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As teenagers in the 60's witnessing diesels displacing steam we all hated diesels, however sound played a major part in a grudging acceptance of some locos. In Scotland we couldn't get excited about Birmingham/Sulzer type 2's nor indeed the dreadful NB type 2's but the 40's had an intriguing "business-like" sound and of course the Deltics in sound and sensation were magical. As I've mentioned in an earlier post, the sound of a Deltic entering Edinburgh Waverley station, even light engine, penetrated your whole body, made the ground and station shake and gave you a huge sense of excitement and anticipation - almost, but not quite, as good as an A4, A3, A2 or A1 on the same Anglo Scottish services. I rarely experienced Hoovers in those years but later was most intrigued by their unique sound. I appreciated the performance of the electrics in the late 70's and 80's but on arriving at Euston and walking past the loco, it was completely dead apart from the characteristic "ticking" - what was that, by the way?
Mike
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