Ballast Tamping Machine
Another sound from my railway sounds blog. This time off a railway Ballast Tamping machine – a regular feature in our village (Sutton Bonington) as the Midland Mainline passes through it! At one time the Paget family lived in the village and even had their own private halt. A number of Midland Railway directors and general managers also lived here too.
Late night recording of a railway ballast tamping machine. I was just heading off to bed when I heard an incredible noise coming from the railway line that passes through our village, having decided to record the sounds I made for the bridge over the line by St Anne’s Church hoping to catch it before it moved underneath it. Unfortunately by the time I got my gear together and found a torch it had passed the bridge… if I’d got there earlier this would have been a much more exciting recording as I could have captured it as it passed by me.
Still it’s a pretty impressive sound all the same… and might come in useful for some kind Alien machine from War of the Worlds. ~ Original post
If you are listening to this with headphones make sure your volume isn’t set too high!
Recorded with my ZoomH4 a SUPERLUX E523/D microphone and Homemade Microphone Windshield System.
You are free to copy, distribute and make derivative works under this licence*
*For commercial use-age please contact me
Tags: LMS, Modern Traction, Railway Sounds
Martin Paling
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Brings back memories of the first time I saw one of these in action tamping the main up line at Didcot station in 1979.
That’s when I found out that the bright midday sun, photochromatic spectacles and a small (manually set) apperture on the Zenit SLR Don’t mix – it was like trying to find a black cat at midnight using a telescope !
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:25 am
No I can’t imagine that’s the best mix!
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Most of the noise is not from the diesel engine, there are two 33Hz sounds coming from a pair of vibration motors, the “tines”, the metal picks which dig into the ballast ( the scrunch every 3 to 5 seconds) are in a constant state of 33Hz vibration, that causes the Ballast to agitate and consolidate into stable weight bearing structures in the sleeper beds.
The bearings on those 33Hz motors are worn out, hence the excessive noise.
Tamper crews are not very popular with the locals when the machine is at work in the midnight to early hours of the morning. One crew were threatened by a local with a sawn off shotgun. The quick thinking driver shut down the Machine and then told the man he was due for £500 compensation form the Railway “for disturbance”, believe it or not, he gave his name and address and left for home
Cue a visit to the said address by a Police response unit fully tooled up for an armed standoff.
Our dimwitted friend never received his compensation, it doesn’t exist, but he certainly had plenty of time to mull it over at Her Majesties Pleasure
July 23rd, 2009 at 4:18 pm
I actually find the sounds of the line quite soothing. Tamping isn’t so bad as it has a kind of a rhythm after a while. We’re about 200 metres from the line… forthe last four weeks they’ve been installing a new signal gantry and pile driving the foundations… that was noisy and made the village shake. But after a while we could even sleep through that.
Well done that driver – quick thinking indeed!