John M. Prophet's Webster-Chicago 288-1 Wire Recorder

This video take an in-depth look at the Webster-Chicago wire recorder; specifically the one owned and operated by John M. Prophet when he made his railroad sound recordings from 1948-1955.

To hear more of John's recordings, please listen to the Living with Steam podcast, which can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[gonebamboo]

This was great. I have really been enjoying your Living With Steam series.

[StephenCarlBaldwin]

Great illustration of what pioneering audio archivists had to deal with. Thanks for making this video!

[jeffshorts]

Amazing I never knew a wire recording device even existed. I can remember the old reel to reel tape recorder. Neat video of time capturing.

[RetiredEE]

Really interesting! Have you used any post-processing software like one of the many noise reduction packages available? Thank you for making these recordings available for so many yo hear 🙂

[jim]

Love the channel. Hope you keep adding to it. Did John ever venture beyond Western NY? I was born in 1948 and I always love to see footage of railroading back then. There is a guy who does the Wide World of Trains channel on YouTube who has around 5, 000 or so videos of trains around Dunkirk, NY. Sorta a like a modern John Prophet. I wonder what John would think about all the YouTube railroad fan channels that people have up.