Railway Ballast Tamping Machine

Late night recording of a railway ballast tamping machine. I was just heading off to bed when I heard an incredible noise coming from the railway line that passes through our village, having decided to record the sounds I made for the bridge over the line by St Anne’s Church hoping to ctach it before it moved underneath it. Unfortunately by the time I got my gear together and found a torch it had passed the bridge… if I’d got there earlier this would have been a much more exciting recording as I could have captured it as it passed by me.

Still it’s a pretty impressive sound all the same… and might come in useful for some kind Alien machine from War of the Worlds.

Tamping Machines:

Tamping machines are used to “pack” the ballast underneath the rails/sleepers, they basically give it a good wack and jiggle all the ballast around to close up gaps and holes.

Recorded with my ZoomH4 a SUPERLUX E523/D microphone and Homemade Microphone Windshield System.

You are free to copy, distribute and make derivative works under this licence*

*For commercial use-age please contact me