I usually interact with trains at crossings, with bells, lights, horns, etc. so my experience probably doesn’t count for much. It does make sense that a approaching train isn’t loud , the sound perhaps similar to a boat’s wake, the sound is dissappated to the side or rear. Sound is a funny thing. For the childhood house, We could hear trains plain as day, even though the tracks where, as the crow flys, a little over a mile away.
“the sound perhaps similar to a boat’s wake, the sound is dissappated to the side or rear”
That’s what I suspect too, since they are plenty loud when they are rolling past you. But I do know that they sure can sneak up on you.