"sights, sounds & smells..."

[Anonymous]

OK: A couple of years ago I posted “dinner in the diner…” as a Classic Trains forum topic. Almost every response was either thought-provoking, humorous or otherwise interesting. Many thanks.

For “sights, sounds and smells…” I’m requesting respondents to come up with their rail related favorites, respectively...as general or specific as you wish.

My favorite sound, for example, is that of any train approaching a grade crossing, whether pulled by steam, diesel or electric power. I know, it's a banal observation, but exciting.

Yet one of my favorite sights as a train buff was “discovering,” and getting a photo of, a working 4-6-0 steamer doing yard jobs in Vicenza, Italy in 1975!

Be Creative & Enjoy!

[joseph2]

Favorite smell is the smell of a steam locomotive burning coal,like on the EBT train.Second favorite is to smell tie creosote on a hot summer day in the ex PRR yard.Sounds include the squeal of flanges and loaded cars as we work the yard on a cold January morning

[mersenne6]

The occasional "psssssssht" sounds of air bleeding off when a diesel is sitting at idle and the "tonk-tonk-tonk" of the compressor on a steam engine.

[passengerfan]

Favorite sound for me was the old Alco switchers belching smoke and the whine they made as they revved up to bump cars into a siding or just making up a train far different than anything else sounded. They sort of reminded me of a steam locomotive in there own way.
How about waking up in a roomette and retreiving that freshly polished pair of shoes from the shoe locker. Always thgought that was something special and it always made me feel like it was the beginning of a near perfect day.
As for smell how about Santa Fe French toast in the diner of the speeding Super Chief as it traveled west in Kansas and Colorado.

[underworld]

Like joseph2 I'd have to say a coal burning steamer......also the smell that a three rail toy train emits, the kind of acidic ozone scent. Sounds would be anything to do with steam rail operation. Sights would be steam motive power, old gas electrics and the ornate interiors of old passenger cars and railway stations.

underworld

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[ragnar]

Yeees! The smell of coal smoke in the morning , As a child I remember hanging over the edge of a bridge in So.Mpls in 1951,I was about 7 watching a Milwaukee Road S2 4-8-4 Northern ,Hearing the first huge SNORT of her exhaust as she started her train,being able to literly look straight down the stack and getting a face full of smoke and soot,then turning and running as fast as i could to the other side of the street/bridge to catch her coming out the other side and getting another facefull............Ahh,childhood memorys!!

p.s Didn't figure out what type of engine it was til many years later,but the picture of that beauty has stayed in my mind all these years. And now thanks to the railroad gods theres one again Stomping the rails. .

[Anonymous]

Here in the town where I have lived all 42 years, there is a 1902 footbridge over the old north yard tracks and the east and south mains. Ever since I was a kid, I have been attracted to that bridge. All the different power I've watched over the years, the diesel smoke, the creosote, the wind, an occasional farmers market at the foot of the bridge all weave together for some great times. Unfortunately, this area is a collecting point for downtrodden people so I don't go much anymore. Last week I climbed the stairs and watched a inbound train with 8 engines and it brought back part of my past.

[selector]

How about the thrumming pulse of the firebox as a steamer chuffs past, cylinder clearance roar with billowing clouds of white steam, the quiet 'clank-clink' of the rods when the power is shut down and you can actually hear them, and the plaintive cry of a whistle as the engine rounds a bend near a level crossing.

AAAHHHH.

[route_rock]

Sights,sounds,etc : A distant headlight followed by the thrum of first and second gerneration power with NO mufflers. GEs blowing fire and smoke as they climb into the curve of a 1.10% grade witha taconite train.SDs roaring all the while sanding on the bridge above smelling creosote, diesel, fire and the heat of engines under stress.
Watching a crewman swing off an engine flag the crossing and then get on his caboose as the train slowly rolled over the street in front of me. This will never be seen again as it was the Rock throguh Orion Il.
The smell of coal smoke and hot valve oil on a spring day. the sound of a 93 year old geared engine going to town with the bar in the corner the plume of smoke we leave in our wake. The little whistle one crossing the BIG whistle for fun on the way back. the clank clank as we slow to a stop and my favorite. shoving the slack back with the roar of the cylinder cocks open bl;owing out steam as the dynamo purrs in the background.

[Anonymous]

My favorite sound is that of a diesel approaching an area and the horn blowing in the distance. That sound is beautiful to me. Also, on Train Simulator, i like the sound the GP-38-2 makes when I have it in full throttle, that deep rumbling sound it produces.

[espeefoamer]

I love the smell of big steam.Especially someplace like Sacramento 's Railfair,when there are lots of steamers in one place[:)].
For diesel,the sound of a turbocharged ALCo 539 engine as a Santa Fe S2 switched a local rail yard[:D].
For sights,a matched set of SD45s on a long freight climbing around Tehachapi loop[8D].

[trolleyboy]

Ley's see favorite sound would be a Peter Whitt or PCC streetcar's wine as they power up between stops.Favorite smells would be the sent of the newly creosoted ties and poles on a railway row. Rob

[Anonymous]

Sights? way too many to consider listing.

Smells?- for me passenger trains always had a very distinctive smell unlike any other I have encountered. I don't know for sure what causes it, probably a combination of loco exhaust, creosoted ties, brake dust, etc. that built up over time. Now that I think about it, older cars probably had it more strongly than new ones. It not an unpleasant odor, just one that to me always said you are on a passenger train.

Another smell was the one as you walked along the platform past the dining car. If I wasn't travelling it made me want to.

Sounds?- The 2 shorts and the bell ringing to acknowledge the "highball". It meant here we go are too often there they go. Never saw a train I didn't want to be on. Speaking of highballs, I have heard hundreds of conductors make that "all aboard" call, and I don't think any one of them ever did it the same way. Some a short ,quick BOARD, others a long ALLLL BOOOAAARD, with a never ending array of various tone inflections. I used to stand in the vestibule just to hear that call. It was part of the magic of train travel for me.

Ben

[Anonymous]

The lingering vapors of coal or diesel exhaust and steam from a departing passenger train. The diminishing sight of the Mars light on the boat tail observation car on the Over Night Special. The mournful steam whistle or Wagnerian diesel air chime of the locomotive heading the "Special" as it fades into the black void. The effect is amplified on a winter night's dreary or a gentle spring rain. The nostalgic medely of rememberances this cocktail invokes can bring a lump to one's throat. Then the exuberance and anxiety of the arrival of tomorrow's "Early Bird" gliding along the platform's edge, bell pealing, cylinders chuffing or rumbling, brakes squealing until that final release of air. Then we know the process of renewal goes on.

[Torpedo]

Fav sight: We were paralleling a GE dash 80 on old Rt 66 near Seligman AZ. The train (and us) were running about 50 mph. The second or third engine was belching incredible amounts of thick black smoke. It was just like the smoke from a tire fire and so thick it obscured part of the train. Suddenly flames shot out of the exhaust stack. The flames were probably five feet tall and lasted about five seconds! Wow! To this day I wonder what that was all about!

Fav smell: A creasote covered wooden trestle on a hot day.

Fav sound: An ALCO diesel pulling hard under a heavy load.

[fievel]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ragnar

Yeees! The smell of coal smoke in the morning , As a child I remember hanging over the edge of a bridge in So.Mpls in 1951,I was about 7 watching a Milwaukee Road S2 4-8-4 Northern ,Hearing the first huge SNORT of her exhaust as she started her train,being able to literly look straight down the stack and getting a face full of smoke and soot,then turning and running as fast as i could to the other side of the street/bridge to catch her coming out the other side and getting another facefull............Ahh,childhood memorys!!

Oh, How I envy you, Ragnar !!! I was born too late (1961) to witness big steam.
Smells - Hands down : creosote ties baking in the hot sun !
Sounds- squeeling flanges.
Sights- big bridges, especially Through truss, curved chord multiple spans!
I could also add freight cars bobbing on a branch or spur. There are so many
things I could probably fill a book. [:)]

[cspmo]

QUOTE: Favorite smell is the smell of a steam locomotive burning coal,like on the EBT train.Second favorite is to smell tie creosote on a hot summer day in the ex PRR yard.

I wish Glade would come out with these scents.