing them but the ones I like best, Central and Jubilee stock slowing down. The compressor in the A60's, riding over jointed track, class 20's and 321's.

My daughter used to ring me from Ealing Broadway after she'd finished work, I used to tell her, even over a mobile what was passing.

 

[Eng274]

For me, I like the sound that the turbo on a Cummins NT855 engine makes when power is suddenly shut off.

The banner repeaters at Inverkeithing (before they were replaced with LED versions) made a nice donk...donk-donk as they changed aspect.

The traction motor blowers and rad blowers on a 91 starting up is nice. Much better than the civilised, quiet murmur of an EMU.

The pronounced groaning/wind noise made by a train's wheels on the approach viaducts of the forth bridge.

 

[BRX]

There's a certain sound that HST mk3 stock makes when moving slowly, especially when moving across pointwork and the ends of the coaches are shifting around relative to each other. A combination of sort of creaking and groaning noises.

Sadly of course the Valenta element of the HST sound has gone (very evocative for me) but this sound that the coaches make remains and I find it quite distinctive.

 

[backontrack]

Am I allowed to say the soundtrack to episodes of Great British Railway Journeys with Michael Portillo?

 

[D Foster]

My first station job, Fred the foreman always mispronounced Arundel as A-run-del. I would watch the passengers cringing in anticipation and cringing more when the dreaded word arrived.
An 8 Sub with severe flats on the back four coming up from Horsham. I'm sure we could hear it before Deepdene tunnel. Also a 12 Sub hammering through Lodge Farm as ECS on an end of shift turn.
The "woof" of a Snowking extinguisher when putting out a hot box - usually on a Sub - sometimes on an E series.
The THUD! of slam door stock when booted from "on the latch" to properly shut.
When the Met Office got it wrong we could get a layer of ice or cold-sludge on the juice rail - the sound of "fireworks" as the first shunts pulled out of the sidings - and again as the very first ones worked through to the correct platform.

Gatwick-Manchester diversions - 47 with 6 or 8 on - hammering down Deer Leap Bank, screaming for Gomshall Lane Crossing. (Woke the whole village up).
5-5-7 or 7-5-5 repeated back to me when the pubs were still open
The feel as much as the sound of a det exploding when riding the cab (legitimately of course - I used to do Pilotman/RO among other jobs). (Didn't happen often - but - once felt/heard never forgotten).

A creepy "tingle" - a 66 pumping its brakes (or whatever it was doing) behind me on track (even though clear of the track) - they made the same sound as when they were about to pull away. A sound that proved Pavlov's theory correct.

Any PICOP on the phone saying "Don't bother to leave home - the job's knocked on the head".

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I "forgot" one... Possibly the most evocative of all...
The sound of fog signals (dets) being blown at the Up Distant in the cutting behind where we lived - and that was two rows of houses back.
I probably will forget some shopping tomorrow - but I can picture our living room and that sound perfectly...
I must be ageing...

 

[exile]

The sound of a class 26 idling instantly transports me back to Scotland in the 1970s.

 

[colchesterken]

Bullied slipping!

 

[iantherev]

The farting rasp of a Swindon Class 120 pulling away from rest. Also sitting in a law lecture in Aberystwyth in the summer term listening to the progress of the 14.15 Vale of Rheidol train as it whistled for the many crossings.

 

[DasLunatic]

It would have to be the pulse width modulators on a 319... especially on the overheads

 

[grumblingalong]

One that can still be heard across the network now, the distinct sound of a Mk3 door firmly closed, followed by the sigh of relief from the guard 8 coaches away on the unstaffed station.

 

[yorksrob]

One that can still be heard across the network now, the distinct sound of a Mk3 door firmly closed, followed by the sigh of relief from the guard 8 coaches away on the unstaffed station.

Yes, that's a very satisfying clunk. I enjoy the deep thud when you're sitting in the carriage as well

 

[Bletchleyite]

The synchronised "Teutonic slam" (German operators seem to like loud doors) of all 24 sets of doors on a 12 car 350?

 

[NeilWatson]

The turbocharger 'scream' of an accelerating Paxman Valenta 12RP200L engine as originally fitted to the HST power cars.

Exactly this!

 

[Welly]

It would have to be the pulse width modulators on a 319... especially on the overheads

I've not forgotten a ride on a Thameslink 319 running non-stop between London Bridge and East Croydon in the motor carriage - awesome traction motor music!

Oh and I do miss the Valenta scream combined with the distinct sounds of Mk3s rumbling past the platforms!

The joint track sounds are disappearing fast

 

[168lover]

the noise of wheel flange of trains coming into platform 2 at High Wycombe
the voice of Phil Sayer Announcements
The sound of 165 doors closing

All sounds that remind me of starting days out

 

[backontrack]

I like the announcements at York and Leeds.