Why do trains make so much noise?

Question

especially when the train honks or horns or whatever they do.

Answer 1

Pesky isn't it? I wish they weren't so loud either!It's amazing that as loud as they are we still manage to run over bunches of people every year.I'll try to be more quiet when i go by your house.

LMAO Hey Bob i had to play dumb to get into engine service!If they would have known i had a 136 i.q. they probably would have fired me instead of promoting me.

Answer 2

Train engineers don't honk the horns they blast them to warn people, and drivers that they are approaching... Most of the sounds you hear is the weight press down on the steel rails. The wheels unlike a automobile do not have tires. So since there made of steel, and the freight cars are heavy as in tonnage. You will also hear the banging of the knuckles, and sometimes flat spots that thump if you where  to go someplace where there was very sharp curves. Like the Horseshoe Curve in Altoona Pa. The noise would be deafening the sequel of the wheel flanges digging into the rails is something to hear. Like the rail's are singing. So whatever they do, as you said They do it for you, and me.

Answer 3

The Feds require train horns to be above a specific sound level.  The horns are loud for a reason and any engineer that has been involved in a xing accident or a fatality probably wishes they were louder.  I know I did.  Even though the horns are loud many people ignore them and get struck almost on a daily basis while at crossings or trespassing along the tracks.

Answer 4

Trains need to have an audible warning system so that people know of their approach.

Steam locos carry whistles, diesel locos carry horns, and in the US all locos must carry a bell which must be sounded at the approach to and departure from any station, crossing, etc.

Any loco in the UK working along a tramline (rails laid in the street) must also carry a bell.

In other words, all this noise is for safety reasons. I'm sure you'd like to be warned if there were several thousand tons of train coming your way?

Answer 5

It's required for safety regulations.

Also required, they must blow horns approaching crossings and (usually) stations.

Apparently they aren't loud enough for some people...

http://www.rail-videos.net/video/view.ph...

Operation Lifesaver...Look, Listen, Live.

http://www.oli.org/

Answer 6

As has already been said so eloquently, train horns are loud for a reason. TO SAVE LIVES.

In the UK, we're getting pressure to make them quieter because our neighbours are complaining (hey, who was there first...?). We now have quiet hours and instructions to use the horn sparingly in order to be good neighbours.

Frankly it's all bunkum.

A very large number of people in the UK either have an iPod screwed into their heads or are yacking on their cell/mobile phones (delete as appropriate depending on which side of the pond you are), so are totally oblivious to what is going on around them. I had a near miss with just such a numpty last year. I'd already sounded the horn in advance of the crossing but this idiot still stepped right out in front of me. Needless to say I almost bent the horn lever double and dropped the brake pronto, and he ducked back through the gate again with a stupid grin plastered all over his face. It was all I could do to prevent myself jumping down and seeing to him with the uncoupling bar.

As long as their are idiots, drivers will continue to whistle up.

Answer 7

All rails are from dysfunctional families.  In addition, hogheads are only considered for employment if their IQ is never higher than 1/2 the maximum number of cars they can ever hope to handle with a single unit.

So, the whistle and bell are merely diversions installed to keep us focused.  We call it "WETSU" (We Eat This S*** Up).

Answer 8

Trains are pretty big you know, big things make big sounds, just ask my wife.

Actually, it you put all the traffic that trains handle on the highways, the hundreds of thousands of extra trucks would make much more noise than any train so take your pick.

As for the horn, if you can still hear it, thank an engineer that you havent been killed by a train.

Answer 9

It's the law, how would you like it if you were at a crossing and the gates went down and the bells rang and the lights flashed you thought it's OK to go ahead and skirted around the gates with no train horn to warn you? Your car would be a twisted hulk of steel, thats why it's the law; to help prevent fatalities like that. That's why they blow their horns at crossings or in other emergencies such as that.

Answer 10

So drivers know when a train is coming and they have to be load enough for drivers that has their music loud