TR (mono) & ZTR (stereo) Argo Transacord LP series

The TR (mono) and ZTR (stereo) series was used almost exclusively by Argo for LP issues (and re-issues) of Peter Handford’s Transacord steam railway recordings.

Although the dates given on the discs and covers were often those of the initial releases, as far as I can work out the TR and ZTR series began to be issued in 1969 and were initially taken up with re-releases of DA and ZDA series albums (see comments below).

For 7" ‘steam’ EPs, see the EAF/ZAF series. ‘Steam’ LPs were also issued on the DA/ZDA series and the SPA ‘The world of…’ compilation series that Decca were pushing hard from 1969.

Issue No	First release	Details	Pic
TR 101	1961 DA 6	West Highland Line Steam locomotives of the former NBR. LNER and LMS at work at various locations on the West Highland line, during winter and spring, in the 1950s.
TR 102	1961 DA 7	Shap Ex LMS and other steam locomotives, heard from the lineside, at various locations between Tebay and Shap Summit, between 1958 and 1960
TR 103	1961 DA 8	Somerset and Dorset Steam locomotives of various types, at work on the S&D line, at different locations between Evercreech Junction and Masbury in 1956 and a journey on the double headed Pines Express, between Bath and Evercreech Junction. Cover here is from 1969 re-release, I think.
TR 104	1961 DA 9	West of Exeter 1957 and 58 recordings of GWR steam locomotives at Dainton and Exeter and from inside signal boxes at Tigley and Exeter.
TR 105	1962 DA 12	Trains in the Night 1959, 1961 and 1962 recordings at Bromsgrove on the GW & GC line, on the Central Wales line and on the Carlisle-Edinburgh line
ZTR 106	1962 ZDA 13	Newfoundland Heads the Waverley Journey on Waverley Express, hauled by Jubilee 4-6-0 Newfoundland, between Hellifield and Blea Moor. Lineside recordings at Dent and Ribblehead in 1960. First Peter Handford stereo recording issued?
TR 107	1963 DA 14	The Great Eastern 1950s recordings of locomotives of various classes at work on Great Eastern lines.
ZTR 108	1963 ZDA 21	The Triumph of an A4 Pacific Recording of May 1959 record-breaking run between Doncaster and Kings Cross on the SLS special train, headed by Sir Nigel Gresley driven by Bill Hoole.
ZTR 109	1963 ZDA 22	Trains in the Hills Lineside recordings of locomotives of the London Midland and Western regions at Shap, Blea Moor, Abergavenny and on the Lickey Incline.
ZTR 110	1963 ZDA 23	Whistling Through Dixie Recordings of locomotives in the Southern States
ZTR 111	1963 ZDA 24	Sunday Only Recordings of Sunday excursion trains between Chicago and the Great Lakes
ZTR 112	1963 ZDA 25	Steam Railroading Under Thundering Skies Recordings of two journeys on the Bonhomie and Hattiesburg Southern in Mississippi
ZTR 113	1964 DA 28 ZDA 28	Rhythms of Steam Lineside recordings at Tyndrum, Tyne Dock, Hitchin, Templecombe, Montrose and Barkston Junction. A journey on a special train, hauled by the Midland Compound 4-4-0, No 1000.
TR 114	1964 DA 31	Working on the Footplate Footplate recordings of: an A4 Pacific with Aberdeen-Glasgow express, a V2 2-6-2 with an Edinburgh-Dundee freight train, a Class 5 4-6-0 with a Swansea-Shrewsbury passenger train and an 8F 2-8-0 with a Shrewsbury-Swansea freight train.
ZTR 115	1965 DA 35	The Power of Steam Nine-track compilation featuring The Waverley Route, The Lickey bank, Basingstoke, The West Highland line (Ardlui), Bargany (NCB line in Ayrshire) and Shap.
TR 116	1965 DA 37	Sounds of the Sea and Ships Tracks include: On the sea shore: The soft sea of a summer afternoon; The angry sea of winter; The lighthouse sounds its warning in a sea mist. A foggy night in a busy port; Crossing the Mersey on board the SS Clang/ton. On board a steamship: In the engine room and on deck. On board ship: At sea in foul weather. Evening in harbour: The fishing boats leaving harbour at Whitby.
TR 117	1966 DA 39	The Great Western Lineside recordings of Great Western locomotives at Hatton, Abergavenny, Chalford, Princes Risborough and Evershot.
ZTR 118	1967 ZDA 48	Trains to Remember Recordings made during a night at Grantham Station, on the Scarborough-Whitby-Pickering line, on the Central Wales line, on the Lickey Incline, on the Stranraer-Ayr line and at Talerddig Station.
ZTR 119	1967 DA 49	Paris Express Steam railways of the western division of the SNCF, the Northern division at Caffiers, the South Eastern region at Randan & St Germain-des-Fosses and South Western region at La Bourboule.    Locomotives include G class pacifics, R class Mikados, P class 4-8-2s.
TR 120	1967 DA 78	London’s Last Trams A documentary recording of the closing down (1950-52) of London’s Tramways. John Holmes (narrator) with the voices of Robert Mellish, J. Geoghegan, K. W. K. Edgley, A. Carr, E. Ling Cooper, and J.C. Hounsfield. Made by amateurs with the primitive tape equipment of the time.
ZTR 121	1968 DA 90  ZDA 90	Echoes of Engines Steam locomotives at work at Gresford, Montrose, Okehampton and on the Carlisle-Edinburgh line. Inside the signal box at Meldon Junction
TR 122	1969 DA 106	Trains in Spain Lineside recordings of 5ft 6in gauge steam locomotives at work on the Spanish Railways RENFE: a La Parrilla and near Fuente la Higuera; on the heavily graded Valencia-La Encina line; climbing near Vilavert on the Tarragona-Lerida line and at Castejon de Ebro, an important junction on the Zaragoza-Miranda de Ebro and Madrid-Pamplona lines.
ZTR 123	1969 ZDA 109	Copper Capped Engines Locomotives at work at Talerddig, Basingstoke, Llanvihangel, Princes Risborough, Gresford and Evershot Tunnel. (see comments below)
TR 124	1969 DA 115	Vive La Vapeur French Railways (SNCF) locomotives of various types at Breaute, Beuzeville, Argentan, St Germain des Fosses and Eygurande, plus a journey on a steeply graded line in the Auvergne.
ZTR 125	1970	The Knotty A musical documentary commemorating the old North Staffs Railway in verse and song.  Performed at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent
ZTR 126	1970	The Railway to Riccarton Recording of steam on the old ‘Waverley’ route in the spring of 1961.   The hard slog up to Whitrope is featured as is the approach to Riccarton. Some of the locos featured are: A3s, J36s, V2s,   Std Cl2 (78xxxx class), K3s, A1’s, J37’s (thanks to Jonny Paul for back-to-front cover pic by Paul Riley, king of the telephoto lens, folk group roadie and all-round steam-chase nutter)
TR 127	1970?	Charlotte Mitchell – Twelve Burnt Saucepans. Sub-titled "A family year – seen through the haze -in verses written and read by Charlotte Mitchell"
ZTR 128	1971	Steam on the Lickey Incline 1959 recordings of locomotives of various types, working goods and passenger trains on the Lickey Incline, between Bromsgrove and Blackwell.
ZTR 129	1971	Engines on the Bundesbahn 1970 recordings of locomotives, goods and passenger trains made in various locations  in West Germany.
TR 130	1971	Orient Express 18 separate steam locomotives featured on a typical journey on the Orient express from Yugoslavia to Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. Recordings made on a number of journeys between 1965 and 1970.
ZTR 131	1972	Trains in the Fifties Late fifties recordings at work at Hitchin, Durham, Abergavenny, Beattock, Basingstoke and Llangunllo.
ZTR 132	1971	The Greatest Cars in the World The Rolls Royce Story & The Bentley Story Narrated by Roger Snowdon
TR 133	1972	Trains in Turkey
TR 134	1972	North of Kings Cross Recordings of LNER steam locomotives at Kings Cross, Hitchin, Peterborough, Stoke Tunnel, Retford, Edinburgh and Whitrope.
ZTR 136	1973	New Zealand Steam Safari Steam locomotives on the 3ft. 6in. gauge
ZTR 137	1973	Steam Over Switzerland Recordings on the Vitznau-Rigi & Brienz-Rothorn rack railways, The Blonay-Chamby, the Bodensee-Toggenburg & the Winterthur-Romanshorn lines plus the paddle steamer on Lake Lucerne
TR 138	1973	Engines in Germany East German and West German Pacific locomotives and other types at work in West Germany. A companion record to ZTR 129, Engines on the Bundesbahn.
ZTR 139	1974	The Sounds of Bygone Transport London Tram class E/3-Kingsway Subway. Paddle Steamer "Medway Queen". London Tram class E/3Route 33. London Bus LT type-Route 227. London Tram class E/3-Plough Change. Floating Bridge-Portsmouth Harbour. London Tram exWest Ham-Route 38. Portsmouth Corporation Buss-Route 38. The Mersey Railway. London Tram class E/3-Route 31. London Underground_ InnerCircle.
TR 140		Engines from Derby and Crewe LMS type locomotives built in Derby or Crewe at work at different locations on British Railways. Recorded between 1955 and 1965.
ZTR 141	1975	Westerns – Diesel Hydraulics on the Western Regionin 1974 Not a Transacord recording, but one made by Rob Woodward and Nigel Fletcher, the founding members of pop band Staveley Makepeace, who had a novelty No 1 hit for Argo parent company Decca as Lt Pigeon in 1972 – Mouldy Old Dough. Their Argo recordings are available repackaged in CD format here. Info courtesy Mark Jones, who’s got a book on Transacord due out in 2011.
ZTR 142	1975	Narrowboats Originally released in 1969 by BBC Records (REB 56M)
ZTR 143	1975	Railways Round the Clock Compilation featuring Britannias, Stanier Black Vs’ in the early morning over Stranraer-Carlisle line, 8Fs, Fowler Tanks 2-6-4T, Coronations & Citys over Shap at dawn, GWR 28xx 2-8-0, Kings and Merchant Navys on Chester-Shrewsbury line, S & D country for 2Ps, Schools & Std Vs n the afternnon, plus Carlisle Settle in late evening with more Black Vs fighting the wind and gradient.
ZTR 144	1975	D-Day  ‘The Authentic Sounds of  D-Day’, recorded in June 1944.
ZTR 145	1976	Deltics Diesel electric locomotives on British Rail Eastern Region in 1975 Another Staveley-Makepeace recording, available as repackaged CD here.
ZTR 146	1977	Sounds of Historic Aeroplanes
ZTR 147	1975	Diesels in the Highlands Another Staveley-Makepeace recording, featuring BRCW Class 26’s Sulzer Class 25’s, 40’s , 47’s and a 6 car DMU on the far north lines inc the Kyle line, the freight line from Aberdeen to Fraserborough and Carrbridge to Inverness.  Available as repackaged CD here. Thanks to Mark Jones for info.
ZTR 148	1978	Steam in All Directions Steam locomotives of various types, at work on railways in England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Italy, Romania and Yugoslavia.
ZTR 149	1978	Steam Through All Seasons Steam locomotives at work at Barkston Junction, Llanvihangel, Princes Risborough, Bromsgrove, Knucklas and on the climb to Qhitrope Summit. Abroad, a Maffei Pacific in Romani a, a 2-8-0 in the Dolomites and a 2-10-0 in Germany.

~ by folkcatalogue on April 27, 2010.