25 Jun 2025

Moment of Calm: Steam, wind and (just a little) speed.

From Three to Seven, 5:30 pm on 25 June 2025
An AB class steam locomotive

If sounds from the past calm you down, maybe this is the tonic. Photo: Bryan Crump

This week's Sonic Moment of Calm is something of a nostalgia trip.

RNZ Concert host Bryan Crump had just shouted his son a birthday present - a ride in the cab of a steam locomotive - so why not record it steaming by?

Alas, Crump's 21st century recording device had "run out of steam" so he reverted to his mobile phone's microphone instead.

The resulting recording (on the platform at Palmerston North Railway Station) suffers a little from hand and wind noise, but we think there's enough hiss, chuff and whistle to make it worthwhile.

Steam locomotive driving wheels.

Let these wheels transport you to a happier place. Photo: Bryan Crump