The last couple of weekends, I have heard a new noise in the area on the west side of the presidentials while hiking. Sounded like a poorly muffled bulldozer going up and down the mountain. That and a tractor trailer rig tooting its horn somewhere near the top and the bottom. Turns out its the new diesel electric cog.
Granted I appreciate the lack of the black plume and the Sulfur Dioxide fumes, but is it my imagination or did we trade air pollution for noise polution? The steam cogs on occasion could be heard from a distance expecially when venting the steam, but the diesel cog is a steady drone up and down the mountain and its far more noticable. The new whistle is less noticable than the steam whistle so thats a plus.
Diesels can be made to be relatively quiet, my former company built power plants for commercial buildings on occasion and its impressive the noise reduction that can be had. The trade off is that the mufflers are very large and retrofitting one to the cog would defeat the camoflage that is used to try to make the new unit look like sort of like a conventional engine.
I wonder if noise impact was considered as part of the change over?
These observations were from the Ammonsuc Ravine trail and the Jewell so perhaps its a local issue, but what have other folks observed. Note that the old steam trains are still running so its easy to make comparisons.
So, how do others rate the change?
Granted I appreciate the lack of the black plume and the Sulfur Dioxide fumes, but is it my imagination or did we trade air pollution for noise polution? The steam cogs on occasion could be heard from a distance expecially when venting the steam, but the diesel cog is a steady drone up and down the mountain and its far more noticable. The new whistle is less noticable than the steam whistle so thats a plus.
Diesels can be made to be relatively quiet, my former company built power plants for commercial buildings on occasion and its impressive the noise reduction that can be had. The trade off is that the mufflers are very large and retrofitting one to the cog would defeat the camoflage that is used to try to make the new unit look like sort of like a conventional engine.
I wonder if noise impact was considered as part of the change over?
These observations were from the Ammonsuc Ravine trail and the Jewell so perhaps its a local issue, but what have other folks observed. Note that the old steam trains are still running so its easy to make comparisons.
So, how do others rate the change?