Steam & Excursion > 765 With Jim Herron's IC Whistle

This was recorded on September 19, 1992, as Nickel Plate Road #765 was returning to Paducah, Kentucky, with the first of two round trips to Central City on the Paducah & Louisville's former Illinois Central Kentucky Division.  Noteworthy is the use of Jim Herron's Illinois Central whistle, which was installed on the locomotive for the weekend.  I made the recording at Princeton, Kentucky, and took the photo while making the recording.  As you can see, it was getting on the "golden hour" and it was the beginning of a quiet evening until the train arrived.

Just for fun I added a photo of the type of equipment I got my start in stereo sound recording with; including making this recording.  Now, for any Star Trek TNG geeks on hand (my geek card is in good standing), that microphone might just look familliar.  The prop department took one of these, removed the chord, painted it silver, added some flashing LED's, and used it as a medical instrument in the sick bay on the Enterprise.  When I first noticed, I laughed and let out an audible "Oh, HELL no!"

There's your useless information for the day.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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Sounds like the same barking dog on one of Link's 33's records, Vol 1, maybe?

W.

wcamp1472 Wrote:
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> Sounds like the same barking dog on one of Link's
> 33's records, Vol 1, maybe?
>
> W.

At least there's no howling...

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Thank you for sharing! I missed that weekend and never heard the IC whistle. Few photos were ever published of that weekend.

Posted from Android

NKP779 Wrote:
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> Few photos were ever published of that weekend.

The first one here was.  It appeared in Railfan & Railroad in their blurb about the trips in the (if I remember correctly) January, '93, issue.

The color photo was taken with my Pentax K-1000 with a 70-210 zoom, and then I swapped over to a point & shoot Olympus loaded with B&W film.

Back in the early 90's, I discovered that getting photos published was very much a case of the ol' boys club.  When the IC bought their used former BN SD40-2's, I got a photo of one in patched BN green coupled with one freshly repainted into IC black.  It was perfectly lit on a sunny day, so I submitted it to Trains Magazine for their news photos.  Trains printed a shot of two repainted locomotives on a cloudy day taken by someone with a recognizable name.  I never bothered submitting to Kalmbach again.

This photo was published in R&R under the byline "Scott McPherson."

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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Beautiful!

Nice recording, Mary!

-JH

That IC whistle is very nice, but I still really liked the Wabash whistle that 765 had in St.Louis back in 2012.

I rode the train on the Saturday run and chased on Sunday.   I was at that same spot in Princeton catching the eastbound run on Sunday.  The same barking dog is on my video as well.  Hard to believe it's now almost 30 years ago.  

Mary, thanks for speaking up about being about how  the "good old boys" were/are the ones getting their photos published.  Even today, if you pick up a copy of "Trains", many of the photos are second rate images. Dark, back lit and overall poor quality.  I'm not sure why they don't aspire to raise the bar. There are so many excellent photographers out there.  

Dave

THAT is one beautiful whistle Mary. Thanks so much for posting and including the backstory.

Sounds like a 3-chime. Does anyone know what type of whistles the IC used? I know I’m late to this post so, thanks in advance for any replies.

Mark V.
“The Fort” in Indiana

Posted from iPhone

I.C. made their own whistles to their own tuning, but the design was based on the Hancock long-bell flat-top three-chime.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Thanks Mary! Appreciate your work. You have done every steam fan proud. Thank YOU!!

Posted from iPhone

The top photo is a killer, with the smoke laying just above the train.

Posted from Android