Guaranteed to Stir Memories and Emotions

This audio CD is a must-have for every rail fan. It includes steam passenger trains racing by at 75 mph with whistles blowing, and diesels pulling endless strings of freight cars clicking and clanking. It is a nostalgic revisit to the way railroads use to sound, guaranteed to stir memories and emotions.

The CD contains 72 minutes of uninterrupted train sounds. This is not a sound effects library, but original recordings made 60 years ago by Harold Spicer. The CD includes:

    • Steam locomotives starting off, bells ringing and pistons chugging.
    • Engineers blowing their whistles in signature style.
    • Steam locomotives passing grade crossings while gates close and warning bells sound.
    • High speed steam passenger trains approaching and disappearing into the night.
    • Steam freights chugging out of the yard, gaining speed and rolling off into the distance.
    • Diesels with freight cars clickety-clacking over rail joints.
    • High and low speed diesels with horns blasting. 

My late father, Harold Spicer, was a newspaper photographer for the Baltimore News Post from 1939 to 1972. When I was a boy, he took me to the Lansdowne grade crossing and Riverside Yards in Maryland as he ran his state-of-the-art wire recorder. I recently discovered his photographs and recordings thought to be lost forever. The result is this one-of-a-kind CD. Sadly my dad left few notes, but his photos depict a time when B&O, NYC, PRR and WM locomotives barreled across the rails of the Eastern US. You will feel the rumble and maybe even smell the coal smoke!

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Spicer Pro, LLC