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Mooky started a thread a while ago comparing the sounds of EMD's vs. GE's, I think it was called "Me Again" but could be wrong. Anyway I had some comments of why an exhaust stroke of a Two stroke sounds different than a four stroke - more bass in 2-stroke, and how the expansion of sound waves affects the diffrent frequencies of sound comming from the locomotive differently, so that the next time you hear a train from far away, you could pick out the parts of the sound and hear the affect. <br /> <br />Although doppler effect spreads out the distance between frequencies, the relationship between the frequencies remains the same. A difference between 1hz and 2 hz is %100, But the difference of one hz between 99 hz and 100hz is only %1, so while the percentage of difference between two notes changes, the musical relationship does not - a "5th" is still a fifth, whether three octaves below middle C or three octaves above middle C. One thing that does change when raising or lowering a fundamental is that the composition of harmonics that as a whole creates the "timbre" of the sound will change, but that has to do with the physics affecting the source of the sound. <br /> <br />I have always listened to mechanical things with a musician's ear, and it's no accident when the torque curve, and the horsepower curve, the resonant frequency of a cylinder, the resonant frequency of tortional vibration in a crankshaft, resonant frequencies in the drivetrain all line up perfectly at the ouptput and speed of a vehicle that is "cruising". In the case of a locomotive the prime mover's vibrations are in harmony at a speed and output that is in harmony with the alternators optimum speed and the traction motors are balanced physically and electrically at a speed in harmony with output of the alternator and all of these harmonies ocurre at a speed and output in balance with tractive effort that is at the cruisiing speed of the locomotive. THIS is how the engineers get payed the big bucks.
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