Noisiest locos, DMU, EMU past and present

[43096]

HST power car, when new, with original cooling and exhaust.
On full power from a standing start the high pitched scream of the turbochargers was enough to affect your hearing badly for some time after. No other loco came near

The turbochargers on the Class 56s are very similarly to the HST's original turbo. HST had Napier SA-084, the 56s having SA-085.

 

[randyrippley]

The turbochargers on the Class 56s are very similarly to the HST's original turbo. HST had Napier SA-084, the 56s having SA-085.

Never seemed so ear shattering though - slower engine and maybe a more substantial exhaust?

 

[3141]

Going further into the past, some of the pre-1938 tube stock, also known as the Standard stock, roaring along in the tunnels on the Piccadilly or Central Lines, made so much noise that you had to shout if you were trying to talk to somebody, and even then they might not be able to make out what you were saying. The earlier versions - those built up to about 1926 - were particularly loud. When some 1938 stock trains were transferred to the Piccadilly Line in 1952 they were noticeably quieter.

 

[AlistairCowell]

I remember hearing a Class 37 a mile away where I lived, this used to happen late at night when it was the locomotive for the Caledonian Sleeper between Fort William and Edinburgh until 15 years ago.

 

[Train Maniac]

Class 37, Max throttle. No contest

 

[Philip]

Is there any sound footage of the Fell diesel in action? That must have made a fair bit of noise when at full pelt.

 

[gimmea50anyday]

Look, it’s this simple. You aren’t ever going to get any louder than this!

Thanks Dean, you are a legend! (he tried but he never got this performance out of a 185!)

 

[Strathclyder]

The deep, reverberating thump/thud/throb of a 56 under power can be distinctly heard in this vid (from the 50046ajax YT channel) in tandem with the screaming turbo. Incidentally, the only thing that sounds better than a 56 with the power handle fully aft is a 56 slipping with the power handle fully aft; genuinely spine-tingling stuff. If you listen closely, you can hear it (the 56) over the banking 60 (not exactly whisper-quiet itself!) as it slogs up the Lickey:

Look, it’s this simple. You aren’t ever going to get any louder than this!

I see/hear that 37, and I raise you two 37s under the streets of Glasgow (from the RoyTheMouth YT channel).

 

[Class360/1]

Has to be the central and jubile line stock, especially when in the tunnels!

 

[Bigman]

For me it has got to be the good old Paxman Valenta 12RP200L opening up on all cylinders out of York.

 

[ac6000cw]

Class 24/25/26/27 in pairs.
Class 37 blasting up the climb out of Dingwall on the Kyle line through a rocky cutting (heard from the first vestibule with the windows open, of course ).
Deltics on the mainline.
Class 68s.

Class 153 on the inside.
Class 185s from the outside.

I'm not a great fan of turbocharger noise, but for peak noise level Valenta-engined HST's have to be near the top of the list.

But if we're allowed foreign stuff then...

A pair of White Pass and Yukon loco's re-engined with Cummins QSK45L V12 diesels - skip through to the 1:48 point to hear them accelerating upgrade from a stop. The loud wailing noise at full power is something to behold...

A set of old SantaFe GE B40-8's accelerating hard away from Tehachapi (not my video):

A set of four EMD SD40-2's giving it all they've got (slipping a little bit as they go past the camera) on the back of a heavy coal train climbing past Cassandra, PA (it was so loud my camcorder was struggling to cope):

 

[matchmaker]

Is there any sound footage of the Fell diesel in action? That must have made a fair bit of noise when at full pelt.

With 6 diesel engines running I'd imagine it would be LOUD!

 

[Rob F]

The turbochargers on the Class 56s are very similarly to the HST's original turbo. HST had Napier SA-084, the 56s having SA-085.

As I understand it, the engine in the 56 is a direct descendant of that in the the class 50s (and 40s even further back) but to me it sounds completely different. Is this because of different exhaust and turbo charger arrangements?

 

[Richard Scott]

As I understand it, the engine in the 56 is a direct descendant of that in the the class 50s (and 40s even further back) but to me it sounds completely different. Is this because of different exhaust and turbo charger arrangements?

It is, running up to 900rpm with two turbos rather than earlier engine's four. Believe CP1800s (Portuguese 50s) only had two turbos as well? The 56s had an element of silencing not that you'd know. If listen to a 56 in a tunnel the typical 50 dub dub sound does come through.

 

[Paul Jones 88]

I find 317s very noisy when they pass at speed at the bottom of Grandad's garden near Enfield Lock.

 

[richieb1971]

In the UK, the old Valentas in the 43 HST's, The 56's and 57's.

At least they are the highest pitched and loudest to my ears.

 

[southern442]

313's are as noisy as some DMUs particularly if the compressors are on.

 

[lord rathmore]

From a passenger situation took a lot to beat a Craven 105 at full power, not only engine and exhaust but luggage racks, window frames every nut , bolt , rivet and even the crews false teeth

They certainly did. On a trip to Southport with my mother in mid-60s the windows and everything else were rattling so badly nobody in the carriage could hold a conversation.

 

[Bill EWS]

For me it had to be the 800's and Western Hydraulics. They were horrendous and which I would say, gave me Tinnitus for the rest of my life.
I remember going home one day and when in bed could hear the sound of the 800 we had that day in my head all night long.

 

[Taunton]

Surprising the issue with the Warships, except that they must have been very well soundproofed, the cab was fine but when you opened the door to the engine room from the cab there was a huge increase in noise.

We live in Canary Wharf and quite some years ago, in the quiet early hours of Sunday, I would regularly hear what was undoubtedly a Sulzer engine floating over the rooftops, which I took to be a Class 47 at Stratford, until one night I chanced to trace it, it was a Class 33 on a (then) newspaper train coming through Greenwich headed for Kent. A couple of miles distance.

Nowadays I'm always appalled at Voyagers stopped at intermediate stations whose engines seem to run at pretty much max revs when stationary, completely drowning out any station announcements. I was told this was to enable the air con etc to be maintained. Come on, the ability to charge auxiliaries from an engine at idle, not doing traction, was cracked long ago - this is not Deltic era technology any more.

 

[Irascible]

Standing on a platform anything with those Napier turbos is loud enough - with young ears HSTs felt far louder than what they were replacing ( it's pretty hard to hear any actual engine! ) 50s and the few 56s I came across could be heared halfway across a county though.

 

[xtpe]

Class 185 and also annoying when a 185 engine is hunting, i think thats the technical/railway term for it

 

[AutoKratz]

EMU wise for me the T&W Metro class 994s are the noisiest. You can hear them a mile off. No noise dampening insulation, single glazed opening windows, 2 compressors and 2 alternators per train... Loud.

These days they don't switch the trains off any more as they don't turn back on so they're whirring away 24/7!


Metro bosses have been reluctant to switch the 40-year-old carriages off overnight in case they fail the next morning

Metro neighbours hit with overnight noise pain – because trains are too unreliable to be turned off
Neighbours of the Metro depot in Gosforth have been woken up in the early hours – because the network’s ageing trains are too unreliable to be switched off overnight.

It has emerged that Metro’s 40-year-old fleet has been left in standby mode through the night for more than a decade because of the ever increasing risk of vital systems failing to restart if they are turned off – potentially causing major morning disruption the next day.

But the rumbling of the struggling trains became an extra nuisance for residents living next to the Cheswick Drive depot in the past week, after they were moved closer to people’s homes.

Demolition work has just begun at the facility as it is due to be replaced by a new £70 million building in advance of the long-awaited new fleet of Metro trains entering service in 2023.

But that means that there is now less space to house the current carriages, some of which are now being kept outside all night on sidings closer to Cheswick Drive.

Parklands ward councillor Pauline Allen said that some residents had complained of being woken up after midnight by the noise in recent days and that the ageing fleet, described by Metro operator Nexus as the worst of its kind in the UK, should have been replaced long ago.

Stadler, which is building the new Metro fleet and now runs the depot, confirmed that it has now reluctantly agreed to turn trains off overnight when they are stationed next to the houses and says it is “seeking to mitigate” the risk of resulting malfunctions.

Coun Allen, a Liberal Democrat, added: “Stadler told me this week that it [maintaining the trains] is like performing open heart surgery on someone who is playing squash.

“I am working with the residents and Stadler and hopefully we can get something sorted, I think they are going to try and move the trains away from homes so that there is less disturbance.

“We have people here who are elderly, who have health problems, or who just need to get up in the morning to go to work.

“Living next to a Metro depot means there is always going to be a bit of noise, but now having it through the night as well is an added problem for people.”

In a letter seen by ChronicleLive, Stadler warned that there will still be noise from trains entering and leaving via the tracks next to Cheswick Drive, including screeching brakes and horns being sounded.

Nexus said that leaving the trains on overnight had been deemed necessary for years, particularly in colder weather, to prevent their air system from freezing and to avoid battery issues.

A spokesman added: “The current Metro rolling stock, which is more than 40 years old, put simply is the worst performing fleet of its type in the UK and this presents us with constant maintenance challenges. This is precisely the reason we are investing in a new fleet.

“Over the last decade we have been forced to keep our trains energised overnight in order to reduce the risk of vital systems failing to restart which in turn causes early morning failures and disruption to services. This is particularly prevalent during cold weather.

“Our train maintainer, Stadler, has continued to implement this mitigation this since taking over fleet maintenance. However, they have now taken steps to switch off the trains that are stabled on the sidings immediately adjacent to local homes on Cheswick Drive.

“This mitigation won’t be needed with Metro’s new fleet which will be 15 times more reliable and far less susceptible to start up failures.

“The new £70m state-of-the-art environmentally-friendly depot Stadler is now building at Gosforth together with the transition to the new fleet is a major engineering project but we and Stadler want to make sure our neighbours are looked after with regular updates and access to a downloadable app with the latest information and ways to raise questions and concerns.

“We know some people have concerns about noise from trains stabled outside while demolition and construction works takes place. We’ll always consider adapting our plans to minimise issues wherever possible and we’re determined Metro remains a good neighbour during the transition to this modern depot and train fleet.”

Up to a quarter of the Metro fleet can also be kept at the temporary depot which has been built in Howdon.

 

[BoroAndy]

From a passenger situation took a lot to beat a Craven 105 at full power, not only engine and exhaust but luggage racks, window frames every nut , bolt , rivet and even the crews false teeth

Fair to say all mk1 dmus made a right racket from everywhere imaginable, wonder how it was allowed to happen

 

[delt1c]

Fair to say all mk1 dmus made a right racket from everywhere imaginable, wonder how it was allowed to happen

But Cravens managed to surpass all others, dont know how they managed it but the 105 was way ahead of the worst of the rest of 1st Gen DMU's

 

[d9009alycidon]

Although not perhaps the loudest, the Deltics had a "thrum" that you felt in your very soul

 

[172007]

Modern loco's, depends on the definition. Tornado is 13 years old and pretty damn noisy under power I would say.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

We're not going to mention the almighty roar of the 373s? What a sound.

 

[ed1971]

Classes 150, 153, 155 and 156. Also Pacers when they had Voith gearboxes, but still retained Leyland TL11 engines as depicted here:

I recall that Class 31s were noisy too.

 

[southern442]

Classes 150, 153, 155 and 156. Also Pacers when they had Voith gearboxes, but still retained Leyland TL11 engines as depicted here:

Seemingly quite a bit quicker on their feet too!