Eerie Freight Train

On my way to work on Tuesday, my commuter train was standing still for a bit. I heard a high-pitched sound. I looked out my window and saw a freight train start moving in the opposite direction.

What then transpired was an eerie, impromptu song containing a variety of notes, among them G#4, G5, G6, G#5, and C6.

Eerie Freight Train

Link

Freight Train Horn

Recorded at a distance of about 100 yards, this freight train horn is near a D#4.

Railroad Crossing

I was walking by the railroad tracks one day when a freight train came by. Here's the tail end of the recording: the passing of the train and the end of the bell dinging.

The dings are some note between A4 and A#4.

Metra Door Dong-Ding

Tim has contributed the lovely strains of the Chicago El doors closing here.

So, I figured I'd record the El's suburban equivalent, a train on the lovely Metra rail.

Unlike the El, the tone starts low and then goes high. The tones go from a C5 to a F5.

Strange Horn Of An Oncoming Metra Commuter Train

So, I finally got off my sick bed this weekend to purchase a handheld digital voice recorder. I recorded several neat sounds today, the first of which I'll share with you.

This morning I decided to try to capture the sound of the horn of an oncoming Metra train. My train station in the morning usually has a couple trains that go by before my train leaves for downtown, so I knew I would have a good chance. As a fast-moving train goes by its horn is usually honked a few times as it passes the station.

So, I turned my new recorder on and was surprised at the sound of the horn coming from the Metra train -- it wasn't the horn I was used to; it was quite different, much more musical than the customary Metra train horn (don't worry, I'll attempt to capture the more familiar Metra train horn in the near future).

It's hard to pin down the note due to the Doppler effect, but I'd say it starts out as an E4 and slowly slides down to something halfway between an E♭4 and an E4.