Steam Train – One Time Shot

Last year I had the opportunity to record a steam train passing by. At the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the train track linking two cities in the south-east of France, Brive and Périgueux, a steam train returned twice between the two stations. The train was the 141-TD-740, whose story you can read on the website of the association that now owns it. My parents house happens to be a ten minutes drive from the track, so I went and recorded it on its last journey.

Now I don’t own any fancy gear, so I grabbed my only stereo-recording solution, a Tascam DR-100. I didn’t have any efficient wind protection except from the stock foamie that comes with the recorder. It was OK, I figured the sound from the train would be loud and the weather looked kind enough. I had one shot at capturing the sound so I hopped in the car, recorder in hand, and headphones around the neck.

I found a nice spot along the track where I could stand in a grass field, on the outside of a bend about 50ft from the rails. I moved away about 200ft from a bridge over the train track. I set the gain wheel on my recorder to 6 (on a 0-10 scale), and the mic gain switch to M (from L-M-H positions). I held the recorder over my head like I always do to prevent my body from shadowing as much as I can.

One steam locomotive and four cars later I walked away.