Music to model railroad by

[TMarsh]

mobilman44

I prefer the "classic rock" for the most part, but now find what the radio calls "classic rock" is just not all that "classic" - and is more a mix of late '70s and '80s stuff.

Classic rock - to this "war baby" - is mid '50s thru early '70s.  I also like "classic country", but again the radio's definition doesn't quite match with mine.

As an aside, there are tons of classic country & rock songs out there, but the stations here (Houston area) seem to have about 100 song playlist and everything else is verbotten!

For what its worth......

Mobilman44 

Sounds like the radio stations here. I don't listen to the radio much at all. When I do, for the most part the same songs are playing, with a few exceptions, that I heard a month ago.

[mobilman44]

Aloco,

   Coincidently, the selections you quoted are all among the songs that cause me to "change the station".  I honestly reviewed each one and just had to laugh.  Ha, its a good thing we aren't working together. 

But hey, it just goes to show you, we all have different tastes - not a bad thing of course.

ENJOY,

Mobilman44

[aloco]

I got my first train set back in 1974, and later that year I bought a couple more locos, some extra track, a couple of switches, and a few more freight cars.  I always had the radio playing when I ran trains, and I was really 'into' model railroading and listening to music in late 1974 - early 1975.  Here's a list of the songs I remember hearing back then:

 

Star - Stealer's Wheel

I'm A Train - Albert Hammond

Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Passing Time - Bearfoot (c)

Longfellow Serenade - Neil Diamond

When Will I See You Again - The Three Degrees

Cat's In The Cradle - Harry Chapin

Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas

Boogie On Reggae Woman - Stevie Wonder

Dancin' Fool - The Guess Who (c)

Dark Horse - George Harrison

Bungle In The Jungle - Jethro Tull

Lady Ellen - James Leroy (c)

Can You Give It All To Me - Myles & Lenny (c)

I'm A Fool To Do Your Dirty Work - Songbird (c)

Mandy - Barry Manilow

I Wouldn't Want To Lose Your Love - April Wine (c)

Some Kind Of Wonderful - Grand Funk

Ready - Cat Stevens

Black Water - Doobie Brothers

Lonely People - America

Magic - Pilot

(c) stands for Canadian content.  Canadian radio stations were required by law to play at least thirty per cent of music recorded by Canadian artists.  And I didn't mind that at all because there was some really good Canadian rock and pop music to listen to during the early to mid 1970s.

[alcodave]

You guys all have unique and interesting taste in music! Model Railroaders are probably the must interesting and diverse people you can ever meet.

[climaxpwr]

For me its light jazz or piano jazz.  The Rippingtons, Pat Methany, Basment Jaxx, Vince Guarldi (peanuts music)   I work better if I stay relaxed and focused.  if not in a music mode, I have a TV in the room and I can put it on CNN Headline news, History Channel ect.   Cheers  Mike

[loathar]

Music? We don't need no stinking music!

http://www.railroadradio.net/

 

[Philly Bill]

AlreadyInUse

Hits River Junction
at seventeen to
at a quarter to ten
you know it's trav'lin again"

 There you go!  All I can do to keep from quoting the next line!  I'm still in the basement preparation phase, so I just have FM radio on the local AAA / NPR station, WXPN.  Unless the Phillies are playing, who definitely are worth hearing this year.

[twhite]

tomikawaTT

And then there's Honneger's Pacific 2-3-1.  The announcers usually call it, "Pacific Two-Thirty-One,"  which cracks me up.  (2-3-1 counts axles, 4-6-2 counts wheels...)

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

 

Great piece.  I like Honneger a lot.  The original title was "Toccata for Orchestra: Pacific 231".   He also wrote another Toccata for Orchestra called "Rugby".  

There's a neat French short film that uses "Pacific 231" as its soundtrack.  Yup, it's a film about a locomotive from start to finish.  Pretty stunning, just like the music. 

Tom

[hardcoalcase]

Beethoven Symphonies, preferably the odd-numbered ones, especially the first and last movements;  and Overtures, the Lenora group are favorites.  Mozart Symphonies, especially the later ones.  Overtures too.  Throw in some Mendelssohn, Rosini, and a handful of others.  This is barn-burning, thundering classical at its best.  If these don't get your blood pumping... better check for a pulse!

Jim

[tomikawaTT]

shayfan84325

vsmith

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4DDkR8RtkY

 

That was like a root canal!

 

Well, well, whaddya know.  There's actually something WORSE than Rap!!!

My personal preference??  Classical.  No, not classical (fillintheblank.)  Classical, as in Beethoven, Brahms and a whole bunch of long dead Russians...

And then there's Honneger's Pacific 2-3-1.  The announcers usually call it, "Pacific Two-Thirty-One,"  which cracks me up.  (2-3-1 counts axles, 4-6-2 counts wheels...)

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[mononguy63]

tbdanny

Call it coincidence, but I've recently begun developing a taste for Frank Sinatra as well...

Put him in front of the Basie band or Nelson Riddle Orchestra - now that is Good Stuff!

And twhite, take a listen to Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band. They throw out a wall of sound that'll knock your socks off. No "thunky" there.

[tbdanny]

Call it coincidence, but I've recently begun developing a taste for Frank Sinatra as well...

[hcc25rl]

I do not listen to music while I'm "workin' on the railroad", however, I do listen to talk radio, both national and local stations. I find that I can "tune in and tune out" at will rather than having to try to watch TV. Music seems to distract me more so than does talk. I've been an amatuer musician (Bass/Vocals)  for over 35 years so I get my fill of everything from 50's to 2000's music most week-ends. Also, I like to keep as current as I can as regards local/regional/national news etc. I agree that Rod Stewart's layout was a real piece of work, though I doubt that he did all the work by himself. Just my opinion.

[on30francisco]

 I listen to Classic Rock, oldies from the 50s and 60s, REAL Jazz, big bands, and sometimes disco.

[twhite]

Driline

 I'm surprised. Since most model railroaders are senior citizens or older, I thought for sure I'd hear some Benny Goodman or some Big Band music

Sorry, there.  I'm a Senior Citizen and still an active Classical Musician by profession.  Never liked Big Band.  Too 'Thunky.'  Stuck inexorably in 4/4 metre and never gets out of it. 

Actually, I don't listen to music when I'm working on my MR, Classical or otherwise.  One is my Profession, the other is my Hobby.  I don't intermix them.  Once I was listening to the second movement of Copland's Third Symphony while running a big Mallet over my mountains.  My Mallet stopped.  The music didn't.  'Atmosphere' was ruined.  Haven't repeated the experiment. 

Tom  

[AntonioFP45]

 I listen to smooth jazz-funk music that, to me, conveys the image of riding a fast passenger train as it gently sways on the track ( Yes, I've ridden passenger trains ).. I also enjoy listening to music that relaxes me while I'm working on my models.

Here are two samples. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUQCHypx-xQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM7r-Vlgmd0&NR=1

Joyce Cooling, Paul Brown, Chuck Loeb, Bobby Lyle, Acoustic Alchemy, and the late Wayman Tisdale just to list a few.

I like this type of relaxing cool tune when I'm detailing an item that can be a bit tedious:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AH_hywcHtE&feature=related

[mononguy63]

Driline

 I'm surprised. Since most model railroaders are senior citizens or older, I thought for sure I'd hear some Benny Goodman or some Big Band music

Funny you should mention that, though I ain't "senior" just yet...

I've always been partial to the Count Basie Orchestra, but sometimes Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey might slip in as well. Or, I'll play some of my bluegrass collection. Both genres seem appropo to railroading. Got the ol' stereo set up with a couple of speakers at the work desk and a couple more under the layout.

Then again, I have four kids and two dogs in the house. Oftentimes, disappearing into the basement and not having any noise at all truly is golden!

[blownout cylinder]

Sometimes I listen to Wu Tang or some other Urban Hip Hop. There are times i listen to groups like Yes, Anekdoten, Daevid Allen's Gong, Hawkwind, Gentle Giant or Christian Vander's group--Magma.

Then I'll just throw in Black Sabbath, Trouble or something from a french guitarist Richard Pinhas---then throw in some Stravinski, Rimski-Korsakov, Bach, Brahms or Schubert.

Jazzier days do require Count Basie, Duke Ellington then John Coltrane and Joe Lovano or Peter Brotzmann.

I'm just over the map here----

Or for quieter days the purring of 'Spring'

[Driline]

 I'm surprised. Since most model railroaders are senior citizens or older, I thought for sure I'd hear some Benny Goodman or some Big Band music

[dragenrider]

I guess I'm the first poster to list musicals and operas.    The last one was the anniversary edition of Les Miserables. 

On the whole I don't listen to music that much, though.  Most of the time I have my radio scanner on so I can listen to the massive number of fire & EMS calls in the metro area. 

[mobilman44]

Hi again!

  There was a Lionel commercial in the late '50s in the Chicago area that had a jingle that is still heavy in my mind - even when working on the HO layout.

It went.......   "That's real smoke a puffin, that's a whistle I hear, I'm a Lionel (whoo whoo) engineerrrrr"

Sometimes while working on the layout that gets in my head and replays over and over and over.  Does anyone else remember it?????

Mobilman44

[Jake1210]

Oh lets see, lots of bands...

 Slipknot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrO83v6X8lI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9IixYR_p-4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAAvNmoqDq0

 Disturbed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmux0pTdXhc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVL9PD3sN7M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w2i0XQLHoI

 Bullet for My Valentine

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LoZHYanSOk

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlljtdqKJuM

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AhQDItmxH

 Children of Bodom

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stclc74HpNs

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv44Or5WP_I

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f9B5Ki36BQ

 Amon Amarth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVWBJHVSrAE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eooG_4T42c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BXt-g4euqA

Well, not 'lots' are listed, but there are a lot of bands I'm choosing not to post because of touchy content...

[steemtrayn]

Robby P.

   I try to listen to the radio, but its like five mintues of music, and 20 minutes of commercials.  

Try WFMU. No commercials, and you rarely hear the same song twice in the same month.

http://wfmu.org/

[markpierce]

When I do it is something like this Joe Price piece.  Click on to listen.

http://www.stumbleaudio.com/#joeprice3/14

My apologies to Joe Price if I mangled his lyrics:

"Two miles ahead, three miles back,

Miles and miles of this railroad track,

We are walkin' on Chicago Northwestern Line.

Look at Sammy, look at Jack

Pounding spikes and alignin' track.

They are working on Chicago Northwestern Line

Walkin' ease with the wind at our back,

Up and down this railroad track,

CNW is right on time

Rolling by at a half past nine.

Dead Will here, dead Will there

They don’t worry, and they don’t care,

They are rollin' down Chicago Northwestern Line ..."

Mark

[groundeffects]

My railroad is set in the tropics, so just about anything from Jimmy Buffet blends right in....

Hmm, maybe it's time to head down to them little latitudes again.

Jeff B

 

[csmincemoyer]

luvadj

 Classic rock for me....especially Pink Floyd or Hendrix...but any music will do out there while I'm working on the layout.

Hmmm....Floyd and Hendrix, I'm dying to see pictures of your scenery

[Robt. Livingston]

Urban hip-hop.  I'm a boomer, too, 60 years old.  How did that happen?    

[Packers#1]

 How about some youtube samplings of my kinds of music?

 Third Day (I think you older folks will like this band, sorta like southern rock):

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x04BJHoLPrA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmZ38HehKxE

Also, Kutless:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fe-qoF6WV0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hXCFdWStLg (little bit harder)

OK, enough of the slower stuff, let's introduce the hard core rock (yet again, this band is chriatian, though you'd never guess except for the lyrics. The only downside is it's kinda hard to focus when you're banging your head to the music):

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZa_UMCmAOE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ht670jfmiI&feature=related

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhVFHfvvMVw

Skillet is a bit less intense, but still pretty heavy:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6obINPvZtg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kfi3rN0C50&feature=related

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP0Ne9aW7UI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXKD2Y2GCYk&feature=related

Now yet again we'll get a bit lgihter with some Relient K:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z1YE9aMmVk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tfR5KvsFVU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFi9JMirtok&feature=related

we'll stay in the same vein with Hawk Nelson:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3aafwKFjUw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8iC2MQrgKQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4-kmcPBGNY

let's get a little harder rock with Pillar now, eh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgfMigOMEO0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVFiLBkFONI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5XFLS8Kyto

 Some other bands: Subseven, Secret and Whisper, Project 86, Underoath, Anberlin

EDIT: forgot tobymac!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCjzp1vJwQg

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7AyIZlbYn8

Bit of DC Talk too:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbB0QrBIs9k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCcHM26qS90

[hornblower]

I'm pretty open to lots of different musical styles but if I want to get into a really creative mood, it's got to be Jack Sheldon.  Even though few people know who Jack is, I'd be willing to bet that almost everyone on this forum has heard him (and liked what they heard) at least once in their lifetime. 

[vsmith]

shayfan84325

vsmith

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4DDkR8RtkY

 

That was like a root canal!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52scMVXF2mc&feature=related

 

You'll love this one then