Customer Reviews

Toy Trains : The Soundtrack

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This CD is for all the gray-haired kids who had electric trains (and always wanted more) as they grew up in the 1940s and 50s. It has a wealth of 33 tracks of recordings, not only of train company promotional records that once spun at 78 rpm on our record players but also of toy train television commercials and of sound-equipped railroad station models. A partial sampling of the contents of the CD includes Lionel television commercials from 1957, ca. 1958, and ca. 1961; Lionel promotional records released in 1947, 1949, and 1951; American Flyer's Talking Union Station of 1954; Gilbert's Mystic Station announcements of 1948; Marx station sounds from 1949 and 1956; Noma's Announcing Railroad Station of 1951; and a Colber sound effects record from ca. 1948.

In addition to reproducing the old promotional records, station sounds, and a sampling of vintage television commercials, the CD contains a 6:32-minute excerpt from the 1950 television series "The Lionel Clubhouse" hosted by Joe DiMaggio. It concludes with an 8:27-minute recording from "Railroad Story," a short-subject film released in 1952.

This CD is substantially different from other railroad-related recordings. It has no traditional ballads of railroad life or of hobo lore to entertain the hobbyist laboring away in the train room. It is probably not going to be the most often-played CD during the family dinner hour, either, for its appeal is strongest to the die-hard historian of three-rail toy trains. Nevertheless, the nostalgia factor is high, and anyone who had one of the tiny 78 rpm promotional records (or anyone who wishes he had one) will enjoy hearing the soundtracks again, especially since manual 78 rpm turntables that will still play the original records are in ever-shorter supply.

Still, I must admit that something is missing in the emotional experience of hearing these recordings again. Putting a contemporary CD in its player just isn't quite the same as matching up the turntable spindle with the hole in the record, turning on the record player, picking up the tone arm and placing the needle down just right, and then listening to the screech as the needle slides across the record grooves because one of us bumped the player! Afterwards, of course, we're forever treated to the clicking sound of the needle as it passes over the scratch it left across the grooves. Ah, the nostalgia of it all! As should be expected, the original recordings from which the CD was made were not in pristine condition, and some of the authentic static does come through, so this modern descendant of those 40-year-old devices isn't quite devoid of authenticity!

If you ever looked forward at Christmas or birthday-time to ripping off that giftwrap because you knew a new Lionel or Marx or American Flyer car or engine or accessory was underneath (having memorized the shapes of their boxes), then you will surely enjoy opening this CD and transporting yourself back to the days of Lionel smoke pellets and the smell of ozone from the old AC-powered motors! On the other hand, if you had the misfortune to be a true misérable who was forced to grow up without the joy of racing that new train around an oval of track just to see how far it would fly when it hit the sharp curves, then perhaps you can't understand the delight in listening to these antique sound effects and might enjoy a recording of traditional railroad songs instead. This CD is targeted to an audience with very specific childhood memories--and I love it!

This CD is everything it claims to be -- lots of fun! The quality is only as good as the originals, so don't expect much in that department, but it's as good as it could possibly be without original master recordings.
Highly recommended if you like this sort of thing ;-)