The Link Museum put out a 5 or 6 CD set of his recordings. A bit pricey, but worth it. The new Link book "Life Along the Line" has a CD of some un-released recordings. I have the book, but haven't dropped the CD in the player yet.

Someone was reproducing the Semaphore recordings on CD. I've seen the ads in Classic Trains.

While I don't have a list of currently available railroad audio recordings, I would like to nominate one that I've been looking for for a looong time without success.

"Valle de Locomotora de Vapor" by Brad Miller's Mobile Fidelity issued I think in 1964 covering late steam in Mexico seems to be as rare as hen's teeth.

I have found one or two vinyl copies for sale on line but never any digital recordings. I suppose the beast doesn't exist.

If anyone knows of a digital version of this album, information on it would be greatly appreciated.

I bought some cd's of D&H steam a few yeary ago which I think are good and were priced right. I found them on ebay.

And the new book "Life Along the Line" includes a CD of previously-unreleased material. This book was a much appreciated Christmas gift!

I have the following records in my collection, all for sale.

Title/ Subj/ Date
Sounds of 1401/ 1401, Big Boy, K-4, NYC J/ Unknown
Ghost Train/ Various inc N&W, NKP, GTW, Reading/ 1962
Highball/ Various inc UP, Sierra RR, SP, GW/ 1959
Twilight of Steam/ Companion to Ron Ziels Book/ 1963
Twilight of Steam Vol 2/ Companion to Ron Ziels Book/ 1965
Whistles West/ Various including UP and SP/ 1958
Sounds of Steam Locomotives/ NYC Hudson, Mohawk, and Niagara/ 1958
Big Boy/ UP Big Boys/ 1958
NYC/ Various/ 1965
Memories of Steam US and UK/ 3 LPs/ unknown

try here

http://www.vintagerailroadaudio.com/Default.aspx

I have a collection of recordings here not for sale, but you know, most may be out of print, copright dunno, best to save them is to get copies done somehow of them as they might not be anywheres anywheres.

As with any database of preserved railroad rolling stock, no one (to my knowledge) has compiled any list or database of commercially available rail audio recordings.

I myself may have one of the larger collections out there, though I'm positive there are claimants out there with larger collections. My collection stretches from what is believed to be the first explicitly rail recording, 1950's Rail Dynamics by Cook Laboratories (re-released 2004 by Smithsonian Folkways and now available as MP3 download), through some of the later CD releases, and covers cassettes, LPs, EPs, 45's, a 78 or two, and even some reel-to-reel stuff. Countries include the USA, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, South Africa, Japan, Australia, and South American countries. Also included are many of the releases of the Railroad Record Club, based out of Hawkins, Wisconsin in the 1950s and 1960s.

The problem with the entire field is that in spite of the technology needed to press records or make commercial recordings of almost any type until a few years ago, virtually all the rail recordings made and sold out there amounted to a "cottage industry," much like many of the model railroad suppliers making esoteric products. Also, in many cases, as historic as many of the recordings may be or have been, many of the recordings had little or even no historical data--date, location, locomotive number, train, etc.--accompanying them, and in many other cases (such as many of the Semaphore Records' tourist railroad gift shop offerings), such data was excluded in order to not "date" the products to keep them marketable for years.

The extensive liner notes written by the like of Link put many other such commercial recordings to shame as "historical" documents, but all of these pale compared to the spectacular work of Peter Handford of England, arguably the world's greatest rail audio recordist:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Handford

I've given you enough to tie you up for a few days already.

Wasn't there a company up in either N or S Dakota during the '50s that had regular releases of steam recordings? I can't remember their name, but they had a lot of obscure stuff on them.
I never had any of them and regret not buying them at the time.
I just had something pop into my feeble mind. RR Record Club, Hawkins, MN.
Does that sound right?
They used to advertise in Trains Mag back in the day.

Thanks for the referrals. I'll check with the dealer shown on Amazon and see if it's vinyl or CD.

That gives me hop that I can find that elusive Illinois Central Mike recording I heard 20 years ago....

I've only seen two recordings of IC steam, and I have them both. One was a Mobile Fidelity record "Railroad Sounds" full of an IC 0-8-0 in Crystal Springs, Mississippi, and the other was a Railroad Record Club release as I recall, with some cuts of a 2-8-2 or 2-10-2 switching, recoupling to its train, and starting out of town...........

Okay...here is the $64,000 dollar question...was the Mike wearing a steamboat whistle of a chime? I'm looking for the recording of the chime whistle...

For $64,000, I'll dig out my copy and send it to you. PM me to wire me the deposit and contract.

And yes, it's a "steamboat" chime.

Rats..I worded it wrong...the IC Mike I am looking for was NOT wearing a steamboat whistle.....which makes it so unique....

Item of note--Mobile Fidelity's "Railroad Sounds" came in two forms--monaural and stereo. Most of the recorded sequences are the same between the two--but not all. And, I do believe there are 2-8-2s on there, both singly, and also on what sounds like a screamingly fast doubleheaded manifest, the leading engine with a most commanding yet beautiful whistle. This sequence is on both records. Wish I could figure out how to load the sequences on here. . .

It's interesting to note that this record is much like what was around before O. Winston Link, in that it's just train sounds; it doesn't have the atmospheric feel that Link would provide, and was providing even before this record came out. Link was very much an artist, in that he had whole portraits in sound. Oh, how I wish Hollywood, with its great technical resources, had given support to Link or someone like him, and had given us some really good rail films back then.

Instead, we have to go back to 1930 for "Danger Lights."