Where to hear late night train whistles ?

[johnnybgood]

Does anyone know any campsites either at shelters or along the AT,where train whistles can be heard late at night ?
There has always been something surreal about hearing them , especially at night.

[Lugnut]

Beauty Spot.

[Mountain Maiden]

Hot springs!

[thecaptain]

Rice Fields

[middle to middle]

Where the trail crosses the C@O canal just out of Harpers Ferry there is a used train track. River sends great sound waves.

[ki0eh]

The Sunday Farm campsite near Boiling Springs. (Unfortunately they are going off almost right next to your head and not romantically off in the distance!)

[Slo-go'en]

The Sunday Farm campsite near Boiling Springs. (Unfortunately they are going off almost right next to your head and not romantically off in the distance!)

Thats for sure! Might as well just keep walking when you get there, as you will not get any sleep that night! After the fourth freight train screeched by at 4 AM, we all packed up and started hiking. It was going to be a hot day anyway..

[Skyline]

Manassas Gap Shelter in Northern Virginia. There is freight train trackage just a couple miles south of there paralleling VA55. If the train's horn sounds while going through the area, it can be heard at and nearby the shelter.

[TheCheek]

First shelter north out of Duncannon.

[10-K]

Carry some water up to Temple Ridge and camp. That's about 3 miles from Erwin and you'll hear trains all night long, guaranteed.

[BadAndy]

First shelter north out of Duncannon.

+1 for Clarks Ferry Shelter, tons of train traffic along both sides of the river

[Croft]

Heard trains every night from Erwin, Tennessee to the Whites.

[XCskiNYC]

Telephone Pioneers Shelter. About once every one or two hours a metro-north diesel-hauled train heads up to Wassaic. Usually a southbound train comes through about 20 minutes after the Wassaic train.

Get a good fire going in the ring, maybe some tunes on the radio, and you're set for hours of entertainment.

[Carbo]

From my bedroom window, which I leave open in the winter, I can hear the whistle as the North Jersey Coast line passes through Matawan, Hazlet, Middletown, and Red Bank. You're welcome to camp in my backyard!

[Blissful]

Carry some water up to Temple Ridge and camp. That's about 3 miles from Erwin and you'll hear trains all night long, guaranteed.

You can hear Erwin's from 10 miles away...

[Cookerhiker]

Crossing the Hudson River NOBO and hiking up to Hemlock Springs campsite. You'll hear them all night.

If you're ever wanting to do a cycling trip, you'll hear them over the entirety of the C&O Canal. Much of the Canal is away from roads but never from tracks.

[XCskiNYC]

Crossing the Hudson River NOBO and hiking up to Hemlock Springs campsite. You'll hear them all night.

If you're ever wanting to do a cycling trip, you'll hear them over the entirety of the C&O Canal. Much of the Canal is away from roads but never from tracks.

An Aussie hiker I met at Graymoor told me about that feature of Hemlock. He didn't sound pleased. Or like he got much sleep.

[fehchet]

100 mile wilderness, and yes to any where in the hills around Erwin.

[Pedaling Fool]

Does anyone know any campsites either at shelters or along the AT,where train whistles can be heard late at night ?
There has always been something surreal about hearing them , especially at night.

I can see what you're saying, kind of, but at what distance do they turn from surreal to searing pain? I slept around Harpers Ferry one night and a couple nights on parts of the C&O and some other places I can't recall. That sucked

[peakbagger]

There is one shelter in the 100 mile wilderness that is just north of the Canadian National Line. The trains normally run through in the middle of the night and when they go through they are running at full speed. As the trail north of the point is real remote, I expect that more than a few southbounders have gotten a real interesting wake up call at about 3 AM in the morning.