Train sound effects

The steady clatter of wheels crossing rail joints at a constant speed. This is the take most scenes want, because it works under dialogue and can run for as long as the shot does.

The whole move in one take: thin and dull, then close and wide, then thinning out again with the pitch falling as it goes. Cut the middle of it onto the frame the train fills.

Metal dragging on metal, thin and wavering, over a clatter that is slowing underneath. It ends a movement rather than describing one, so it earns its place on an arrival.

A run of hard clanks travelling down a line of wagons as the slack pulls out. It is the sound of a train about to move, which makes it a useful cue before anything on screen does.

Hard hissing bursts from a large locomotive, evenly spaced and gradually quickening. The spacing alone tells an audience the period, which is why it dates a scene faster than any set dressing.

The same wheels heard through a body shell: dull, rhythmic, with a low rumble and light creaking over it. Use it whenever the camera is on board rather than watching from outside.