The surprising thing I learned about sound.

Interesting.  I didn't know about this either.  Thanks for sharing it.

What's a PRR E3 diesel?

The shell acts as a baffle.  Lots of sound systems depend on it.  Interestingly, I was at the National Rodeo Finals, and some guy had a little speaker like thing that was barely audible, but when you attach it to almost any surface that surface then acts like a speaker.  The sound wasn't high fidelity, but it did really pick up in volume.

Alan

That's why many speakers in trains have a baffle on the back.

Speakers need a box to drive air.

I recall a two foot speaker in a dance event in high school that stood in a box about 5 feet high and 3 wide. That thing punched out 2 inches on the music. I think half the people had Tinnitus for a while.

The BIGGER the tender or box/shell the more WOOF you are going to get during that chug.

When the Spouse gets tired, I tend to lower the volume until I can barely hear the oncoming model about 5 feet away, passes by at a decent doppler and fades down the railroad.

I also lower the sounds to about half volume most of the time and lower yet if my wife is sleeping.

When I was running 2 trains for the Great nieces last night I Used "ALL Engines" and hit the Whistle, the near engine easily covered the far side engine completely. And they have much different whistles.