We got an interesting email from a reader asking about a "phantom train whistle":
"I seem to recall hearing, or reading about, the explanation of the far-away train whistle we hear in our area (Laurelhurst, Windermere) periodically. It’s lovely and, in an unexpected way, comforting as well. I know that folks in Montlake can hear this train whistle as well. It must be from a train on the east side of the lake, but where is the active track over there?"
Onf of our staffers has also heard this train whistle during the night off and on through several years and wondered where it is coming from. The staffer said that there is no more train on the Eastside as it stopped a few years ago. There are train tracks that go past Magnolia and our staffer believes you could hear that depending on which way the wind is blowing as some trains can be heard up to 5 miles away depending on weather conditions, with best ones to hear the whistle on a clear and cold night.
Have other readers heard this train whistle? If so any theories on where the sound is coming from? Our reader who posed the question is very curious to hear input.
11 comments:
I, too,have often heard the train whistle and thought it must waft through the air from
trains coming into the Seattle King Street train station.
Yes! We hear it often and we call it Ghost Train! No idea where it comes from , but we too have been wondering for years could. At one point we thought it may be a boat, but not sure about that. I hope we are able to solve the mystery. :-)
The "train" whistle is likely the steam whistle from the Virginia V, an old mosquito fleet ship as she cruises one of the lakes
I, too,have often heard the train whistle and thought it must waft through the air from
trains coming into the Seattle King Street train station.
I hear the train whistle often at night.. especially on a clear night. Maybe at 11pm or so.
I wondered if it was coming from downtown, or the waterfront, but have no idea where it is actually coming from. I'm sure it is the west side by downtown or the up a little north.
Yes. Hear the train all the time. Whistle must come up the ship canal??? Doubt if from downtown?
Yes. Hear the train all the time. Whistle must come up the ship canal??? Doubt if from downtown?
I agree the occasional sound of train "whistles" (horns, actually) from afar reaches our neighborhood on a quiet night when the infernal racket of airplanes, boat engines and 520 traffic do not spoil the effect. There is, of course, only one source of train whistles in our area and that is the train tracks passing through south Seattle and along the Seattle waterfront. The sound is clearest when temperature variations in the atmosphere contribute a megaphone effect, focusing the sound back down to the ground where we can hear it even over intervening hills.
One other source of such sounds is ship horns, ferry horns and the various party excursion boats like the Virginia V which actually sport genuine old steam whistles. The latter really do make lovely sounds reminiscent of long ago and far away.
It is definitely not a boat requesting for the bridge to be opened as those have distinct sounds - 1 long and 2 short sounds to open the bridge.
The train whistle sound - sounds like a long whistle, exactly like a train.
maybe we're hearing Sound Transit Light Rail
it is probably traveling over the water from up north where trains sometimes pass through Woodenville/Bothell.
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