# Why Doesn't Train Noises Count? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 26, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399 "2010-12-26T02:24:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/21 "2010-12-26T15:45:16Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Or is it just me? Yep. It’s just you. [moderating] Moved from GQ to IMHO. [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/22 "2010-12-26T16:27:57Z")
I happen to love the sound of trains in the distance as well. It seems I inherited that from my father who also likes the sound of trains in the distance. I probably got used to it as a kid. The house I own now is a good distance from some commuter train tracks (GO transit). Unfortunately, I don’t hear them at night as I a falling asleep, which is the best time for train sounds. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/23 "2010-12-26T20:04:03Z")
I love that sound in fact I often used it to fall asleep. > **[Trak Works - Sleep on a Train - Amazon.com Music](https://www.amazon.com/Sleep-Train-Trak-Works/dp/B000NSMJVC)** > > Enjoy the relaxing "clickety-clack" sounds of riding a train in a vintage 1940's sleeping car over the bolted railroad track of yesteryear. This is not a collection of individual train sound effects or music, but a continuous hour-long soundtrack... ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/24 "2010-12-26T21:52:40Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Probably not so unstressful if you live very close to an active line (such as an EL). I live close enough to hear the L. It doesn’t bother me. What I’ve heard is unbearable is living near an L platform. Every few minutes you have listen to “DING DONG Doors closing.” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/25 "2010-12-26T22:30:50Z")
I really like the sound of a train in the distance, but a friend of mine once lived right next to tracks, and dear Og was it loud - and the house shook! - every time a train went by. Too much of a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/26 "2010-12-26T23:41:39Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > This calls for a trip down Straight Dope memory lane. From Cecil’s [July 4, 1986 column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/592/what-does-do-not-hump-mean-on-the-side-of-railroad-cars) And here’s the thread and post where Cecil gave the details of the overhead crane story: [Thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=3176765) [Cecil’s post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=3176765&postcount=14) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/27 "2010-12-27T03:40:12Z")
I am reminded of my first semester at the U of Hawaii, when I lived in a small apartment in the Makiki area of Honolulu. I had a raging hangover on the morning of December 7, when the jets of the US Air Force came screaming low over the city at the exact time of the Pearl Harbor attack. Shook me right out of bed. Not pleasant. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/28 "2010-12-27T04:11:20Z")
I find trains in the distance to be very soothing. One of my favorite memories is of Thanksgiving every year. We camp about 5 miles from a rail line, and on a still winter’s night the sound carries beautifully across the valley. I could listen to that sound for hours. But it usually puts me right to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/29 "2010-12-27T04:55:37Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > And here’s the thread and post where Cecil gave the details of the overhead crane story: > > [Thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=3176765) > > [Cecil’s post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=3176765&postcount=14) I like that Cecil apparently posts at work like the rest of us. ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/30 "2010-12-27T13:29:20Z")
I live in a town where the RR company has a nexus you might say. There are four nearby crossings. Each time a train passes a crossing it hits the horn four times. At night the sound is really NOISY. Some expensive homes are right near those crossings. I don’t understand how anybody can live there. A distant train sound is pleasant. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/31 "2010-12-27T16:54:00Z")
Until a couple of years ago, I had always lived within a quarter mile of an interstate highway. Those particular kind of traffic sounds don’t bother me… I find them comforting in fact. But they’re completely different from living near a major intersection, where everything is stop-start all the time. That drove me crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/32 "2010-12-27T18:13:09Z")
Huh. I love train horns. I grew up about two blocks from freight tracks and every time I hear a train horn I get homesick. I now live about three “blocks” (there are no blocks so I’m using them as an estimate) from tracks and I love hearing the train at night. That said, little bro lives on (well, right at the end of his back yard) Amtrack tracks and the train blasts through at about 70 mph. Not digging that quite as much… ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/33 "2010-12-27T18:49:00Z")
> [@MyglassISfull](#): > > I used to live around 50m from a train line that would be used four times an hour between 6am and 11pm (or there abouts). It was at the back of the garden and elevated above the roof of our single-story dwelling but, even so, if we were in the garden and a train rolled by we’d automatically stop talking in mid-conversation until the noise had reduced significantly enough to resume. Something like; > > “What’s for dinner?” > "Um , we should probably … > > "clippitty clippitty clippitty clippitty clippitty clippitty clippitty clippitty **clippitty clippitty clippitty clippitty clippitty CLIPPITTY CLIPPITTY CLIPPITTY CLIPPITTY CLIPPITTY CLIPPITTY CLIPPITTY clippitty clippitty clippitty clippitty clippitty** clippitty clippitty clippitty clippitty clippitty clippitty clippitty clippitty clippitty > > “…have a look in the freezer. What do you fancy?” > “How about steak and kidney pie?” > “Sounds good!” > > When we came to sell the house we didn’t even realise some people might not like having a train line so close. It was closer than the train line at the back of our previous house, and louder as the newer trains are lighter and bounce around more, but we still just saw it as a minor inconvenience. > > I love train journeys; the longer the better. I’ve taken many journeys on sleeper trains in SE Asia and always slept like a baby. Helicopters really bug me, though. I could have written this word for word. My back yard (about 40 feet deep) is one pivet hedge away from the train tracks. You can see them pass a couple times per hour from my kitchen window. The good thing is they don’t blare horns or changing tracks, though; changing tracks can sound like nails on iron chalkboard. I guess I got this house a little cheaper or sooner because I didn’t mind the tracks, and somebody else might have. But I used to live on the upper floor of this house, and when the apartment below us came up for sale, I jumped at the chance to buy it. So I guess I really don’t mind. Psychology says that people mind sound less if: 1. They have chosen to live near it. People who voluntarily buy a home next to a road or track feel they have had a choice and so they convince themselves they don’t really mind. 2. The noise is predictable. Trains schedules change less often then air planes. 3. The noise is involuntarily. A train or car just passing is okay; that same train blaring a horn or with the alarm going off will anger us more. ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/34 "2010-12-27T20:23:42Z")
Hearing a car horn raises your hackles because you automatically default to: “some impatient asshole thinks I haven’t noticed the light turning green yet, but I can’t go because the car in front of me hasn’t moved” or “holy crap an accident is about to happen, do I break, swerve, or full steam ahead?” Most (modern) people’s mental association with trains is generally positive, hence it’s considered soothing. (There is also the low frequency, heart-beat-like rhythm of train tracks.) I, for one, associate train sounds to riding in a train, falling asleep to the gentle swaying and the sensation of the wheels going over the tracks. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/35 "2010-12-27T20:32:23Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Just you. I have a train crossing about 600 meters/yards from my house. I guess on its own, it wouldn’t be so bad. But the train track crosses roads. That means the driver has to blow his horn. There are regulations for when he _has_ to blow his horn, but no regulations prohibiting him from being an exaggerating son-of-a-bitch. And I swear, there’s one ass-wipe on that route that insists on being an exaggerating son-of-a-bitch at 4:00 in the morning certain days of the week. Wakes me up, every time. Yes, the “clickety-clack” isn’t bad at all, but a horn will drive me crazy. And yes, some Engineers seem to enjoy overdoing them just for the sake of being a asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/36 "2010-12-29T13:29:06Z")
35 posts in and nobody has yet quoted Art Garfunkel’s ex-partner? > [@](#): > > “Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance, everybody thinks it’s true…” mmm ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/37 "2010-12-29T13:31:21Z")
Where are you in PA? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399/38 "2010-12-30T05:25:06Z")
One of my clients is a music venue called Knuckleheads. It’s a classic “roadhouse” right next to the railroad tracks. When I say “right next to” I mean it. [Here’s an overhead of the place](http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&ie=UTF8&q=knuckleheads&fb=1&gl=us&hq=knuckleheads&hnear=Kansas+City,+MO&cid=0,0,17711282734500576976&sqi=2&ll=39.120492,-94.548796&spn=0.000767,0.001206&t=h&z=20). For the most part, the patrons and the performers seem to really like the trains coming by. Here are a couple of examples: [Raul Malo - Matter Much To You](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fUETlA30KI) (The train comes by at 3:21) [Rev Peyton’s Big Damn Band - Train Song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-ppYEzm1Ss) (Train takes a solo at 1:50) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-train-noises-count/565399.md?page=1)