To add another suggested work of Brad Miller to listen to, I would recommend 'Green Board South' which is a recording for the Southern Railway steam engines used in the early '70's....4501, 722, 630, and 750. Some of the recording were made during the NRHS convention in Charleston, SC (maybe 1970 or '71?). This is the first steam recording I heard as a kid and when we would ride on the Chessie and Southern trips, my dad would wake us all up by cranking it up instead of a boring alarm clock.
I was able to find a copy a few years ago and get it onto my Ipod (what would Mr. Purdie think of that!). The first track is of the 722 leaving Augusta for Charleston and after she slips a couple of times, the engine hits a rail joint and you can hear the vibrating 'ting' in the rail if you have on headphones or are using good speakers. if you close your eyes and just listen, you can 'hear' the train go past you in the speakers. Also, you get to hear some whistling by Walter Dove, who, hands down, could play a whistle like nobody else I have ever heard.
A friend of mine, who knew Brad Miller and worked on the Chessie and NS steam programs, tells a cool story of Miller taking a recording of the 2101 to an audio and stereo show. Every set of speakers that they tried to play the recording through at 'true volume' either blew out or couldn't handle the sound. His recordings are the best.
