With it being 30 years sense I have heard a real Steam Engine, as a general rule, which was louder Steam or Diesels?
I know there going to be a lot of variables like engine type, idle, under load and speed.
I am thinking steamers would be louder.
Cuda Ken
Steam was louder because they made so many more sounds than a diesel engine.
I don´t think you can say that steam locos were generally louder than diesels - some of them Diesels are awfully loud!
Ever heard a “Ludmilla” roar down the tracks? This is a Russian built 6-axle Diesel with a deafening sound (no exhaust mufflers!).
Steam at “idle” WITHOUT THE blasted STEAM GENERATOR for lights going is relatively quiet.Steam starting up for load is still relatively quiet, again except that blasted steamgenerator… Steam at speed {I only know from cab rides} can be noisy in the cab and make some racket going by a bystander.
Diesels at idle are relatively quiet, but make “grumbling noises” but I think a steamer WITHOUT THE STEAM GENERATOR going is quieter. Diesels starting up a load, well there you make some racket as the engines rev up to turn the the motors but no louder I would say than steam’s chuff under start up, but diesel is more constant d noise. I think diesels at speed going by are quieter than steamers thouhg, as they have relatively fewer moving paarts.
I would say over all it would be a tie,… there are things that make one noiser or as noisy as the other at various times in its use.
I find the roar of diesels idling in the yards just as deafening as the steamer firing up to go out in the roundhouse at Steamtown.
Diesels certainly STINK worse than steamers, Diesel fumes make my eyes water and burns my throat jsut being in the ambinet air especially on cloudy or rainy days, whereas coal fired steamers only cause problems if the smoke blows your way. Of course, I like the smell of coal burning in the morning!
Now, if they could toss some ribs in the firebox, you could have the smell of coal AND bbq; two great smells! [swg]
When I get home & if I can find it on the computer, I’ll put the video I made while I was in the cab of 2816 a few years ago. It was idling & it wasn’t quiet
Gord
Weren’t’ the turbines the loudest?
Hi!
I’ve had the pleasure of being up close and personal with steam locos on the C&NW and the IC during the late '50s, and of course the steam locos of a number of tourist RRs since then. IMHO, there are relatively quiter steamers and relatively loud diesels, so you really can’t make a blanket statement as to which category is the loudest.
That being said, I do believe that the whistle of a steam loco tended to be louder than a diesel of comparable size or type (i.e. switcher vs. switcher, road loco vs. road loco, etc.). Now perhaps the whistle wasn’t louder in decibels, but the pitch or tone of the whistle may have made it seem louder.
By the way, years ago I worked the display steam whistles at the RR Museum in downtown Dallas - Mannnnn, some of those were head busters!
A steam engine standing still is much quieter than a diesel. …That is, until the safety valve pops.
Hi again!
May I go off on a bit of a tangent here…
For a period of time in the late '80s I was using a forklift to load 2000 lb boxes of wax into a 50 foot boxcar. The noise that the car made - creaking and screeching - was unbelievably loud (absolutely requiring ear protection).
During that same period, with the same boxcar (empty), I pulled a fellow (foolish enough to stand on the tracks) out of the way as that car was blown towards him by the wind - not making any discernable noise. Yes, someone didn’t tighten the brakes.
Locos I have been around seem to be like that boxcar… sometimes they are so loud you can’t stand it, and other times its not loud at all.
It really depends on what the loco is doing, and on a lot of design factors.
A well-maintained steam locomotive at rest with banked fire AND A TURBOGENERATOR IN GOOD REPAIR was virtually silent - maybe a mild hissing sound, not much else. A standing diesel will have the usual idling-engine rumble.
A steam locomotive with a low backpressure front end (which describes most of the later Japanese steam designs) generates very little exhaust noise while running. OTOH, steam locos with high venturi pressures BARK. In my experience, the loudest exhausts were found on the oldest, simplest-designed locos - little teakettle tanks that could drown out doubleheaded 2-8-2s.
I have never heard a diesel generate anything as loud as the roar of lifted safeties on a modern, high-pressure steam locomotive. IMHO, the C58 I heard at Haijima could have drowned out Niagara Falls at the same hearing distance (and I have heard Niagara Falls!)
Absolutely the loudest noise that ANY locomotive could generate would be that of a steamer dropping its crown sheet. NOTHING a diesel can do (even throwing a connecting rod) can even approach that. Of course, you didn’t want to be in the same county when that happened.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with silent steam and diesel locos)
Well thanks for the answers. Reason I asked as many as you will guess I have been changing my engines sound volumes.
My PCM Y 6b with the Loksound 3.5 decoders at stock volume at rest is very quite. Been cutting back on the volume of the diesel fleet so at rest they are not over whelming. But when the Y 6b starts a drag, I can hardly hear the diesels (RSD 15) all most cannot be heard.
Ken
When the cut-off is set high on a steamer and the throttle is well-opened, and the steamer is lifting a good heavy consist (and doesn’t spin), the stack talk should be very loud. The NYC Hudsons were real crackers in that respect. In built-up areas, with high rises and such, the blast coming up the pipe and into dense winter air would shake the windows for a couple of blocks.
A drifting steamer with a non-wailing turbo-generator was very quiet, and a person walking ahead of a locomotive had to be on his toes.
Diesels have a loud roar and rumble when they are working hard, but at idle they are still somewhat noisy, I think.
Crandell
My apartment happens to be about 500 feet from a small yard here in central Pennsylvania on the NS. The diesels seem to drift by pretty quietly when they arent hauling anything. When they are working on a cut of cars its too loud to keep the windows open. Seems the engineers like to kick it into a higher gear and give the ponies a workout, especially when its wet out in the morning. I guess the volume depends on a number of variables.
Cahrn
I live roughly 50 yards from a set of tracks. Most of the train activity occurs at night. I usually get woken up by the horns naturally, but fall fast asleep when the train passes by, but if they switch cars around then it’s going to be a fun night.
The closest crossing to my house is three blocks away. I will here the exhaust sounds at about 2 blocks away. I will hear the poppet valve at about 3 blocks away. In comparison, I will here the horn 2 miles away. The horn can be heard about 2 blocks away.
When I saw the UP 844 last spring being serviced, I noticed an audible hiss from about a half block away. At the time, the loco was idling and they were going to say the rest of the night and leave at 8:30 the next morning. When I watched it leave, the sounds were definitely louder and it drowned out the three diesels idling next to it. I noticed the opposite occurred the day before.
Hi for the third time!
I forgot to mention - and I think most of you will agree …
Be it steam or diesel, old or new, quiet or loud, it is all MUSIC to my ears !
same day same place about 45 minutes apart
click image for video
^^^ Awesome video!!! I think they were both very loud. What was the steamer loco?
UP Challenger 3985
The Challenger appeared to be a little less noisy to me.