SD70ACe Air Start

The new crew of Union Pacific train MSSPR at Butler has climbed aboard and is ready to head south. First item of business is to start up the engine in the lead locomotive, SD70ACe 8506 (the second unit, another SD70ACe, was already running). These locomotives utilize an air start system, which makes a surprisingly loud air burst when cranking the engine.

Recorded on an iPhone at Butler Yard.

Northbound Canadian National Train at Night

The beauty of making audio recordings of trains is that you can do so at night, long after the photographers have gone to bed. This recording (direct to Macintosh iBook hard drive via a Digidesign Mbox) was made along Canadian National's former-Wisconsin Central mainline near Theresa, Wisconsin, at 9:33 pm on May 4, 2002.

Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 261

Here's a short audio clip of Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 number 261 on a ferry move from its home base of the Twin Cities to Chicago, on the Wisconsin Central at Slinger, Wisc., 8:40 am, June 25 1998. The train had stopped to pick up a few additional passenger cars for the Chicago-Galesburg excursions the following weekend.

There's a lot going on in this segment. Birds are chirping. A 1990's-era electronic bell is clanging to warn motorists of the approaching train. Sporting an acoustic bell, a 1940's-era steam locomotive is charging upgrade with a load of passenger cars.

For more info on the 261, visit www.261.com.

Radio Defect Detectors

I've always been fascinated by talking radio defect detectors. Typically, a train will pass by a hot axle or dragging equipment detector, and the detector will announce, over the railroad's radio frequency, that there are no defects. Occasionally an overheated bearing will be encountered, brake rigging might have come loose, or a load may have shifted. When that happens, the detector sounds an alarm, which prompts the crew to stop the train and inspect the problem area.

Here are a few sample audio clips of defect detectors at work.