In a message dated 3/28/2008 10:19:57 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, rvuill at comcast.net writes: (reply below) Allen, I found this information at http://www.firstsounds.org/sounds/ It's at the bottom of the page. You can actually listen to the recording Edison made with the phonautograph. <<Metropolitan Elevated Railroad from 40 feet away (1878 Phonautogram) In 1878, when Thomas Edison was hired to study the objectionable noise produced by the Metropolitan Elevated Railroad in New York City, he turned to the phonautograph, adapting one of his tinfoil phonographs to draw a "readable" lateral waveform. Edison's colleague Charles Batchelor made this particular phonautogram as part of that project in September. We believe the excerpt presented here begins and ends with test shouts, with three specimens of actual train noise in between-the earliest American sounds yet reproduced. Note that pitch fluctuations are due at least in part to the irregular recording speed. * _Metropolitan Elevated Railroad from 40 feet away_ (http://www.firstsounds.org/sounds/1878-Edison-MERR.mp3) (mp3) >> ============== aha, I see it, and thanks. I believe the 1878 date given on this site is in error. When I saw this tracing years ago at the ENHS, it was marked as being made in the 1880s. Allen _www.phonobooks.com_ (http://www.phonobooks.com) **************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home. (http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom00030000000001)