Unusual loud noise from railway near Surbiton (20/10/24)?

[181]

Around 4 a.m. last Sunday morning, my mother, who lives in a house in Surbiton with the main line out of Waterloo at the end of the garden, was woken by a loud noise from the railway. (I was actually staying in the house that night, albeit not in a room with an open window directly facing the railway, but managed to sleep through it). She described it as sounding like metal objects being thrown into a skip, and as the loudest unexpected noise (as distinct from significant engineering work which is usually preceded by a letter from Network Rail warning that it will be taking place) that she'd heard from the railway in 51 years of living there. Looking out, she saw the lights of a railway vehicle (fairly short, not a long train) passing by very slowly (I'm not sure which way it was going).

Can anyone suggest what this might have been?

(This is a question asked out of curiosity, not a complaint).

 

[Mag_seven]

Possibly a rail grinder - they are very noisy.

 

[High Dyke]

A road rail vehicle (RRV) recovering scrap materials, possibly on to an attached trailer?

 

[Class450/4DES]

Around 4 a.m. last Sunday morning, my mother, who lives in a house in Surbiton with the main line out of Waterloo at the end of the garden, was woken by a loud noise from the railway. (I was actually staying in the house that night, albeit not in a room with an open window directly facing the railway, but managed to sleep through it). She described it as sounding like metal objects being thrown into a skip, and as the loudest unexpected noise (as distinct from significant engineering work which is usually preceded by a letter from Network Rail warning that it will be taking place) that she'd heard from the railway in 51 years of living there. Looking out, she saw the lights of a railway vehicle (fairly short, not a long train) passing by very slowly (I'm not sure which way it was going).

Can anyone suggest what this might have been?

(This is a question asked out of curiosity, not a complaint).

I have just had a look at RTT. All NR trains seemed to have been cancelled and none ran at around 4AM.

But if I had to guess, it might have either been a Tamper, a MMT most likely 6U84/DR97504 or a Rail Grinder as what the other person had said.

 

[Cricketer8for9]

Tampers can be very loud. I lived virtually above the railway at South Croydon. Got totally used to the trains but a tamper, with bright lights and a sequence of lift, tamp, move, left, tamp, move etc woke me up.

 

[SpineOnABap]

I agree, probably Tamper unit. I've had one here on the line behind me. It's an amazing piece of machinery but hard to admire it at 3am with the noise it makes

 

[Deepgreen]

Do RR vehicles not register on RTT? Likewise with tampers? Essentially, is it not the case that anything moving on the rails should appear on RTT (i.e. Network Rail's information) - it may not be, but it spurred me to think about what might be excluded.

 

[AlterEgo]

Do RR vehicles not register on RTT? Likewise with tampers? Essentially, is it not the case that anything moving on the rails should appear on RTT (i.e. Network Rail's information) - it may not be, but it spurred me to think about what might be excluded.

Nuclear flasks and the royal train are usually (always?) excluded.

 

[skyhigh]

Do RR vehicles not register on RTT? Likewise with tampers? Essentially, is it not the case that anything moving on the rails should appear on RTT (i.e. Network Rail's information) - it may not be, but it spurred me to think about what might be excluded.

You won't see anything within a possession, just the movement to/from the possession. If a road rail vehicle arrives by road, it won't have a schedule in the system at all so nothing to display on RTT.

 

[sprinterguy]

Nuclear flasks and the royal train are usually (always?) excluded.

Nuclear flask workings are displayed on RTT and other similar online sources the same as any other freight train.

 

[Jimini]

Got this through the door last week -- Haslemere's turn this weekend!




(Image is of a letter from Network Rail informing residents of upcoming ballast work on Saturday and Sunday night.)

 

[181]

Thankyou for the answers. I don't think it was a rail grinder -- it was a short vehicle, with no sign of sparks, and the description of the sound doesn't seem to match. A tamper sounds plausible, although it wouldn't be the first time one had been used there, and the noise seemed unusual this time (neighbours along the road also commented on it).

 

[strimmer]

Could it have been a flail ?

 

[181]

What I think was the same machine was working in daylight over the Christmas shutdown. I didn't get a really clear view of it due to trees, but it appeared to be a road/rail mechanical excavator with a small wagon on each side (with short lengths of rail on at least one, but this may just have been ballast). It would move a few yards, extend and lower its arm which appeared to have some kind of tool on the end rather than an excavator bucket, produce a sound something like a metallic 'clonk', and then raise the arm before moving a few more yards.

Any ideas about what it was doing? Maybe tightening rail fastenings or something like that?

 

[stuving]

Living close to a level crossing used for engineering access, I often see and hear stuff being transferred from road to rail vehicles or vice versa. Most commonly this involves engineers' trolleys, or the bucket of an RRV excavator. And very often, well after midnight as it's after the last train, I hear loud noises well described as "metal objects being thrown into a skip".

What these metal objects are I don't know, as my view at road level is not that clear. I've always assumed it's whatever tools or materials are needed for that night's job. Of course said big metal objects will need to be taken out and thrown back in again wherever along the line they are being used. If they are really big ones, of course the RRV can be used to pick them up and drop them in the trolley.

 

[ThameslinkUser]

What I think was the same machine was working in daylight over the Christmas shutdown. I didn't get a really clear view of it due to trees, but it appeared to be a road/rail mechanical excavator with a small wagon on each side (with short lengths of rail on at least one, but this may just have been ballast). It would move a few yards, extend and lower its arm which appeared to have some kind of tool on the end rather than an excavator bucket, produce a sound something like a metallic 'clonk', and then raise the arm before moving a few more yards.

Any ideas about what it was doing? Maybe tightening rail fastenings or something like that?

That description sounds like a tamper.


Tamper CGI

 

[DelW]

What I think was the same machine was working in daylight over the Christmas shutdown. I didn't get a really clear view of it due to trees, but it appeared to be a road/rail mechanical excavator with a small wagon on each side (with short lengths of rail on at least one, but this may just have been ballast). It would move a few yards, extend and lower its arm which appeared to have some kind of tool on the end rather than an excavator bucket, produce a sound something like a metallic 'clonk', and then raise the arm before moving a few more yards.

Any ideas about what it was doing? Maybe tightening rail fastenings or something like that?

Might it have been using an electro-magnet on the end of the excavator arm to collect scrap rail fixings (or other small steel objects) and drop them into the wagons? That could account for the metallic clonks. I have seen that sort of operation, though not recently.

That description sounds like a tamper.

I've never seen a tamper that looked anything like a road/rail excavator with adjacent wagons.

 

[3973EXL]

Sounds like an RRV with a hydraulic attachment chopping up scrap rail into short lengths ready to be picked up by another RRV + trailer.

Upgrading the track-2

Information for journalists, press, bloggers and the media about Network Rail. Contact the press office to receive news, updates, press releases, videos, pictures, and factsheets, and to arrange interviews, filming and photography

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

 

[181]

Thankyou for the further suggestions, which all sound reasonable suggestions to make but have reasons why they don't seem likely. Maybe it will remain a mystery.

That description sounds like a tamper.

I've never seen a tamper that looked anything like a road/rail excavator with adjacent wagons.

Before I saw it it seemed it could have been a tamper, but I'm now sure it wasn't.

Might it have been using an electro-magnet on the end of the excavator arm to collect scrap rail fixings (or other small steel objects) and drop them into the wagons? That could account for the metallic clonks. I have seen that sort of operation, though not recently.

The sound occurred when the arm was extended and lowered towards the track rather than over the wagons.

Sounds like an RRV with a hydraulic attachment chopping up scrap rail into short lengths ready to be picked up by another RRV + trailer.

But it was a single 'clonk' each time rather than a sound of sawing through metal.

 

[jfowkes]

But it was a single 'clonk' each time rather than a sound of sawing through metal.

It's a hydraulic cutting head rather than a saw. Kinda scary how much force is developed.

(YouTube link is a short video of a hydraulic cutting head cutting a short length of rail in two)

 

[181]

It's a hydraulic cutting head rather than a saw. Kinda scary how much force is developed.

(YouTube link is a short video of a hydraulic cutting head cutting a short length of rail in two)

That seems a likely possibility, thankyou -- I didn't realise there was anything that could cut rails that easily.

 

[XCTurbostar]

The Rail Grinder which runs as 4Q01 was certainly in the area at the time!

Realtime Trains | 4Q01 2246½ Tonbridge Engineers Siding to Waterloo West Crossings | 04/01/2025

Real-time train running information for 4Q01 2246½ departure from Tonbridge Engineers Siding to Waterloo West Crossings on 04/01/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

EDIT: Wrong week!

 

[chrisjo]

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