Visited the O Winston Link Museum for the first time Monday and was highly impressed. Got to see a number of his photos that I'd never seen and learned a few things about his techniques. If you're a fan of his work and have never been there, I'd highly recomend it. My question is this - was his original audio tapes recovered?

Many of his original tapes have survived, likely the majority. Most were in very fragile condition. They have been transferred to CDs for preservation.

Dave A. - Thank you for the compliment! I'm glad you enjoyed the museum. Many rail enthusiasts have been very impressed by the amount of photography, sound recordings and information available at the Link Museum.As Dave S. replied, many tapes have survived and were used to complete the CD Box Set now available (www.linkmuseum.org/store.html). The Sounds of Steam Railroading Box Set is a 5-CD set of Link's six releases (Sounds of Steam Railroading, The Fading Giant, Thunder on the Blue Ridge, Second Pigeon and the Mockingbird, The General, and Mainline to Panther). The tapes were carefully restored and remastered - digitally "cleaned up." The job was tedious because the restorers did not want to lose any of the special nuances recorded by Link - crickets chirping, children laughing, people talking - as the trains go by. In addition to available audio tapes, "virgin" LP recordings were used to assist in the restoration. Prior to the release of the Box Set in 2004, the only volume available on CD was The Fading Giant - Volume 2. Joan Pharr Thomas, trustee of the sound recordings, was very involved in this process of restoration.Some additional background on the recordings:O. Winston Link released six volumes of steam sound recordings from 1957 to 1977 as the Sounds of Steam Railroading series. He originally began recording steam sounds to provide ambient sound for his gallery shows. The recordings were so popular that Link continued to make recordings of Class J, A, M and Y6b locomotives on the Norfolk and Western lines. Link even made a special trip from New York to Virginia to specifically photograph a cover for Thunder on the Blue Ridge - Volume 3. The Sounds of Steam Railroading series was originally released on LP records (with the exception of The General, which was a 45 rpm). The General - Volume 5 is the only recording of a non-N&W locomotive in the series, made of the locomotive on the 100th anniversary of its famous run.

Thanks so much for the info - and for reading my mind. I was also wondering how the CD's were mastered. I'm relieved to hear that most or all of the collection has been recovered. I would also like to add that I was blown away by the Vesuvius gas pump. Sure looks alot better than the last time I saw it! Next time I'm in the area I'll be stopping in again for sure.