Recordings made with the
microphones located on the locomotive tender.
“Riding the blinds” was a bit of hobo lingo from the days of steam, when a ride
could be hitched by sneaking aboard the rear of the tender. Hobos would crouch on the beam above the
coupler. It was a noisy, dirty, and
dangerous place to ride. It could also prove deadly in the winter when a hobo
caught a ride on a railroad with track pans, being unaware until it was too
late that a cascade of freezing cold water could drench him to the bone when it
was too fast to jump off.
And that’s where WE are going
to ride... mostly because it’s noisy!
This CD was recorded at the
Monticello Railway Museum with restored Southern Railway 2-8-0 #401. The first track was edited together from a
series of regular runs of the museum’s train in 2017, when the locomotive was
sporting an Illinois Central 3 chime “steamboat” whistle. The second track was recorded during a photo
freight charter in 2018. Both are edited
from multiple recordings into continuous audio sequences.
Track Listing 1. Riding a branchline
passenger train 2. Riding a local freight
