EMD Turbo Howl - EMD 710 Series 

That’s thrilling and ominous, also very eerie how the locomotives lights peer through the trees

The deep howl is actually the main alternator. Pumping out 3000KW on EMD locos, they really scream. I listen to all the racket in load test a few times a week. That's a perfectly normal sound. Light exhaust smoke, they are running good.

That brings back great memories. My brother and I had a favorite spot near a few curves to watch Penn Central trains back in the 79’s. Hearing the engines before seeing the train was just as exciting!

Thanks for the upload! I've been on a RU-vid crusade to collect as many examples of turbos howling as possible. On another video of an ES44AC with this fantastic sound, someone explained that it comes from an imbalance in the turbocharger. GE turbos spool in run 8 at about 22,000rpm, and EMDs (710s) a little less than that because of the difference in the red lines between the two (1050 vs 900ish). When perfectly balanced, there isn't too much to hear, but from my understanding, if a blade gets bent/chipped or the bearings cause any sort of oscillation, our ears render that vibration as a 365 Hz (less for EMDs) pitch. Like you've told so many other people, it's not the radiator fans or anything else. While you can hear them, they lack the depth of sound that the turbo has, not to mention the fact that the howl clearly comes from the exhaust stack. I'm still curious why this happens with more frequency to EMDs. I have found plenty of examples of GEs doing this as well, but not as often as EMDs. To some degree, it's a function of use and age. It could be that GE turbos have to be replaced more often, so they don't often get to this point. Or maybe EMDs have a particular turbo part that wears out more frequently. The mechanical clutch on EMD turbos could certainly be a source of imbalance. Thanks again for uploading! Hopefully you enjoyed my novel titled, Unsolicited Ramblings of a Procrastinating Man. Lol. -Cam

It’s so fitting this was filmed at night So spooky Love it Reminds me of my childhood

There must have been 70,000 frogs in the second video, guess they are also EMD 710 fans.

That’s looks and sounds so beast at night. The lights in the dark.

the EMD 710 series sounds pretty badass

some of the BEST train video i've ever seen. Love the angles and nighttime shots. Like I was there...goosebumps. Keep 'em coming.

I thought that was the horn until i heard the actual horn blare. That is absolutely and insanely cool!

Seems like everyone is arguing over what is making this awesome sound. Just enjoy it, whatever is producing it.

That would creep me out, especially at night!

Wow! Sounds amazing! But I can basically FEEL the mosquitos biting through my screen!

3:30 is eerie as hell!

Peepers and EMDs at full throttle on an early spring evening. Heaven.

Sounds like a combination of the turbo and the traction motor blowers. Possibly more the blowers.

This is the sound of the radiator cooling blowers on the roof of the locomotive. Listen to an SD series locomotive during a load test. You will hear this exact sound start and stop periodically as the cooling system switches these fans on and off as part of the control loop that regulates engine temperature. For example: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8ayGtsQpSQ0.html It is evidenced that this sound is entirely unrelated to the engine's turbocharger by the fact that it can start and stop independently of engine and turbocharger speed. Furthermore, it cannot be related to the traction motors, as the traction motors are disconnected during a load test, while the sound is still present. These are very similar to the fans used to cool the dynamic brake resistors, and produce a nearly identical sound.

Beautiful landscape. Thanks for the vid

Not gonna lie I’d be kinda concerned if I heard that in the middle of the night, but a 645 wide open emits a deep roar that is unmistakable

We supply OEM parts for GE/EMD/ALCO turbocharger for 20 years. Blades for almost all EMD models

Found this spot the other day and it is amazing

I always love to hear that sound in the 80s I heard a lot of 645 16 cylinder howl at run 8 now I also love to hear the 710 16 cylinder howl at run 8 as well

Love it. I just heard this sound from the Trout Brook valley and Westminster Junction here in St. Paul. I find it calming.

Those trains are so dope! And the horns! 🤩

Wow, sounds just like the howl of the old GP40's! Like it!

This how it used to sound on the Saluda Grade....music to my ears!!!

Caterpillar EMDs man ! They dont play around when it comes to those diesel engines. That is music to my ears and it gives me a rush of excitement hearing those emd engines coming through the woods!

This is the best train video on RU-vid

AWESOME VIDEO AND MAN THAT SURE IS A LOUD TURBO HOWL!

love that sound. definitely knew when he was coming didn't u

I hear some 645 and 710, 20 cylinders on the engine room of tuna seiners and the whistle of the turbo is clearer, you can also hear the valves working.

music to my ears...aaaah yes! Thx I needed that.

Outstanding! Got to get up there and video as well! thanks!

Aaron nothing beats the sound of a diesel engine doing what it does like no other engine pulling under full fuel even my Lil 0m 616 dzl is so unique thanks for your videos ron brennan rdzl om616

Great video, thank you for posting.

Normal EMD sound of a 710.

For those who think it's the fans (I thought it was too), if you listen and watch closely as the train passes in the first clip, the Doppler effect of the howl comes before the radiator fans pass the camera location. The turbo probably vibrates a lot at high rpm's, if that's true then that's what the howl is

I done this for almost 30 years however I love it.

Imagine your taking a nice little strole on that road, then all of a sudden you hear this:

3:30 Do you hear the undertones? Very ethereal to say the least.

I heard this beautiful sound just now irl

That's the radiator fans. While the turbo is gigantic, you can't really hear it at high RPM. You can when the prime mover is in idle or low notch, as the high pitched whistling sound, but once it starts building boost it decouples from the drive (like a supercharger with an overrun clutch) and spins freely.

I heard a trailing GE do it once also, but I couldn’t say on what It is, my guess is something that is directly connected to the prime mover since it stays the same pitch until they adjust the throttle, I would think the compressor would be every now and then and the fans the same.

Reminds me of conrail EMDs

It's not the turbo that you're hearing. It's the traction motor cooling fan.

Wether the howl is from the turbo or the MG, how is it affecting the working environment? It's a nice sound for a few minutes, but what if you hear that high pitch howl hour after hour day after day? The howl reminds me of an air raid alarm.

I bet that sound can carry 20+km in an open environment and some could probably reach 100 db at 100 ft this one could be 90-95 db at 100 ft.

It's not the turbo, fans, blowers, traction motors or dynamic brakes. The howling sound is the AR20 main generator on the leading SD70M. Listen to the part at 0:44 where they throttle back from run-8, the howl immediately changes pitch because the main generator is bolted to the flywheel off the prime mover. Any change in engine speed (throttle) changes the RPM of the main generator and thus changes the pitch of the howling. SD60Ms, some SD70Ms and SD9043MACs have particularly noisy main generators.

Sounds almost like full dynamic brakes with a heavy load moving down grade. I live on a steep grade and hear this exact sound a lot from trains moving down grade, but not so much going up..thats usually more of a deep thunderous droning exaust roar with a mechanical whining and a slight dash of turbo shriek from the EMDs....The GEs just bark and growl and launch plumes of smoke and fire going up grade 😮

this is so damn cool!

Nice footage

The is howl is actually the cooling fans for the traction motors.

They look like they are in notch 8 on a grade. although it was hard to tell with the stupid horn blowing right as they passed by. second pass in the dark sounded just like the old SD45T-2s on Donner Pass i used to watch. First time i have heard the 710 sound like that, which is nice because the 645 is gone.

I live by the tracks of CSX in Ohio. I am two miles from a 25mph curve. I can hear this same noise after the prime mover has been throttled down but the dynamic brake cooling blowers kick in. the time between when the engineer lets off and starts coasting the locomotives are so quiet just in idle then the cooling blowers kick in and that is the exact noise you hear. High static pressure fans...makes this sound. Moves more air but is noisy.

It sound like a mixture of TF33 with a TF39/F103/F138

you'll get better night footage if you film at 30FPS instead of 60 when it gets dark

ur right Chris the dynamic braking uses the cooling fan directly behind the cab frame on all locomotives that's the sound of it whining up and down.

what think is the cause of the derailment in Spring City

Generators loaded to the max!!

The bulk of the "howl" heard is the traction motor cooling blower motors. Also, the rad cooling fans are going flat out, and all the traction motors are whining and protesting, and yes, in there somewhere, the turbocharger is, no doubt, wailing too. Some of the modern GE's kick up quite a racket beyond the rumble and chug of their prime movers... the blower motors drown out everything and sometimes if the thing has the "Clean Rail" option, it's blowing out a hiss of air too.

That sound is actually the cooling fans for the traction motors.

Looks like the engineer saw you at both locations (hence the horn)?

i hear this howl quite often with GO transit's MP40PHs

he got it back when his slack ran out

It comes from the radiator fans spinning at full rev.

EMD!!! rock on!

It's all three fans on radiators plus motor fans that cool traction motors plus turbos probably not Dynamics because it's headed up hill but I think the same fans that cool the dynamic brakes also cool the grids that power the traction motors also electrical components tend to get hot when under heavy loads!!

Sounds like a set of tunnel motors charging up the hill.

We have Chinese made locos here in NZ that have insanely loud fans, especially in notch 8 on the grade past my house, so although a lot of people are claiming it's dynamics or traction motors I can vouch for hearing that exact sound from our locos under power. You have to admit though, it's a very similar sound to a lot of locos dynamics.

cooling fans?

Those locos are in run 8 throttle position. and not in dynamic braking.

That's power

Top Drawer. American railroading at its best.!

That’s cool

My thinking is it's the dynamic brake cooling fan. Watching various videos of this, there seems to be one fan in particular which is the loudest. It's the one right behind the cab. In fact, more recent locomotive versions have this noisy fan all the way at the back of the loco. My guess is this is because of the sound level. I dunno why they wouldn't change the fan design so it's not as loud ...

Referring to these as the "Angry SD locos!"

nothing howls like an EMDs turbo

it’s in full dynamic run 8 All 3 cooling fans are on that’s what you hear

Boy, the nerve of disturbing the sex life of all those froggies!

Sounds like the fromt end of my porsche when the cooling fans are on high. 😂

Savage!

its the cooling fans.

Nice..

Oh my god

It's sound of electric fans for cooling radiators and dynamic brake grid. Turbo in EMD not distinctively heard at full throttle. Here is good example of 710 turbo spin-up when train achieving speed : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-X96zwiEUBI8.html

it's the fans, it's not even a question.

“… he hears the *EMDs howling,”*

Sounds creepy in the dark.

Its not Turbo sound, this is constant howl which suggests an electrically powered motor powering some cooling fan.

2:30 you can clearly see that it is uphill

Its a hard life

I hate to inform you that the howl you are hearing is not the turbo but the traction motors howling

Yep did it.

Norfolk Southern 9212

seems 2614 in combination with 6982. my knowledge isn't that well about these trains.

There is no such thing as a "turbo howl" this is the fans and radiators trying to prevent the engine from overheating and altering performance or blowing the motor up. The fans are on the top of the engine next to the exhaust stack and airhorn and they make this sound when they are spinning at maximum potential. Some engines have their fans kick in like this even before the 8th notch is applied, some do it in 6 and 7 and when in 8 it becomes the loudest and fullest of potential. The sound is coming from the top of the engine and towards the rear .

I can't claim to be an expert but that doesn't sound like any turbo I've ever met. Could it be the generator/traction motors making that noise? That would be my bet.

The horn was similar to disney sound. 😂😂 You shud listen to WDP-4's horn and engine sound. Then comeback here. 😂😂😂

He came off the throuttle to #6

Bearings in that turbo are shot