Railroad sounds of a vanishing era : steam locomotives and some diesel locomotives by Audio Fedelity AFSD 5843 Publication date 1958

 Steam engines. . . huge black monsters shuddering under loads

of coal and compressed steam . . . lumbering masses of iron

and steel that blast the air as they spit black smoke to the

heavens . . . tons of metal shaking the earth as wheels churn

over gleaming tracks, bearing witness to man’s genius for har-

nessing power .. . immense drive shafts that grind in rhythmic

strokes as the “iron horse” plows along the rails . . . wailing

whistles that echo through silent countryside as people sleep in

their beds... .

Diesel engines . . . oil-driven behemoths that pack the energy

of a thousand whales . . . leviathans of the rails whose purring

belies their capacity to haul a hundred loaded freight cars . . .

iron bulls that can push railroad cars around the tracks like

balloons in the wind .. . giants whose deep-throated horns rend

the air as the train rumbles past crossings . . . goliaths that

make the ground tremble as they churn around curves. . . .

These are sounds of a vanishing era. And so is the piercing

hiss of the steam engine as it pauses to reduce pressure . . . the

cacophony of the switching engine as it lurches hack and forth

in the switching yard... the coupling "of freight cars as they

are shunted from track to track . . . the shriek of steel against

steel as thousands of tons of metal grind to a stop on rails . . .

the ear-splitting blasts of steam as the engine gathers momentuif

Phe i ahivebint donmihetbell ‘asus: revechhratee taueranane

din... all are sounds of a vanishing era.

For, while railroads are here to stay, the mechanical refine-

ments airplanes are corr “| undergoing and the progress

being made in air tran: p} are slowly but surely relegat-

ing rail transportation t 2 § ndary place. So marked is this

wend that it is difficult tg G'e that in 1842, when railroads

were in their infancy, a 3. § settler expressed the fear that

if a locomotive ever ra is farm the cows would stop

siving milk.

A little more than a hundred years later the sante fear was

expressed by a midwestern farmer, except that he was con-

cerned about the possibility of a jet plans rash, rather than

1 runaway locomotive. Only a centul G9 — |ssed. But what a

change had taken place! The Unite _ % \had been trans-

formed from a handful of mostly «8° Stal states into “a

sprawling industrial giant second to no 3° §g world. In place

of dirt roads and rustic trails that wer°—\~ mesis of prairie

schooner and stage coach drivers, there _.- millions of miles

of railroad stretching in every direction.

Picture a small midwestern village of the 1870's. The nation

has gone through a devastating Civil War, and’is in the process

of rebuilding. It is Muscatine, lowa, more than 1,500 miles

removed from battle-scarred Gettysburg. Yet, you can still

detect the pinch caused by war. Everywhere there are signs of

Acknowledgement is hereby made to E. E. Schlottman,

superintendent and the personnel of the Hlinois Central

Railroad, New Orleans. Division, also to Macy Teeter

and Nancy Jones of the Music Shop in New Orleans, and

to James Hilbun. Without their invaluable assistance this

recording could not have been made.

TECHNICAL DATA (RIAA)

Total Frequency Range

Stereophonic Recording

‘This High Fidelity Stereophonic Recording was pro-

duced featuring the Frey Stereophonie Curtain of

Sound* technique.

When heard on a balanced playback system, the

elements or musicians on the recording will be repro-

duced in the exact locations, directionally, as at the .

original performance. This original, positive technique

to produce a pure, true stereophonic effect so that,

the instruments or elements of the recording are per-

fectly relocated as to direction of sound is an Audio

Fidelity development and is true stereophonic repro-

‘fated

This recording was made on an Ampex 350-2 with "i

special electronic circuitry, using Altec, Electrovoice, wa

RCA, and Telefunken microphones. The masters were |

cut with an automatic Scully Record Lathe mounting

a Westrex 45-45 cutter with special feedback elec- 7

tronic circuitry driven by custom 200 watt amplifiers. j

Precision mastering was done so as to achieve

maximum stylus velecity consistent with minimum lee

distortion, resulting in the ultimate in channel sepa-

ration and realizing the greatest possible signal-to-

noise ratio.

While the total frequency ronge of 16 eps to 25,000

cps on this record may not be within the range of

ordinary human hearing, nevertheless inspection of

the grooves with a microscope will show the etchings

of the upper dynamic frequencies. It is the opinion

of the manufacturer that if these frequencies were

omitted from this record @ certain warmth of tone

that is felt and sensed rather than heard would be

lost. For this reason and to achieve the ultimate in

our “Studies in HIGH FIDELITY STEREOPHONIC sound”

we have gone to these extreme electronic lengths.

Although any 33% RPM stereophonic record play-

back equipment may be used in playing this record- ¥

ing, it is recommended that playback equipment of

extreme wide range and fidelity be used so that the

recording may be enjoyed to its utmost. ‘

Low Frequency Limit 16 CPS

High Frequency Limit 25,000 CPS 4

Crossover 500 CPS

Rolloff 13.75 DB at 10 KC

| Audio Fidelity Records produced

| and released the world’s first

| Stereophonic High Fidelity record

| (Stereodisc* ) in November, 1957. 7