How far away can a train whistle be heard?

How far away can a train whistle be heard? With a quiet background (countryside night time) 6–8 miles. Suburban, 2–3 miles. Loud city, 1 mile if you're listening for it.

What does it mean if you hear a train whistle?

Today, the only whistle signals you're likely to hear regularly are the grade-crossing warning (which is also often used to warn employees or others on the tracks); two (or three) shorts to indicate the engineer has received a signal to start the train forward (or backward); and one long blast when a train is ...

What does 3 short train whistles mean?

One short whistle means STOP. One long whistle (three to 10 seconds) means the train is approaching a station. Two short whistles mean that the engineer acknowledges that he or she heard or saw a signal that affects movement. Three short ones mean that the engineer intends to make a reverse movement.

How far away can you hear a train?

With a quiet background (countryside night time) 6–8 miles. Suburban, 2–3 miles. Loud city, 1 mile if you're listening for it.

Is a train horn louder than a gunshot?

As you saw from the DJD Labs test above, actual huge cast-metal locomotive horns top out at 149.4 decibels. Do you think a little electric horn or air horn can do more than 150 decibels? To put things in perspective, a firecracker or a shot from a rifle is around 150 decibels.

Why are trains so loud at night?

At night, the air near the ground can have a different temperature than air only a few hundred feet above¹. This affects the transmission of sound waves. There is usually less ambient noise after dark, so the distant train sounds louder.

Are trains getting quieter?

Trains also use horns, whistles, bells, and other noise-making devices for both communications and warnings. The engines in diesel locomotives and DMUs produce significant amounts of noise. Newer locomotives have become much quieter in recent years due to noise regulations being implemented by countries and regions.

Why do trains shake my house?

The length, height, width, and composition of the building and its distance from the tracks, determines its natural oscillating frequency and the train's length and speed must create an oscillation that closely matches the building's frequency (or its harmonics), so that the small train vibrations get amplified to ...

Why can I hear a train 2 miles away?

Sound can travel a very long way, especially if there are no buildings or hilltops to soak up the sound. If you live somewhere very quiet and very flat then I would not be surprised to hear a horn from miles away.

Why do trains honk when going through towns?

Why do trains sound their horn? Federal law requires the train crew when approaching a road crossing to sound the horn at all public crossings for the protection and safety of motorists and pedestrians regardless of whether crossings with gates and lights are present.

How loud is a train whistle?

The maximum volume level for the train horn is 110 decibels, and the minimum sound level is 96 decibels.

Why do trains honk late at night?

The reason that trains honk their horns so much at night is because it's dark and the trains aren't so easy to see. Even though the lights are on, we sometimes can't see them coming, especially around the many blind curves near or ahead of the train station.

Why do trains honk 4 times?

Anyway, don't blame the engineer: They're required to blow that horn. The regulation in question is called the Final Rule on the Use of Locomotive Horns—a name that strongly implies they've had just about enough of your bitching—and it requires four blasts 15 to 20 seconds before every crossing.

Will a train stop if it sees you?

By the time a train operator sees you, it is too late to stop the train in time. An oncoming train is moving faster and is closer to you than it appears. Similar to an airplane traveling at 150 mph that appears to float onto the runway, it's hard to determine a train's speed and distance from you.

Why do trains honk two long one short one long?

Two short whistles mean that the engineer acknowledges that he or she heard or saw a signal that affects movement. Three short ones mean that the engineer intends to make a reverse movement. Two long, one short and one long mean trains are approaching a highway or street crossing. And the list goes on.

What is a quiet zone for trains?

When the rule established the requirement for routine sounding of the locomotive horn, a procedure was also established whereby localities that could meet certain safety requirements might designate as a “quiet zone” a segment of a rail line with one or more consecutive public highway-rail grade crossings.

Why can I hear trains so far away?

When air warms with altitude a temperature inversion exists. Sound travels faster in warm air than it does in cool air. This means the sound of a train horn will bend downward when it passes through an inversion causing sound waves to propagate farther than normal.

Are trains loud to live next to?

Noise pollution and vibrations are some of the biggest concerns, particularly for people who live within one-third of a mile of railroads or railyards, says Natalia Caldeira Loss Vincens, an expert in public health at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.