Number of trains ply Southwest Chief route

[Trogdor]

For what it's worth, one cannot tell "sense of urgency" by listening to a train horn. Trains can't really be in a "hurry" either. The train is going to travel track speed whether it's five minutes or five hours behind schedule.

 

[WaltonKSfarmer]

For what it's worth, one cannot tell "sense of urgency" by listening to a train horn. Trains can't really be in a "hurry" either. The train is going to travel track speed whether it's five minutes or five hours behind schedule.

I am just glad to have your response. Of course, I cannot tell whether a train is running with a sense of urgency, but as a human, I can tell a lot by listening. The reason that I wrote this little story is because I was struck by the set of facts,as I percieved them. These facts came to me in bits and pieces that I was able to put together and come to some sort of conclusion. I cannot always hear Amtrak as it speeds through. Sometimes I miss hearing it because of the weather that is happening outside. While I am snug in my little house, Amtrak can be speeding by in the rain or the snow or a fog or during strong winds from the north or the south. This particular morning, there was no wind, no fog, no rain, no snow. It was a perfectly clear early morning and I could hear the sound of the engine's air horn from a lot further away than normal. It was an abnormal morning for that reason, besides the fact that this Amtrak was obviously very late. I am used to hearing Amtrak sounding it's air horn at 3 am and not 6:30 am. I was surprised that I was hearing Amtrak at 6:30 am and I was quick to worry that something was not right with the world. I had the ability to jumping on the Internet to find out answers that I was indeed hearing the east bound Amtrak and it was very late. I can tell the sound of Amtrak as opposed to a freight train because of the really light and hollow sound of its wheels on the tracks. There is a definite difference in sound between the freight train and Amtrak way out here in the boonies, where both trains are passing through at full speed. For sure, my feeling that this train was speeding through faster than normal was a result of my own imagination and not the facts.

 

[WaltonKSfarmer]

That is pretty awesome - cool to think about all the people that are observing the train as it rolls 2/3 of the way across the country.

Ryan, thanks for your response. I see that it was you, who were the first to respond to my initial question a year ago. I assume that you have been an engineer all this time and you have piloted a train past some same spot along the tracks time after time. I suppose that operating a train can become boring, but I am an example of all the little people out there in the hinterland, who actually listen for the sound of the train engine's air horn. I am not likely to ever afford to ride a passenger train, but I can go there in my imagination, as I listen for the train's air horn. One night, late at night, probably at midnight, I was walking the trails along the perimeter of my acreage, I heard a freight train passing through at it's usual 65 miles per hour and, suddenly, I heard a horrendous crunching sound and silence. I stopped and stood still and listened. Over about a half hour, I hear, through the realtive silence, the sound of someone's radio and human voices and obviously one of the engineers had walked on foot back to the middle of the train, where a coupling had disengaged. I don't know this for sure, because that particluar night was pitch black and all I had to go by was the sounds. I heard the train back up slowly and the clanging as the coupling reconnected. A few minutes later, the freight train slowly headed back down the tracks and all was well. I often wondered what if...what about communication. What if another trains was speeding through and was not expecting this freight train to still be setting on the tracks. It all worked out and I am sure communication is really fantastic among engineers, but this was an unusual situation that I was privy to and my only real connection was by sound.

 

[Ryan]

I agree completely that a train can sound urgent - it's human nature to ascribe human emotion to inanimate objects like a train, and with a human at the controls there's a window to insert some emotion there.

I do want to correct one thing though, I'm not a locomotive engineer - that's just a "feature" of this discussion board that gives folks titles based on how long they've been around and such.

It sounds like you would really enjoy a scanner at your place to listen to the trains that head past - it takes away some of the mystery and enjoyment of filling in the story that your ears tell you, but it would also give you a window into what's going on.

As far as the danger when a train stops unexpectedly, that's not as much of a problem as you think. The track is divided into sections (referred to as "blocks), and when a block is occupied, signals at each end of the block tell other trains to keep out. In addition, to that, the signals can also display a "yellow light" (the actual combination of lights varies from RR to RR) that tells the engineer that the block they are entering is unoccupied, but that they should be prepared to stop at the next signal.

That's really a HUGE simplification, if you're interested in reading a little more, this is an article that covers some of the basics written in a way to be very understandable by us lay people: http://www.alkrug.vcn.com/rrfacts/signals/signals.htm

 

[user 1215]

Hi WaltonKSfarmer,

I have the priviledge of enjoying many of the same sounds as you, however, I am in a small suburbian town near Savannah, GA. There is one grade crossing in town and the track speed here is 79 MPH for passenger trains, 70 MPH for the Autotrain and 60 MPH for the freights.

Amtrak's airhorn is certainly unique. Their locomotives, P40DC, use KL5A horns which are very distinctive. Other locomotives use them, too, but it seems like they sound different on a P40DC. Sometimes the horn is loud and crisp. Other times, it seems like it is trying to take a very big breath then exhaling its familiar tune with a lot of air blowing by.

To your point about urgency, should a locomotive see anything out of the ordinary - whether it is a person or animal on the track, or if they don't see that the crossing gates are down, etc, you may hear a lot more from the engineer than just the standard long long short long. Though that is the standard, each engineer has their own "signature".

I love this time of the year when I can leave my windows open and hear the trains coming by a mere 1,500 feet from my home. I like it when the leaves fall, 'cause then I can see them!

 

[cirdan]

Hi,

Although I live in the UK, I am a fan of Amtrak, and have enjoyed many thousands of miles aboard train. I often see folk that I assume are locals waving as the train passes.. not sure they can see me wave back, as the windows are tinted, but I still do!

Your posting here adds another dimension to the Southwest Chief journey.. next time I am aboard, I will be thinking of you, and your little farm, as the train passes by in the night, near Walton..

I might miss Walton though, I tend to sleep quite well, as per the song by Woody Guthrie "Listen to the steel rails humming, thats the hobo's lullaby"

Cheers,

Eddie

Beautifully put.

I second that.

 

[SarahZ]

I might have been looking in your direction as I passed by. I'm usually awake that time of night, and I love watching the dark plains and small towns. I got to see a thunderstorm miles and miles away from us last August. It was beautiful. I felt like I was the only person awake for hundreds of miles. It's nice to know there was another soul out there keeping watch over the nighttime hours.

I'll be sure to wave when we pass through that area on December 24th.