Martin Paling » Railway Sounds (Sounds)

Deltic Diesel Locomotive

Martin — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:51:54 +0000

Audio Recording of a Deltic Diesel Locomotive. I recorded this at the Great Central Railway in 2009. The engine makes a fantastic “humming” noise which can be heard from miles away. I rather fancy recording a stationary one just so I can capture it’s “alien” like humming!

Photographs Courtesy of Ron Chaplin

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

LNER Mayflower – Onboard Audio Recording

Martin — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:17:34 +0000

We stopped off for tea and cakes at the very pleasant Battlefield Line Railway (They do really nice cakes) I had some audio recording gear with me so though why not get a recording.

This track captures the LNER Mayflower departing Shackerstone station

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

Ribble Steam Railway Ride

Martin — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:48:10 +0000

The Ribble Steam Railway is a pleasant 20 minute ride through the Preston Docks – and something I happened to find quite by chance. A really nice place to visit especially with children! This Audio recording follows the train up the through the docks and up the line.

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

1940′s NAAFI Tearoom

Martin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:34:19 +0000

I recorded this in the NAAFI tearoom at the Great Central Railway April 2009.

The tearoom is decorated and set as if it were the 1940s. Era music and the crackling of a fire proved irresistible to record, sadly it didn’t last long as customers arrived for a cup of hot chocolate!

Recorded with the ZOOMH4′s internal stereo mic (handheld) with a handmade windgag

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

*For commercial use-age please contact me

Gresley N2 Tank

Martin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:46:49 +0000

This is a beautiful little (Big) engine. I just love the colour and the lining. This recording was made at the Great Central Railway. Just before my partner and I went for an evening meal on the train.

We’d wandered down to the Loughborough shed from Loughborough central station and the engine was just having its fill of water for the trip. Sadly I had to edit out the filling because a) it takes way too long and b) there was a car in the background.

One to listen to with headphones… it makes a great “chugging” noise as it rolls off towards the station.

If you have not been for a meal on the Great Central Railway I recommend you do, its not cheap but well worth the experience. My only criticism would be is that they need to clean the carriage windows a little more throughly and that some of the table fittings are lacking in quality. The meal and ambience however is great!

Recorded with the ZOOMH4′s internal stereo mic (handheld) with a handmade windgag

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

*For commercial use-age please contact me

Hunslet Playing on the Cob Porthmadog

Martin — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:43:38 +0000

Recordings of Hunslets “Playing” on the cob at the Ffestiniog Railway in Wales. Recorded in May 2008

Recorded with the ZOOMH4′s internal stereo mic (handheld) and a home made wind gag.

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

*For commercial use-age please contact me

Photo Credits

I’d like to thank the following for allowing me to use their fantastic images in this post(Also in movie)

Rob Phillips (OldMiwi) : http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldmiwl/

LNER Class O4 Departs Quorn

Martin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:29:28 +0000

LNER Class O4 63601 Departs Quorn

I love this engine… it makes a great noise. At the start of this recording you can almost hear it saying “I can do it, I can do it” as as if from a Thomas the Tank Engine story… it then struggles, hisses and pants up the incline from Quorn with a full train finally celebrating with an exhausted “whistle” somewhere past the Rushey Lane bridge.

As much as I love the GCR it’s a real pain to record from with more environmental noise than you’d think: Apart from all of the nearby roads East Midlands Airport have ruined also many a recording – My girlfriend think’s it’s hugely entertaining to watch me sitting quietly in a field making a recording to suddenly stop and start shouting obscenities at EasyJet.

This was recorded south of Quorn not far from the Rushey Lane bridge and about 400 metres from the lineside. That distance means the mics are set to a very high gain… so a windshield is essential even in the great weather we had that day. This has been edited to kill a lot of the mics own self noise (I really need to get better mics and have my eye on a pair of matched Rode NT1, although a studio mic they’re popular with field recording folk because they have very low self noise… I’m constantly watching Ebay for deals!!!)

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

Earl of Merioneth arrives Porthmadog Harbour Station

Martin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:18:36 +0000

This is a recording I made in Wales at the Ffestiniog Railway over a year ago… but I’ve simply not had the chance to listen to it and get it ready to put on the site until now! Audio recording is a strange hobby in that for me at least I spend more time “recording” than I do playing back. That said for me filed recording is about being in location and listening, the recording is still very much a by product.

This short recording features the Double Fairlie steam engine the Earl of Merioneth arriving at Harbour Station Porthmadog. A Hunslet steam loco may be heard greeting it with a whistle at the start of the recording (and if you listen carefully you’ll hear a nearby car reply too!) the Earl may then be heard pulling into the station brakes squealing. I’ve left in a lot of the environmental noise from the nearby road on the Cob… because for me that is just as much a part of the sounds of the railway today as the trains themselves.

The microphone was placed low down quite close to the track so lots of “rail noise”.

Recorded with the ZOOMH4′s internal stereo mic (handheld) and a home made wind gag.

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

*For commercial use-age please contact me

Photo Credits

I’d like to Matt Buck for allowing me to use his fantastic image in this post(Also in movie)

Matt Buck : mattbuck.irongalaxy.com

Railway Ballast Tamping Machine

Martin — Sun, 17 May 2009 19:09:50 +0000

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

Earl of Merioneth departs Tan-y-Bwlch

Martin — Fri, 15 May 2009 22:29:33 +0000

Earl of Merioneth departs Tan-y-Bwlch station on the Ffestiniog Railway in Wales. Recorded from the forest just along the path from the stream… which you can hear in the background.

Recorded with the ZOOMH4′s internal stereo mic (handheld) and a home made wind gag.

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

*For commercial use-age please contact me

Photo Credits

I’d like to thank the following for allowing me to use their fantastic images in this post(Also in movie)

Rob Phillips (OldMiwi) : http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldmiwl/
MartianMarvin : http://www.flickr.com/photos/50067461@N00/
Forest Pines : http://www.flickr.com/photos/forest_pines/
Matt Buck : mattbuck.irongalaxy.com