MTA in parvo

All week, a man with a microphone has walked the subway platforms to collect the clattering of the rivets and the whistling horns, the distortion in the loudspeaker, the hush in the compressor’s song and the dying of the brake like some wounded thing.

"Clattering of the rivets"!? Does this hack even know what a rivet is?

Even in that racket, some find value. The recordings are the chief selling point of a new reproduction of a subway train by the Lionel model train company made under a license from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for completion by year’s end.

Other companies have made models before, but this one pays unparalleled attention to sonic detail, recreating the subterranean soundscape in elaborate hi-fi to win the favor of collectors and self-styled train geeks, keepers of a nostalgic anachronism to rank alongside comic books and baseball cards.

From today's NY Times. Neil Young -- yes, that Neil Young -- is involved. I wonder if the setup will be sophisticated enough to emit a deafening squeal every time the trains go around a sharp corner.

Posted by David on September 21, 2006 8:49 AM