There has recently been a short thread about Zimo going bust which reminded me about this little subject. I have a bee in my bonnet about Sound Cards in our Locomotives and how they are used. At many Midel Railway Shows and on Garden Railway Video's there is a clear lack of understanding about how and why sounds are used. US Railways have clear rules about sounds and so do we in UK. I will not bore you with those (if I could find the pages in Magazines where I have read them I might)! But as I have been spending a great deal of time in my friends Garden at Watchet just by the Station there, I have been listeneing and noticing much more of what goes on.
The layout for a Down Train on the WSR by Watchet Station is that it may or may not Stop at Donniford Halt about a mile to the East. Come into Watchet via a Cutting behind the Memorial Sports Ground go over a Level Crossing, Stop at the Station then depart up to Washford climbing Kentsford Bank on the way which has 3 Farm Crossings. The climb to this bank starts immediately from the Platform to the West of Watchet Station.
WSR WATCHET Sound
DOWN TRAIN
Arriving:-
1 Occasionally Short muted whistle when departing Donniford Halt Request Stop
2 Sometimes muted chuffs for Donniford Departure
3 Rumble of Train (in cutting)
3a Blower on sometimes
4 Long Whistle for xing
5 Departing and while standing :-
5a Occasional Blower
5b Short Whistle
6 Short Chuffs
7 Sometimes Drain Cocks Sound
8 Then harder chuffs as loco gets feet
9 Sometimes a slip on wet/greasy rail
10 Chuffs into distance
11 Long Whistles muted for 2 x crossings on Kentsford Bank.
Note that one of Crossings on Kentsford Bank does not always get whistle.
What this suggests for our Sound Cards is perhaps the following Sounds:-
Main Screen
- Muted Whistle for long distance away.
- Short Whistle
- Long Whistle
- Blower
- Train Rumble
- Wheel Slip
- Up sound to Chuffs (sometimes taken care of by more power)
- Down sound to Chuffs as loco slows for Station (sometimes taken care of by less power drifting)
Secondary Screen
- Coal Shovelling that thing that so annoys me needs to be present but on demand and I would suggest on the Shift Line as it is hardly noticed certainly not at the whim of a sound card
- Announcements perhaps a Guards Whistle is a better bet as supplied on some sound cards.
- Buffer Clank and Coupling
There are more than I have listed on many cards, but re reading through my scenario as described above many of them are less used and happily covered by the secondary screen.
Between those sounds of the Train comming and going all one hears is the normal sounds of a small seaside Town, occasional Dog Bark in the Memorial Park, Seagulls Squeaking, Traffic noise sea muted below the cliffs unless there is a storm. You get the picture.
The layout for a Down Train on the WSR by Watchet Station is that it may or may not Stop at Donniford Halt about a mile to the East. Come into Watchet via a Cutting behind the Memorial Sports Ground go over a Level Crossing, Stop at the Station then depart up to Washford climbing Kentsford Bank on the way which has 3 Farm Crossings. The climb to this bank starts immediately from the Platform to the West of Watchet Station.
WSR WATCHET Sound
DOWN TRAIN
Arriving:-
1 Occasionally Short muted whistle when departing Donniford Halt Request Stop
2 Sometimes muted chuffs for Donniford Departure
3 Rumble of Train (in cutting)
3a Blower on sometimes
4 Long Whistle for xing
5 Departing and while standing :-
5a Occasional Blower
5b Short Whistle
6 Short Chuffs
7 Sometimes Drain Cocks Sound
8 Then harder chuffs as loco gets feet
9 Sometimes a slip on wet/greasy rail
10 Chuffs into distance
11 Long Whistles muted for 2 x crossings on Kentsford Bank.
Note that one of Crossings on Kentsford Bank does not always get whistle.
What this suggests for our Sound Cards is perhaps the following Sounds:-
Main Screen
- Muted Whistle for long distance away.
- Short Whistle
- Long Whistle
- Blower
- Train Rumble
- Wheel Slip
- Up sound to Chuffs (sometimes taken care of by more power)
- Down sound to Chuffs as loco slows for Station (sometimes taken care of by less power drifting)
Secondary Screen
- Coal Shovelling that thing that so annoys me needs to be present but on demand and I would suggest on the Shift Line as it is hardly noticed certainly not at the whim of a sound card
- Announcements perhaps a Guards Whistle is a better bet as supplied on some sound cards.
- Buffer Clank and Coupling
There are more than I have listed on many cards, but re reading through my scenario as described above many of them are less used and happily covered by the secondary screen.
Between those sounds of the Train comming and going all one hears is the normal sounds of a small seaside Town, occasional Dog Bark in the Memorial Park, Seagulls Squeaking, Traffic noise sea muted below the cliffs unless there is a storm. You get the picture.
