Steam & Excursion > Can you smell it?

A haze of smoke and steam, the scent of hot oil, and a low rumble from an active firebox fills the Sierra Railway roundhouse early Saturday morning while hostlers awaken Shay #2 which is just out of view behind engines #3, #28, and #34. June 18, 2011.
 

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Used to love active roundhouses.  Always rode over to the Frisco roundhouse at Lindenwood to pick Dad up and would roam around and get filthy in there.  Mom would half heartedly chew me out, but she knew it was hopeless.

  As a builder and collector of locomotive whistles, I was hired in 2003, by Skywalker Sound, to do a recording session for the upcoming movie "Polar Express". They asked me not only to provide a dozen different types of whistles to record but also to find a mobile source of steam where we could record them. Being acquainted with George Sapp and having worked on the Sierra before, a contract was quickly worked out. On the day of the recording session, I arrived early and found George atop of the 28's boiler, fighting with a torch and a long pipe wrench, trying to remove the Northern Pacific 5-chime whistle, which had been on there for years. He needed to install a shutoff valve so we would be able to swap out whistles while the engine was under steam.

  While George and I were discussing what needed to be done, the sound crew also showed up early. They asked if they could wander around the roundhouse and record anything that they might find interesting. George said, "Sure, but I don't know what you're gonna hear." After all it was 5:00 am, pitch dark and noone was there except George and I. The sound crew wandered off and disappeared around the arc of the roundhouse and George and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. "I don't know what they're gonna hear", he said. With that, George raised the torch, hit the striker and "POP"! Those sound guys reappeared in an instant, like curious puppies, their ears all perked up. "Could you do that again?", they asked. George obliged.

The same thing happed when the hostler lit off the fire. "Whooomp"! Here they came. "Can you do that again?" The hostler extinguished the fire and lit it off again. And again, and again, and again. Finally he said, "I'll be glad to to this for you all day but the engine's not gonna be hot at 8:00 a.m. for you, if I don't get this show on the road."

  Yep, nothing like the sounds of an active roundhouse!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/15 12:37 by crackerjackhoghead.

That was a GREAT story, crackerjackhoghead! George had told me about the Polar Express recordings and I really enjoy the additional anecdotes that you have provided. Thanks for sharing!

  I just found these photos from that day. I had more but can't seem to find them right now. Somewhere there's a photo of this guy straddling the headlight, holding the mic over the stack and hanging on for dear life!

  The funny thing is how in tune these guys ears were with every little sound. When we were running the engine back and forth and they were recording, they asked, "Can you eliminate that little squeak?" "What squeak? We don't hear anything." "Oh, there's definitely a little squeak coming from the right side running gear." And they hear it over the sound of the exhaust!

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/15 14:33 by crackerjackhoghead.

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What a GREAT story! Thanks fort sharing!