[stevestrat]

I was on a 37 from Tyne Yard, south of Newcastle, to Edinburgh, 2½ -3 hours. The howl from the radiator fan behind me was unbelievable, seemed to reduce after a while, never dawned on me that was just my ears getting accustomed to it. After I finished and was on my way home I felt as if I had my head in a bucket. From then on I always had ear plugs in when on a 37 even though ear protection wasn't allowed in the driving cab.

By the way, if you want a heavy exhaust try a 56. Going south from Millerhill there was a long left hand curve just after you went onto the main line. When the rear of the train cleared the junction the throttle was opened to full power, normal practice was to then open the cab window and look back as you could see the full length of the train . . . . pointless with a 56, open the cab window and look back all you could see was a cloud of diesel exhaust smoke! 56s were bad for creating their own fog bank when the throttle was opened after idling for a while.