Trivia: Most annoying sound made by a train

[py_megapixel]

You don't like the reassurance (and nostalgia) of the "Teutonic slam"?

Honestly it is quite satisfying when it happens, but surely it can't be good for the bodywork or the door mechanism?
I hate to think what would happen if some of the more cheaply constructed units - 800s, for example - had doors which closed that violently!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Honestly it is quite satisfying when it happens, but surely it can't be good for the bodywork or the door mechanism?

All car doors are slam doors, and they tend not to fall off?

 

[samuelmorris]

Devil's advocate - car doors aren't opened and closed hundreds of times a day, even for taxis.

Personally I find the loud mechanism quite reassuring on Desiro UK units - they are a bit slow, but nowhere near as bad as, for example, 395s. Not sure what the 'hydraulic whine' is you refer to - they're pneumatic and there is no whine, only perhaps the slight hiss of air. Aventra doors on the other hand, very much do have a whine. Odd because Electrostar doors before them were electrically driven and (376/378s notwithstanding) had no whine whatsoever. A bit of a backward step.

 

[geoffk]

Automated announcements.

"Customers are reminded to remain vigilant.............." in a cheery voice after EVERY station stop made by a Northern 195.

 

[py_megapixel]

"Customers are reminded to remain vigilant.............." in a cheery voice after EVERY station stop made by a Northern 195.

Unless it's changed significantly since I was last on there, the please remain vigilant announcements only play every 3-4 stations? That's still too frequent for my liking, but it's bearable. If it was every stop, it would become very quickly tiring.

 

[geoffk]

The last train I was on I'm sure it was every station (Leeds - Hebden Bridge, 5 stops) but I think normally just the main stations.

 

[SuspectUsual]

The worst door sound is to me Class 158 doors opening, which sound like they are about to wrench part of the bodyside off as they do.

I quite like the drama of the opening of the doors on a 158. Press the button.....wait.....PSSSSSSS.....PAH!!!

 

[Jamesrob637]

All car doors are slam doors, and they tend not to fall off?

Japanese taxi doors?? But a bit off topic. I hate the racket older Sprinters make - worse than Pacers.

 

[37057]

Honestly my worst experience with doors anywhere on the network has to be on a 185. It almost feels like the door controller had personality (but not in a good way!) - it bongs enthusiastically for a few seconds, inviting you to push the button. But when you do, it had a complete change of character - it thinks about it for a few moments, and, presumably after an internal whinge of "Oh come on, do I have to?", it reluctantly heaves the doors open with an unpleasant hydraulic whine, and the same in reverse for the closure, where, for good measure, they bang shut horribly.

I really don't understand why Siemens let such an overall well designed and constructed unit off with such an awful door mechanism.

The nicest doors I think have to be the Coradia ones, which glide smoothly open the moment you push the button.

They're pneumatic doors, so naturally not as quick as electric.

The delay you experience will be caused by air pressure 'switching over' from closed - open / open - closed etc. As this happens the air pressure in the opposing 'side' of the drive cylinder needs to exhaust which serves as a good 'cushion'. Without that they would operate quite violently! Also on opening the cam locks need to be unlocked too.

I don't think they're that bad though, certainly not as bad as waiting for the step to unfold on a Pendolino in my opinion!

 

[kevconnor]

One which I don’t think we get that much any more but on I think mk3 sets when internal doors wouldn’t stay closed or open and would be constantly sliding one way or another.

 

[Prestige15]

Those cheap nasty aftermarket door opening sounding on refurbished stocks i.e class 319

 

[_toommm_]

I have certainly noticed that the TPE units (both 185 and 350) seem to have slower and more "painful" door operation than WMT 350s. As they are all Siemens maintained I'm not quite sure why this is, but it's noticeable.

Especially at stations like Slaithwaite on the Manchester-bound platform - because of the track cant you sometimes have to give the doors a hand for them to even consider opening.

 

[delt1c]

Deltics. That infernal droning they make: sound like a badly tuned set of bagpipes.

Sacrilege, the sound of the napier Deltics is pure music. As for bagpipes , music from above , check out bag rock

 

[Pete_uk]

Is that the sort of ‘voooom’ that the pantograph(s) make at speed?

I dont know, I only have the 'pleasure' of diesel working. It comes from underneath so I'm guessing its motor related

 

[Impey0711]

The pendolino toilets drive me nuts

 

[py_megapixel]

The pendolino toilets drive me nuts

The recorded voice, the door, or the flush?

 

[365 Networker]

the original "bing" bell sound on 365s.

I miss that sound, along with the original auto announcements which where nice and short and actually sounded like a real voice - apart from ‘bLondon’ Kings Cross!

I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned, but the sound of a wheel flat can be very annoying.

 

[delt1c]

The sound of the train that you just missed leaving the station. Has to be the worst sound

 

[stuart100100]

The horrendous screech of some 507s/508s coming into the Northern Line platforms at Liverpool Central from the Moorfields direction

 

[Impey0711]

The recorded voice, the door, or the flush?

The recorded voice

 

[kermit]

Pacer squealing abominably from Deansgate Jn to Skelton Jn, Timperley (sharp curves....). Sorry if it has already been mentioned, but there are a lot of pages here!

 

[BoroAndy]

The squeal of the wheel flanges on a pacer as it goes around the 90 degrees bend at seamer west junction heading towards Filey. Those were the days.... Not.

 

[Richard Scott]

The squeal of the wheel flanges on a pacer as it goes around the 90 degrees bend at seamer west junction heading towards Filey. Those were the days.... Not.

Some of the worst squeal is brakes on some CD (Ceske Drahy) coaching stock. Ear splitting.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Some of the worst squeal is brakes on some CD (Ceske Drahy) coaching stock. Ear splitting.

The rubbing noise of tread brakes on European stock is certainly loud - but Mk1 and Mk2 stock in the UK was as bad. Oddly, 150s and 156s (and maybe 153/155?) also have tread brakes but aren't even nearly as noisy.

 

[superjohn]

The sound of grinding tread brakes always seemed worst on mark 2 air conditioned stock. Perhaps their sealed windows make for a lack of other external noise to cover it up.

The TGV family tend to squeal at low speeds, preceded by the distinctive hiss that can be heard throughout the train as the air pressure is released.

 

[Recessio]

The "UFO" sound of 350/360, similar to the 700/707/717 when on 3rd rail.

 

[typefish]

The sound the 60s make by merely existing

Possibly the only loco whose engine can shake the house

 

[LowLevel]

The ear piercing screech that short wheelbase 4 wheeled wagons used to make going round the back on the goods at Leicester. It was a totally different noise to Pacer squeal, I actually thought the windows and my ear drums might shatter. There was a weekly move where a rake spent the weekend in the siding in front of the power box and I used to make sure I was away from the platforms when they were coming in to shunt.

 

[supervc-10]

The sound the 60s make by merely existing

Possibly the only loco whose engine can shake the house

I dunno- my gym (remember those? Damn Covid) backs onto the tracks just off Regent Road in Salford, and you could definitely tell when a TPE 68 goes past! Although personally, that's a pretty great noise.

 

[mightyena]

I dunno- my gym (remember those? Damn Covid) backs onto the tracks just off Regent Road in Salford, and you could definitely tell when a TPE 68 goes past! Although personally, that's a pretty great noise.

I was gonna say, I'd have thought 68s take the crown for that. You can feel it in your chest when one of those goes past.

I'm not sure if they're actually the loudest, but they feel it, due to the frequency of the noise, Vossloh seem to have picked the only engine in existance that runs at the resonant frequency of literally everything!