Living with Steam features the railroad sound recordings made by John M. Prophet III, noted Pennsylvania Railroad historian and dedicated railfan for his entire life. Beginning in 1948, John used a Webster-Chicago Model 288-1 wire recorder to make recordings in Buffalo and other areas in Western New York. When stream engines pulling passenger or freight trains became scarce in the Buffalo area, John ventured into Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other areas to continue making his…
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This episode of Living with Steam features the second set of recordings John M. Prophet III made from August 28th to September 1st in 1952 from Tyrone, and Huntingdon, PA. In this set, John also recorded from Cresson, PA, and the Pennsylvania Railroad’s famous Horseshoe Curve. In addition to hearing the recordings, you’ll learn why John made the trip to Tyrone in August 1952 in the first place; to…
This episode of Living with Steam EXTRA is a bit different in that I’m featuring several of the railroad sound recordings from my collection that were made specifically for adding a bit of realism to a model railroad; specifically that of an O-gauge model railroad. While the post-war period in America saw a boom in the demand and popularity of O-gauge model trains manufactured by Lionel, American…
Right after leaving work on Thursday, August 28, 1952, John hopped in his car and drove to Tyrone, Pennsylvania where he began to record as much Pennsylvania Railroad steam engines as possible. Known as "The Hub of the Highways", Tyrone was a big spot on the Pennsy's Middle Division trackage where the hauling of coal, iron ore, paper products and passengers occurred 24 hours a day... EVERY day. If…
In this episode of Living with Steam EXTRA, we'll conclude the story of William A. Steventon and how he came to develop the Railroad Record Club in the 1950s. It wasn't easy for Steventon to pull this venture off especially in an era where railroad sound recordings were in high demand amongst railfans yearning to relive the days of trains pulled by steam engines. Competition was out there and…
On the evening of July 24, 1951, John M Prophet III drove his car into Cove, Pennsylvania; a small “don’t blink or you’ll miss it” town located north of Harrisburg, and right on the Pennsylvania Railroad's Middle Division mainline between Duncannon and Marysville. John wanted to make a special stop in Cove because he hoped to record Pennsy steam and diesel engines pulling trains at full speed.…
This is the second of a three part series documenting a road trip John M. Prophet III made back in July of 1951. In the last episode of Living with Steam, you heard the railroad sound recordings John made in Trenton, NJ; his last stop on the trip. Now, you'll hear the incredible recordings of many Pennsylvania Railroad trains John captured in Palmyra, NJ. In my opinion, these are some of his best…
This episode of Living with Steam features recordings John Prophet made at the Pennsylvania Railroad Passenger station in Trenton, NJ on July 27, 1951. As a bonus, the episode also features recordings John made during the last week Pennsylvania Railroad steam engines were used to pull passenger trains in and out of Buffalo, NY.
In this episode of LwS EXTRA, you'll be introduced to the railroad sound recordings John M. Prophet made after 1955, when he put away his Webster-Chicago wire recorder in favor of a new magnetic tape recorder. The tape featured in this episode is one John labeled as being "#1" in a set of five tapes he had grouped together. As you'll hear, the fourth tape has gone missing. John made these…
Welcome to the first episode in season 3 of Living with Steam. In July of 1949, John Prophet paid another visit to New York Central’s Bay View (BV) interlocking tower, which was located in Blasdell, NY. In reality, John stopped by BV tower accompanied by his sister Annette and a few of his close friends six out of the seven days during the week of July 24; recording a few trains every evening.…
“About half-past three o’clock yesterday afternoon, the telegraph flashed the news to this city that an accident had occurred near the Village of Angola, to the New York Express train, on the Lake Shore Road, due at Buffalo at 1:30 pm, and that there was a fearful loss of life.” 84 years later, on Sunday, July 22, 1951, John got in his car and drove down to the Village of Angola, NY to make some…
