November first, 1981, C&O 614 was pulling the New River Train in West Virginia. These were the days when steam locomotives were still allowed to show their stuff on the mainline. This day was no exception, as many sequences were recorded featuring #614 running wide open.
Volume 1 was recorded on June 6, 1993, behind one of the loudest locomotives to operate in mainline excursion service: St. Louis & San Francisco 4-8-2 #1522.
Volume 2 was recorded on June 14, 1980, behind one of the many “hired” locomotives to operate on the famed steam excursions of the Southern Railway: former Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 #2839.
Volume 3 was recorded on April 25, 1981, as the Chessie Safety Express traversed the former Baltimore & Ohio line from East St. Louis to Flora, Illinois, and return.
Volume 4 was recorded on May 2, 1982, as Southern Railway 2-8-4 #2716 headed up a round trip excursion from Memphis, Tennessee, to Sheffield, Alabama, and return.
Volume 5 was recorded on August 26, 1984, as Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 #765 pulled a round trip excursion from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Indianapolis, Indiana, and return over Chessie System’s former Baltimore & Ohio mainline.
Volume 6 was recorded on October 10, 1987, as Norfolk & Western 2-6-6-4 #1218 pulled a round trip excursion from Birmingham, Alabama, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and return.
Volume 7 was recorded on June 4, 1983, as Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 #611 pulled a round trip excursion from Birmingham, Alabama, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and return.
Volume 8 was recorded on July 28, 1985, as Southern Railway 2-8-2 #4501 pulled a round trip excursion from Huntingburg to Evansville, Indiana, and return.
Climb aboard the locomotives as Southern Railway 2-8-0 #630 and 2-8-2 #4501 lead an excursion down the former Central of Georgia to Summerville, Georgia. One microphone was aboard #630 and the other was aboard #630's tender, aimed at #4501.
Climb aboard L&N #152, with in cab and tender top recordings as the locomotive hauls a train between New Haven and Boston, Kentucky.
In 2012, we put microphones aboard and behind the smallest standard gauge Pacific ever built for a U.S. railroad: Little River Railroad #110. We even rented a caboose to use as a platform for doing sound recordings.
