A Finch expert was instructed in a claim for hearing damage resulting from the noise of being a fireman from 1941 to 1965.
Noise from steam engines is variable and dependant on the type of engine, the load it is hauling, the position of the throttle, the surroundings – for example, if the train was on flat land, in a cutting, crossing a bridge or in a tunnel – whether the windows were open in the cab and the speed of the engine.
There are many papers on the noise from trains and railways in general and much research was carried out by British Rail and its scientific branch from about 1963. Finch also relied on data from heritage railways who still run steam engines albeit on a restricted basis.
