That Loud Booming Sound is Probably Not What You Think It Is

If you're in any local Facebook group, you'll frequently notice people asking what a sound was, people are always curious what that "loud boom" was. And it's generally always one of two things.

It doesn't just happen on social media, I was at my son's baseball practice recently when a series of loud booms got everyone's attention, most people thought it was the rumble of thunder, but there were no thunderstorms in the area, so what was it?

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Sometimes these loud booms can be attributed to fireworks, especially around the 4th of July holiday, but I find most of these mysterious booms can be thanks to something that we all encounter from time to time just driving around town.

Most of these large booms are due to trains, trains are noisy as heck, and they are such a part of every day life in the Northland, that we often forget how loud they can be. While they can be loud just cruising down the tracks, it's during start and stop when those large booms can be heard.

When a large train accelerates or decelerates, the force causes the couplings between the cars to either compress or stretch. This creates a chain reaction that can produce a loud cascading sound as each car bumps into or pulls away from its neighbors.

Trains produce loud booming sounds when cars are coupled together. The impact needed for the couplings to clasp can be thunderous, especially depending on the size and weight of the train cars. For example, in the video above, around the 2:27 mark, the noise is so intense that it even causes the camera to shake.