THE SOUND OF THE TRAIN WHEN IT'S COLD...

[Anonymous]

I LIVE ABOUT 3-5 MILES FROM TRAIN TRACKS, WHY IS IT THAT I ONLY HEAR THE TRAIN WHEN IT'S COLD OUT?

[Anonymous]

Greetings:

     You can really hear the sound when it's cold because the air is denser and sound travels better through denser materials.  I look forward to those cold, clear days following a passing front just so I can hear the trains pass.

[underworld]

When it's cold the cork roadbed bocomes more brittle and amplifies the sound.....oh wait, that's for toy trains!!!!!

 

underworld

[PBenham]

I believe that the reason one will hear more in winter is that trees have dropped their leaves, thus, the noise of a train (or anything else for that matter) will travel further. BUT I am not a scientist, nor do I play one on TV!

[wjstix]

Funny, my wife was just commenting on that. Our new house is about 2-3 miles from the BNSF and CP mainlines. You could hear trains in the summer, but now in the winter they seem a lot louder.

It seems like the cold makes the sound carry better, especially the higher frequencies. I know growing up a few miles from an airport, that when it was really cold the sound of the jets going overhead seemed much "crisper", like you took a stereo system and turned the treble all the way up.

[tim o'm]

These are all good factors in why sound travels further in the winter months. I think 3-5 miles is quite a distance to travel, especially considering the geography. If you live on a flat surface, compared with the rail line, it would travel differently from if you are uphill or downhill from the tracks. Another factor missing in the winter is humidity. It definitely dampens sound in the Summer, which is why it is so difficult to yell very far in the summer.

I speak professionally to the public in a railroad environment, and have learned a lot about seasonal changes, and the effect on my voice, people's attention and the sound of the train, especially a steam engine's whistle. Wind will also carry sounds a far distance, both away from and toward you, based on the intensity and direction of the breeze.