It has been claimed that newly restored Reading & Northern 4-8-4 #2102 is the loudest steam locomotive out there. After what we experienced on October first, we have to agree. We submit evidence here.
A steam locomotive with an air horn? Doesn't seem right. Just like diesels with air whistles. Whistles belong on steam locomotives and air horns belong on diesels and electrics. I don't like the single note whistles on American steam locomotives, either. Sounds too British. I like the Reading 6 chime on #2102.
Me and my dad rode the first Rambles trip May 28th and we couldn't believe how loud she was barking. One of the greatest experiences I've ever had riding behind steam.
Just hearing this beast working up those hills and valleys with the whistle blowing and seeing that smoke show just before she comes to the crossing was pure bliss!
WOW! it has a stack like a cannon. that thing took down more tree limbs than a dozen tornados. I have never seen a T1 blast like that and I have a lot of John Pechulis video of the Reading. This thing is a beast.
So 425 held the title of loudest, and now the title seems to have transferred to the 2102. I now think the acoustics of the geography surrounding the RBMN is what has propelled those locomotives to that spot. That or maybe the RBMN really likes doing the fire tube boiler equivalent to straight-piping to their steamers.
It's because the RBMN still runs them like they were built to be run. Johnson bar in the corner, throttle on the ceiling. All the other steamers you see restored and running *were* this loud when still in revenue service, before they were retired.
1) They run them fully loaded and how they were run in service days. Elsewhere they are pampered and not really allowed to work. 2) both have new blast nozzles so the exhaust is crisper and more sharp. 3) As the late Jim Boyd editor of Railfan and then Railfan and Railroad always said the Reading T1 was the loudest locomotive he had ever heard. This is because for the locomotive it has a massive smokebox arrangement to get the boiler length needed when they stretched the I10 firebox. I've seen 2102 shatter glass, break large tree limbs, make rocks fall, car alarms go off, all from her exhaust. Never been around a louder steamer ever. Even 1218 didn't make this much noise coming into Bluefield......The Big Boy doesn't have a chance either, she's a double stack so won't have the exhaust blast to do it, so don't go there.........
@@steamgent4592 even still - Ed has flat out admitted that UP doesn't push its steam hard anymore. There's a video of 844 (back when it was still 8444) in the 80s of it blasting out of Greeley. You can tell the moment he pins the throttle on the ceiling. He gets to a grade crossing and you can barely hear the whistle (the same model as on the Big Boy, which is to say, an EXTREMELY loud whistle) over the exhaust. But that was before they started putting the helper diesels in manifest. They (and most others) just don't push them that hard anymore, for the sake of reduced boiler wear, if nothing else.
Wish more people ran them like how they were ran back in the day. I know it puts wear on them but god damn is it glorious. When a machine that is practically a living thing is built it’s meant to be worked like how it was built to be worked and bless the RBMN for doing just that
We were on the September 3rd Ramble it was so amazing how fast she picked up speed pulling out of Port Clinton! It also felt like an earthquake was happening when she flew by us while doing the photo run by!
HUGE props to Reading & Northern for doing that! VERY few tourist trains actually give passengers the old-fashioned "fast start" that was so common in the golden age of railroads. They know their engines and aren't afraid to let them work!
I made an August, 1974 recording of the Southern Crescent's four E8s revving and detaching from the train at Atlanta's Brookwood Station. That was pretty ear-shattering. The Es were regularly changed out at Atlanta.
That last clip, just freaking AWESOME! Holy crap. She barks so loud and demands attention as she rightfully should. I have got to experience 2102 in person some day.
@@1940limited that’s debatable the difference between the 2102 and the 4014 is the 4014 was built as a freight locomotive and I think that the 2102 was built as a passenger locomotive
@@rudycarlson8245 the 2102 was also built as a freight locomotive being reconfigured from older I10 2-8-0 locomotives to larger and more powerful 4-8-4’s.
Fun fact, during restoration the crew shortened the blast pipe, creating higher back pressures making the exhaust louder than it might have been otherwise. The only thing it really hurts (other than ear drums) is the possible top speed, but I doubt R&N are worried about that. 425 had the same treatment which is why such a light 4-6-2 is so loud :)
I stumbled upon it that day when visiting Jim Thorpe expecting to see only 2102. The experience was beyond words. There's a video of the double header pulling out of Port Clinton that's simply incredible. Andy sure knows how to run an excursion.
Its loud, because they are actually working the engine as intended. No babying the thing by cheating with a diesel behind it. All steam sounded like this when it was in daily service and being worked hard.
Thanks you to Andy for bringing back those days. He does everything right. I know most excursions roads can't do what he dos so I'm very grateful to have this railroad close to where I live.
Not only loud, but as it rounds the curve, you can distinctly see it "hunting" from side to side. That engine must be hell on the track and roadbed. But, boy, can it pull!
My friend calls her “The Beast of the Northeast.” When you can hear her coming and not even see her for almost five minutes, yeah that’s not thunder that’s the beast.
There's no doubt about what's on the way when a steam loomotive approaches. The exhaust doesn't drown out the Reading freight whistle as it does the Reading 6 chime.
The T-1 2102 is such a site to behold! I don’t know what kind of person would want steam locomotives gone, they are the only true original authentic railroading ever. The sound and smell of the smoke stack, the feeling of water vapor, the sound of the beautiful sounding blaring whistle, the power being displayed of a locomotive powered by the power of nature. Steam locomotives are incomprehensible sometimes! God gave us the ability to create wonderful machines, and I pray and hope He will allow us to build and restore more steamers in the future and throughout eternity. God and Jesus are first in my heart, second are my friends and family, and third are trains/railroading/steam locomotives, but I like other things and have plenty of other interests too. Steam power rocks! 😄🚂
Fortunately, enough people didn't want them gone to preserve quite a few. It's been said the steam locomotive is the most sensuous machine ever built by man. Agreed.
I did.😃It was! And FWIW, the N&W 611 made the same roar at 70+ mph. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JuTlIH6c75E.html And in the cab of 611 at 84 mph, the roar was indescribable.🤯 But still, at trackside I'd swear that the 2101 was a few decibels louder....? But either way, heck yeah!
Definitely, the 2101 was Ross Rowlands back then, before he got 614. Anyone in the hobby awhile knows Ross and his other crewmen, back in those days operated steam "Textbook", and ran off the reverser on the mainline with the throttle on the peg on the roof! The faster she needed to go he hooked them up, the slower the deeper in the corner...........Fortunately it was caught at low speed going up 17 Mile Grade with both locomotives.........
i was once told "if the exhaust is louder than your whistle, you're railroading properly" or something along the lines edit: then again she's also pulling 16 - 17 cars having her run so hard, forgot to clarify
I remember riding the Chessie Steam specials in the 1970's . We had a run by on the C&O in mid Michigan one day . We were all on top of a deep cut and she just screamed by , I thought the entire hillside was gonna come down . Let those T-1 's RIP !!
I think that may be done for show. Certainly the guys at the R&N know how to operate the locomotive. One of his coal trains this past spring had clean exhaust.
@@1940limited I agree I think that the huge cloud of black smoke coming out of the engine is for the photographers I think they know how to fire the 2102
Those wheel slips probably destroy a perfect fire. You go from the absolute hardest draft to nothing in a split second when they close the throttle back to the hardest draft again. I would have to imagine that is about the same as dropping your charcoal grill off the roof of your house. The exhaust from the cylinders is providing all the draft. I would not imagine they have any blower set up when she is working like that.
There's a very simple explanation for why Reading 2101 and GM&N 425 are so loud when they're pulling a train: the RBM&N simply runs them as hard as they would have been run in revenue service, I bet you that if, for example, you where to run ATSF 2926 or UP 4014 like the RBM&N runs their steam locomotives, they would have a similar intensity of stack talk when pulling a load of similar weight proportional to their respective tractive efforts.
Two questions: What microphone are you using for the audio? It sounds amazing! Second, what location is that at the time 1:31 and onward? Great video by the way!
To answer your questions, the microphone in use was an Audio-Technica AT2022 stereo mic, which is not exactly intended as a camera mic but works great with a shock-mount on the hot-shoe. The location is at the Nesquehoning Conservation Club behind a residential area west of town.
Great video but just wait until you can do this video but with R&N 425.. It's been proven 425 is just a bit louder on the decibel scale. Not proven scientifically, but let's just say they have to do something special with 425 while at Tamaqua Tunnel that 2102 doesn't have to do, lol..
@@kackdackel9170 I was told at Tamaqua Tunnel that 425's decibel loudness was enough to bust the windows on its test train's passenger cars while going through the tunnel. 2102 has not busted any windows of cars inside the tunnel as of yet. From what I was told to this day now R&N's steam crew no longer works 425 while in the tunnel rather just lets her glide on through. Like I said not scientifically but only from experience as what was told to me.
Now THAT is stack talk! Throttle wide open pulling with no diesel assistance. Love it when these engines are able to run like theybwere ment to be run.
One of the MOST erotic stack talk I ve ever heard for a very very loong time. Always a fan of many iconic 4-8-4 Northerns all around the world including some of the finest from North America. I was about 9 or 10 years old when I fell in love with the Reading T1 class..... and to see this bring so much awe to my face. The echo is just unbelievable hard to describe..... I'm in awe with this video.... massive fan of -4-8-4 from Australia.
