Uploaded August 2011 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
(What a crock! This video can no longer be seen in the US, Australia and New Zealand because of copyright restrictions on the recording used as soundtrack. Over 2,000 people have watched this video, and my guess is that most of them have never before heard Tomita's version of Pacific 231, which I think is pretty cool. Well, the Hell with 'em. If they don't want people to be exposed to it, fine.)
The French composer Arthur Honegger (1892 -- 1955) was widely known as a train enthusiast, and once notably said: "I have always loved locomotives passionately. For me they are living creatures and I love them as others love women or horses." His Mouvement Symphonique No. 1, better known as Pacific 231, written in 1923, was inspired by the sounds and rhythms of the Pacific type steam locomotives that hauled high speed passenger trains past his home near the FCN mainline. In 1949, French movie critic and filmmaker Jean Mitry, used the orchestral work as the sound track for his French award-winning film, Pacific 231, a tribute to the steam locomotive. In 1978 Isao Tomita (often known simply as Tomita), a Japanese composer and arranger often regarded as one of the pioneers of electronic music, released the album Kosmos which included an interesting electronically enhanced arrangement of Pacific 231. For no good reason that I can think of, I decided to create a tribute to steam locomotives using Topmita's Pacific 231. Well, somebody had to do it.
(What a crock! This video can no longer be seen in the US, Australia and New Zealand because of copyright restrictions on the recording used as soundtrack. Over 2,000 people have watched this video, and my guess is that most of them have never before heard Tomita's version of Pacific 231, which I think is pretty cool. Well, the Hell with 'em. If they don't want people to be exposed to it, fine.)
The French composer Arthur Honegger (1892 -- 1955) was widely known as a train enthusiast, and once notably said: "I have always loved locomotives passionately. For me they are living creatures and I love them as others love women or horses." His Mouvement Symphonique No. 1, better known as Pacific 231, written in 1923, was inspired by the sounds and rhythms of the Pacific type steam locomotives that hauled high speed passenger trains past his home near the FCN mainline. In 1949, French movie critic and filmmaker Jean Mitry, used the orchestral work as the sound track for his French award-winning film, Pacific 231, a tribute to the steam locomotive. In 1978 Isao Tomita (often known simply as Tomita), a Japanese composer and arranger often regarded as one of the pioneers of electronic music, released the album Kosmos which included an interesting electronically enhanced arrangement of Pacific 231. For no good reason that I can think of, I decided to create a tribute to steam locomotives using Topmita's Pacific 231. Well, somebody had to do it.
