Lws EXTRA: "PRR Diesels, 1970"

About this episode

This episode explores railroad sound recordings made by John M. Prophet during a tumultuous time for the railroad industry.

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 recordings shortly after the Penn Central declared bankruptcy and thus plunged the railroad industry into unprecedented chaos. Although John labeled each recording as being that of a Pennsylvania Railroad diesel locomotive, the timeline is such that what John actually recorded were PRR diesels that had been stripped of their original identify and painted over in Penn Central colors and road numbers.

People in this episode

Host: Aaron Heverin

Topics covered

• railroad history
• sound recordings
• Penn Central
• Pennsylvania Railroad
• diesel locomotives

Keywords

• railroad
• sound recordings
• diesel locomotives
• Penn Central
• Pennsylvania Railroad

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Penn Central, Pennsylvania Railroad

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