chug, roar or whine..
 

to me there is nothing better then hearing a diesel locomotive working hard, some types of loco have or had a great habit of bringing the house down if you know what i mean. the powerful chug of a 37, or amazing roar of a Deltic, the thumping and whining from a 56 are my faves. but i have a question.. the long lost BR diesels like classes 15,16,17,21,23,28,29, what did they sound like, is there eny sound recordings i could obtain of these types hard at work.
also i have a interest in diesel locos from around the world, what do SNCF class, 63000,66000,67000,68000,72000 sound like, or DB class, 216,217,218,234, also other diesel locos from the USA. i would love to hear these types working. thanks..;) :)

I know exactly what you mean Steve. I used to love to stand at the north end of York station as the Deltics began to pull away. You didn't just hear the sound, you felt it in your chest. It was great!

Dunno if you've ever been to the East Lancs Railway, but that's a great place to hear a diesel working hard. Try and get yourself in the first coach behind the Warship (if it's running). The noise will not disappoint you, I promise!

standing on Hereford station watching the two 37s restarting the Bungallow to Irvine Silver bullet china clay tanks on a sunday afternoon i will never forget, after driver changing the train would head north, the slight grade made the old girls struggle a bit i can tell you, but the sound was awesome.
i did visit Bury once about 7 years ago, i had a fantastic day. i remember being in the first coach behind 40145, head out of the window in a tunnel the driver opened her up. WOOOOW, i had a face full off diesel soot and my ears was ringing but it was fantastic.. ;)

I used to work on the prototype Deltic as second man and the loco was so noisy that the English Electric engineers who always rode with us wore earplugs when going into the engine compartment.
Alan Locojoe.

What is so fascinating about the noise from diesels?
Ruined my hearing after years of working with them. But for a decent experience the faint exhaust beat of an A4 at 60 MPH with 12 coaches cannot be beaten and when they blow the whistle it must sound how the Celestial train set will when we get there to play with it. The interesting thing was that Union of South Africa was quieter than the electric thing running almost empty across the cold and murky fen the other morning.
John

Steve,
I don't know of any specific sound recordings of these locos but I am sure that many of them will feature in Videos and DVD's.
I know for a fact that there is a wide selection of material covering diesel locos in the US.

Know what you mean John, but (and I hope I'm not getting poetical here :D ), but to me the noise is indicative of pent up power being released. I feel just the same when I hear a steam loco as it takes up the strain.



Hmmm...."poetical" eh? Maybe we should have a railway poetry/song thread? Any budding Betjemans out there?

Celestial train? The sure footed bark of a 2P piloting a panting and fussing Spam with the Pines up to Devonshire Tunnel, Bath.

When we all getr to that great rail system in the sky our Celestrial Train Set will have exactlyt what we want as it will for any one else so nbe prepared for something from the 1800s running on the same track as from 2000 plus.
Not too anxious to go and play with mine just yet.
John

if enyone can tell me they hate the sound of a Class 37 at full chat, i will faint in amazment... :p