Train Noise heard a long way from the line

[route101]

I used to live in Busby and could hear the 156s and horns . In edinburgh i can hear the south sub horns from Causewayside . I live in EK ( Stewartfield nr Morrisons) and struggle to hear anything from the line.

 

[Essexman]

Not away from the line, but I remember catching the Highland Sleeper at Pitlochry and hearing it trundling through the valley for ages before it got to Pitlochry.

 

[devon_metro]

I live during uni term times about 20m away from the line. Can hear Voyagers, 158s and 66s etc. Luckily the desiros are fairly quiet.

 

[Bittern]

That must be awesome. Go do some ear-trainspotting!

I live right next to a railway, thankfully. I make sure to never be too far away from the trains!

 

[ChrisCooper]

I live just over a mile across open fields from the MML, so can often hear trains when it's quiet at night, and also horns if engineering work is on. Some very still nights I can also hear planes on the ground at East Midlands Airport which is about 5 miles away (and can nearly always hear the roar when anything big takes off).

 

[Class172]

I live 2 miles from the line through Droitwich Spa yet I can always hear the horn from the trains. Due to the placement of the whistle boards in the south of Droitwich Spa, you hear the horn, then 5 seconds later, the quiet woosh as a diesel engine goes down the line. Because the trains are so often (about 5-10 mins) you often hear two-tones; also I have learned to identify which train is going by because I hear them so much. Usually it's sprinters (150) or turbostars (170) - occasionally I hear a 66 or a HST (I guess it's the NR measurement train).
Charter trains run a occasionally so you can hear 37s or 47 horns, or in very rare occasions, a steam whistle!

 

[Aictos]

Where I live, I can hear trains when they use their horns on both the ECML and the NVR despite not living close to either.

 

[Oracle]

I used to live just off Bath Road, Hounslow West and could often hear the trains on the Windsor Lines over Hounslow Heath.

 

[jontylol]

I live about 20m from a line. Most things passing are the T&W metro services so you can barely hear it. But you do hear the lovely 142s passing and the Grand Central trains. And every so often a nice freight train

 

[Madge Wildfire]

Sorry to come over all technical and nerdy now, but given certain atmospheric conditions, it is amazing how far sound will carry. Usually, a very light wind from the desired direction is helpful, but at night with few other sounds to interfere noisy trains ought to be heard from up to 5 miles away.

I have heard Deltics on the ECML climbing Stoke Bank from this distance, and Westerns accelerating away from Reading station from just as far away.

During the day it is not unusual for sound to carry uphill on warm air currents, especially if the sun is shining. I remember being about 1000ft up a hill in the Lake District one hot day and hearing the noises of people in a camp site at the foot of the hill as clear as anything.

But the most amazing sound event (non railway - sadly) I have experienced, was an early morning on Brean Down, just south of Weston Super Mare. There was a light northwesterly wind and from the direction of South Wales I could hear the almost continuous sound of traffic, especially lorries which seemed to be going uphill.

After a while satisfying myself I was not going mad, or misinterpreting sounds from the M5 in almost the opposite direction, I concluded what I could actually hear was the M4 near Newport which must be about 12-15 miles away in a straight line over the Bristol Channel.

 

[OMGitsDAVE]

I live around a mile and a half from Seaton Carew Station, and no matter where you are in Seaton, you can always hear a train horn when it occurs.

 

[EM2]

I live next door but one to a bridge just outside Wanstead Park, so no problems hearing trains there but never hear them from Forest Gate