Is it me or have the trains been getting louder and louder?
Has there been some kinda of saftey regulations that have increased the amount of noise a train horn must produce?
I love train questions!
It depends, really. Yes, you’re hearing more sound. The horns themselves haven’t changed much, but the methods used to power them and mount them have. In some cases, they’re now mounted near the bottom of the locomotive rather than on the roof. In others, they’re mounted about halfway back on the top of the long hood.
The real reason I think you’re hearing more noise is because the builders have switched over to push-button control. It used to be that the engineer had a valve and could put a small amount of air, or a large amount of air, through the horn. That was part of the romance of the sound (from far away.) The push-buttons don’t give that option; you press it and the horn sounds full blast. In some cases, there is also a sequence button, so one press gives the long, long, short, long grade-crossing signal. The same way. Every time.