Living with Steam Podcast

07/04/2024

The newest episode of Living with Steam is currently in production and will be released soon.

This time you’ll hear the recordings John Prophet made in Palmyra, NJ on July 26, 1951. Palmyra was John’s second stop on a three-day road trip he made beginning on July 25; his first stop being Cove, PA. John’s final destination would be Trenton, NJ to visit friends and the recordings he made in Trenton were featured in the last episode of LwS.

In my opinion, these recordings are some of John’s best work. Palmyra had a long history of being a very busy place for Pennsylvania Railroad traffic due to the dozens of commuter trains that ran daily and on a continuous basis. Sandwiched between Philadelphia and New York, Palmyra was one of many stops Pennsy trains had to make on a stretch of track where the stations were roughly a half-mile apart from each other. These movements were the very definition of “all-stops” trains and John captured every bit of it.

Palmyra was one of the best examples of John simply letting his wire-recorder run in order to catch the distant approach of a Pennsy commuter train far up the line, the arrival and departure of the train at Palmyra, and finally the fading of the train way in the distance as it approached the next station on its journey. In other words, he didn’t stop the recorder as soon as the engine went past his microphone.

The Palmyra recordings were perhaps the most difficult to produce into an episode of LwS because of John’s notes and what is actually heard in each of recordings. When trying to compare everything to a 1951 PRR timetable, nothing made sense. It was a challenge, but the results will be well worth it.

Thanks to everyone for their patience. I hope you enjoy the episode when it’s released. Stay tuned!

16/02/2024

The newest episode of Living with Steam has just been released. This time, you’ll hear the recordings John Prophet made at the Pennsylvania Railroad passenger station in Trenton, NJ in July 1951. As a bonus for this episode, you’ll hear several recordings John made in the southern tier of New York as John set out to record PRR passenger trains during the last week they were pulled by steam engines in and out of Buffalo, NY.

Enjoy!

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/living-with-steam/episodes/The-Pennsylvania-Railroad-Passenger-Station-at-Trenton--NJ-e2frn0n

08/01/2024

The newest episode of Living with Steam (EXTRA) is now streaming.

Enjoy!

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/living-with-steam/episodes/Lws-EXTRA-PRR-Diesels--1970-e2e5pkr

06/10/2023

While paying a visit to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania this past summer, I took the opportunity to take some pictures of Pennsylvania Railroad engine 1223, which John Prophet was especially fond of. Not only did he make extensive recordings of this engine when it was on the Strasburg Railroad back in the 1950s, but he also shot many 16mm movies of the engine in excursion service.

Sadly, 1223 is retired, but resting comfortably and protected in the museum’s wonderful indoor facilities. If you’ve never been to the RMoP (or Strasburg), you really should go. For us railfans, it’s like visiting “Mecca.”

Regardless, several recordings of 1223 will be featured in this season of Living with Steam.

30/09/2023

Creating this podcast is a labor of love for me... which is why I'm so happy to announce that the first episode of season 3 of Living with Steam is now available for streaming. Of course... you'll hear some pretty incredible sounds that John Prophet recorded during the week of July 24 in 1949 at BV Tower in Blasdell, NY, but you'll also learn about one of the boldest and most successful "land grabs" ever pulled off in Buffalo's history. The railroad industry in Buffalo in the mid to late 19th century was cut-throat... with little regard to the safety of the public or railroad employees. "The public be damned! We need to get to Lake Erie!"
Enjoy!
https://podcasters.spotify.com/.../Railroad-News--A-Week...

19/06/2023

With the Living with Steam podcast on hiatus for a few months, I’m taking the “time off” to get other projects ready for release. In the works are a video on the historic run of NYC’s Engine 999 along with a video featuring ffootage of a baseball championship game between the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central in October of 1927. Scripts for the upcoming season of LwS are currently being written as well.

More exciting is the discovery of a film showing actual footage captured at Boulder Park amusement park of Sam Herrington’s steam train. John Prophet was the engineer of this train on many occasions, and he is clearly seen in the film. Boulder Park was featured in an episode of Season 1 of Living with Steam since Sam was a NYC tower man and one of John’s best friends. Sam was John’s way into Tower 49-A on many occasions.

I’m also thrilled to report that after a year of dotting the “I’s” and crossing the “T’s”, I have come into possession of John’s “lost” open-reel tapes. These tapes feature recordings of PRR operations in the very last days of steam from 1955-1956. In fact, John was so desperate to hang on to his precious Pennsy that he broke ranks and actually went out to record PRR diesels just prior to them being painted over by Penn Central. The diesels were either reused or scrapped depending on what was redundant and not needed. John had a feeling things were going to drastically change.

John also made many recordings of PRR engine 1223 at the Strasburg Railroad Museum along with trains of the Western Maryland in its final days of steam.

The tapes are being meticulously digitized and restored at this very moment.

Along with the tapes, John’s collection of 16mm films have likewise been sent to me for digitizing. Look for new video content on the LwS YouTube channel featuring these incredible films; several of which have never been seen.

Living with Steam will return soon. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for listening.

20/03/2023

It has taken close to three months of work, but the season finale for Living with Steam is now available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and others.

This one features several recordings John M. Prophet III made at the Village of Angola NY on Sunday, July 22, 1951. Even though the old depot of the Nickel Plate Road was no longer being used for passenger service when John was there, he still managed to record passenger and freight trains pulled by both steam end diesel engines of the NKP and PRR running at full speed past his location.
When John first let me hear these recordings back in 1993, he wanted to be sure I knew about the disaster that occurred in Angola back on December 18, 1867. Not only had I never heard of what came to be known as “The Angola Horror”… I didn’t even know where Angola was.

There’s no doubt trains are fascinating machines; ask anyone who is a railfan (like John was) or deeply into model railroading as a hobby (like Rod Stewart). However, trains can kill and/or cause suffering beyond comprehension. This is the story of one such deadly incident.

As a final note… there’s no way to sugarcoat the story of what happened to the New York Express as it made its way from Cleveland, Ohio to Buffalo on that frigid day back in December of 1867. Many lives were lost and hundreds more were forever changed by what they witnessed as they tried to help with rescue efforts. To that end, listener discretion is advised for this one especially if you’re going to be listening with a youngster.

“About half-past three o’clock yesterday afternoon, the telegraph flashed the news to this city that an accident had occurred near the Village of Angola, to the New York Express train, on the Lake Shore Road, due at Buffalo at 1:30 pm, and that there was a fearful loss of life.” 84 years later...

11/03/2023

The next episode of Living with Steam tells the story of the horrific train derailment that occurred in Angola, NY on December 18, 1867. The wheels on the last car in the New York Express derailed just as the train was about to pass Angola and cross over the Big Sister Creek bridge which was about a mile or so away from the station.

The car began tearing up the ties and ballast as the passengers inside the car began to frantically pull on the emergency signal cord to try to get the engineer to stop the train before it reached the bridge since the car was also bouncing and violently rocking back and forth. Even though he had no idea what was going on in the car 400 feet back from his engine, the engineer lowered the throttle and applied the brakes to his engine to try and stop the train. A loud and continuous blast from the engine’s whistle signaled the brakemen stationed on the train to set the handbrakes on the cars immediately.

However, even though the train had slowed considerably, the constant moving of the car was exasperated by the panic-stricken passengers who were frantically moving around inside the car trying to determine what was going on as the car followed the train out onto the Big Sister Creek bridge.

However, the momentum of the train didn’t slow to the point of stopping the car from rocking and tipping . Once the car reached a 45-degree angle to the track, however, it toppled… right off the bridge and straight down 50 feet into the ravine below. The passengers were crushed together inside the wreckage of the car, but to add insult to horrific injury, the two pot-bellied wood burning stoves at either end of the car exploded and sprayed hot coals all over the interior of the car. Anything and everything flammable caught fire and began to burn; including the 50 or so people trapped in the remains of the car.

Yet the ordeal wasn’t over.

03/03/2023

Hello to all listeners of Living with Steam. The next episode of the podcast is coming soon. This time, the wire recordings John Prophet made from Angola, NY in 1951 will be featured. Of course, we can't talk about Angola without telling the story of what transpired there back on December 18, 1867.

Image courtesy of bridgehunter.com

19/01/2023

The latest episode of Living with Steam EXTRA is now available for steaming. Once again, we return to the story of William A. Steventon and the Railroad Record Club.

To view more details about the program, in addition to photographs and links to content related to the episode, visit the podcast’s website at:
Livingwithsteam.com.

11/01/2023

Unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury of a staff to help produce the episodes of Living with Steam on a regular schedule. I hope all who enjoy the program will continue to remain patient as I produce new shows as quickly as I can. With that said, the newest episode of LwS EXTRA is coming very soon! It’s in the final mix-down stage. For this one, we return to the story of William A. Steventon and the Railroad Record Club. You’ll also learn how railfans from all over the world began sharing and trading recordings with each other once “home recording” took on a life of it’s own starting in the late 1940s.

Stay tuned!

05/12/2022

I've updated the cover image for LwS just in case you notice the change on the platform you get your podcasts from.

21/11/2022

The newest episode of Living with Steam is now available for streaming.

On September 22, 1949, John M. Prophet III brought his Webster-Chicago wire recorder to New York Central's Tower 50; a very busy interlocking tower located right in the heart of Downtown Buffalo, and perhaps one of the best locations for capturing non-stop train activity. Unfortunately for John, he arrived at the tower just as Buffalo was about to experience one of the worst weather events of 1949. It was unseasonably cold, with heavy thunderstorms, wind, and hail all occurring throughout the time he was there.

John recorded from Tower 50 a total of four times. However, he had told me that, in his opinion, the recordings he made there were "boring." Well, you be the judge as you listen to perhaps two of the greatest sounds combined into one incredible soundscape; thunderstorms and trains in the heart of one of the most cluttered and busiest railroad areas of Buffalo.

https://anchor.fm/living-with-steam/episodes/A-Dark-and-Stormy-Night-at-Tower-50-e1r2ag3

If the above link doesn’t work, search for “Living with Steam” wherever you get your podcasts.

Enjoy!

On September 22, 1949, John M. Prophet III brought his Webster-Chicago wire recorder to New York Central's Tower 50; a very busy interlocking tower located right in the heart of Downtown Buffalo, and perhaps one of the best locations for capturing non-stop train activity. Unfortunately for John, he....

16/11/2022

Coming soon! The newest episode of Living with Steam is almost finished.

For this one, we'll join John M. Prophet III as he pays a visit to NYC's Interlocking Tower 50 right in the heart of downtown Buffalo on a miserable cold and rainy evening in September 1949. If you like listening to thunderstorms and trains, this is an episode you will certainly enjoy.

You'll also learn about NYC's famous J-1 Hudson locomotive, and why steam engines were classified by their wheel configuration.

08/10/2022

Hello friends,

I’ve just released the latest installment of my podcast, Living with Steam. This is an “EXTRA” episode where I feature railroad sound recordings made by folks other than John M. Prophet because, by the mid-1950s, the introduction of the consumer-grade portable tape recorder made it possible for more dedicated railfans to bring the sounds of their favorite trains home for the first time.

In this episode, I’ll introduce you to William A. Steventon; a gent who was so prolific at what he was doing that he decide to give up his day job and make recording and releasing his railroad sound recordings to the public a full-time gig. Steventon created the Railroad Record Club as a way to give and sell his recordings (along with others) to anyone interested. His recorded output was pretty impressive even though he may not be as well-known as his contemporaries. To this day, RRC releases can command high prices on eBay. Luckily, all surviving recordings have been released on CD.

It’s a fascinating story, and one I would not have been able to share without the generous assistance of Kenneth Gear - who had the incredible good fortune of obtaining and preserving William A. Steventon’s estate. That in itself is a great story... one that will be covered in the next episode of LwS EXTRA.

But for now, enjoy part 1 of William A. Steventon’s story.

https://anchor.fm/living-with-steam/episodes/Living-with-Steam-EXTRA-William-A--Steventon--the-Railroad-Record-Club--Part-1-e1ov3rg

31/07/2022

Hello to all my friends and listeners. Welcome to version 2 of the Living with Steam page.

However, with that said, I've decided to completely abandon Facebook as a way to showcase content related to each episode of Living with Steam. There is now a dedicated website that makes it much easier to browse content by each episode. Videos and other related content are on the site as well. It's a work in progress, so please pardon my dust while I continue spackling.

New episodes and related videos coming soon.

Head over to www.livingwithsteam.com to view everything related to the podcast.