How loud is it in the cab of an operating locomotive? Can the engineer and conductor carry on a normal conversation, or is it a case of shouting over engine and track noise?
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Older diesels are loud enough in run 8 or 7 to require some loud voices, especially if the windows and/or doors are open. In lower throttle settings a normal conversation voice is sufficient. When blowing the horn for a grade crossing (again with the windows open) we normally give each other the "crossing clear" between horn blasts. The air brake system makes noise as well, but those are usually only a few seconds and don't interfere with conversation. New diesels with "quiet cab" features are much quieter and conversation is possible in just about any case.
In a high throttle and blowing the whistle and trying to listen to the radio in older locos (SDP40, GP7, SD9) is a challenge. We normally get past the grade crossing and then use the radio. Headsets are fine and eliminate all of the interference so radio and cross cab communication is much easier.
EMD units with the dynamic brake located right behind the cab are very noisey. They even seem like they want to suck your brain out of your skull if someone has to go out the door when in heavy DB.
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BigJim EMD units with the dynamic brake located right behind the cab are very noisey. They even seem like they want to suck your brain out of your skull if someone has to go out the door when in heavy DB.
Very true. If the inertial filters are plugged the diesel will really try to suck your brains out. One way to tell is to try to open the electrical cabinet doors when the engine is in notch 8. If you cannot then the diesel is getting its air from the cab of the engine. Ever wonder why the cab heaters don't heat the cab and the heat goes away when you run in notch 8?
In extreme cases the floor sections of the cab will float up.
That's one nice thing about the old GEs, they were quiet compared to the EMD "screamers"
Here in the wintertime on rough track when the ground is frozen the cab noise is much greater.
Randy
Current maximum allowable noise level in a North American locomotive built after 2007 is 85 decibels average at static with the doors and windows closed maximum 87 decibels.
With the doors and windows open and pulling, it can get loud enough to require shouting at times, but all Class 1 roads and most 2 and 3 require hearing protection to be worn when the windows are open.
Our MK1500Ds built in 1996 are allowed 89 decibels at static.
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Everything we run is vintage - F's, RS3, RS18u, GP9.
Notched out, they get noisy, and if the windows are open (air conditioning? We don't need not stinkin' air conditioning!) the bell is bad enough. There's no conversation with the horns, even though they're back on the carbody on several of the locos.
Raised voices are usually necessary.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
petitnj In a high throttle and blowing the whistle and trying to listen to the radio in older locos (SDP40, GP7, SD9) is a challenge. We normally get past the grade crossing and then use the radio. Headsets are fine and eliminate all of the interference so radio and cross cab communication is much easier.
Conrail SD60I locomotives, new, with cab windows closed, in notch 8 - full load (using self-load, so DB fan was wound up full, too) and horn blowing were below 80dB - the first locomotive's built with sub-80dB noise level. The SD80MACs were as quiet.
An Conrail SD40-2 with the horn mounted on the leading edge of the cab would be just >90dB with the horn blowing. (A B23-7 with the horn mounted just aft of the toilet compartment vent would hit >100dB in the toilet compartment when you sounded the horn - insert your joke here)
While OSHA draws a line at 80dB, I recall that the FRA draws the line at 85dB. I think both allow for a time weighted avg, but since you can never really know the duty cycle for each and every tour of duty, the only way to be sure you keep under goal is to keep the max under the goal.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
csmith9474I am not TE&Y, but I could have sworn seeing something in the operating rules that in the cab of a F40PH, you still are supposed to wear hearing protection even with the windows closed.
Depends on the railroad. Here in Boston on the current commuter rail contract operator (MBCR) that's not required, although I do since the air brake vents directly into the cab -- that's the only uncomfortably loud noise. The prime mover runs at high RPM when supplying HEP so it is necessary to shout to converse.
Newer locomotives like the MP36s are very quiet (and the brake vents outside the cab, just a soft whoosh) and you can hold conversation only slightly louder than normal speaking voice. Same goes for cab cars, although that's all track noise versus engine noise.
I recall noise levels on my trips through the BC mountains in 1981. We usually had three to six SD40s on the point, and the turbocharger whine made conversation difficult at the best of times. My seat was ahead of the brakeman's seat and facing inward. Even so it was hard to understand him at times even though he was a foot away from me and practically shouting in my ear. Going through tunnels was also an experience, with the sound of the engines reverberating from the tunnel walls. Quite the experience!
Murphy Siding How loud is it in the cab of an operating locomotive? Can the engineer and conductor carry on a normal conversation, or is it a case of shouting over engine and track noise?
Headsets are connected to each other and you can talk across the cab. In addition they are wired to the radio for sending and receiving. They reduce fatigue on long hauls.
A Metra E8,
in the 8th notch (both prime movers running full)+the HEP Cummins engine running at full power= ~128db in the engine room.
I spent so much time in the engine room of those locomotives trying to fix the various problems they continually had enroute had got me to wondering exactly how loud it was in there, so one day I brought my decibel meter with me to work.
Passing a freight train on the adjacent track with the cab window open while crossing a diamond will get you some 130db spikes on the meter.
zardoz A Metra E8, in the 8th notch (both prime movers running full)+the HEP Cummins engine running at full power= ~128db in the engine room. I spent so much time in the engine room of those locomotives trying to fix the various problems they continually had enroute had got me to wondering exactly how loud it was in there, so one day I brought my decibel meter with me to work. Passing a freight train on the adjacent track with the cab window open while crossing a diamond will get you some 130db spikes on the meter.
Sounds like a steam engine might have been quieter to operate??????
Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.
128 decBels IS dangerous to your health. No Kidding. Even for a short time. I hope you wore ear protectors.
daveklepper 128 decBels IS dangerous to your health. No Kidding. Even for a short time. I hope you wore ear protectors.
128 decibels is a Metallica concert.
or The Who..
Or my neighbor's 21 mini-doxies and three Cairn terrors (spelling intentional)...
NOT EVEN CLOSE. LOUDEST ROCK CONCERTS ARE ABOUT 110 DECIBELS PEAK STILL FAR TOO D--N LOUD FOR ME!!!!
Did you say something??
CSSHEGEWISCH Did you say something??
Funny , that's the extent of the conversation in the car with the girlfriend driving home from the Metallica concert
There's something happening here.
What it is ain't exactly clear.
Alton Junction
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