What a wonderful technical marvel the internet is! From a passing comment in an e-mail, to our statement about the existance of such a cornet on this website, to discovery of the current owner, and now.. the Erie Railroad Cornet is in a new home that is reliving the musical history of an 1800's Railway Band!!

To say I'm extactic about owning a piece of history that ties together my two favorite hobbies is an understatement. So here is the story about the discovery of this piece of history, related to you for your enjoyment.

The current history about this cornet actaully begins with the history of creating the Clack Valves & Cornets Steam Band. In the Spring of 1998 I was attending the National Spring Steamup. During a casual conversation I was relating my new found interest and enjoyment of playing in a community band after a 20 year hiatus from music. A steamup friend and, as I discovered, fellow Cornetist Marc Horovitz, remarked that he knew of others in our hobby who also played brass instruments. At the time it sounded as though we were in a minority, and that maybe we had enough for either a cornet trio or quartet with a tuba player.

Six months went by and I didn't give the idea of forming the band too much thought as I was still in a state of rebuilding my skills , (and chops). The idea of putting together a traditional railway brass band began to take shape in January of 1999 at the Diamondhead National Steamup, the event that has become a mainstay for a planned week vacation in the middle of winter. Again, in casual conversation, I was in discussion with Marc when I mentioned a new acquisition of a 'pocket trumpet' that I could easily carry and use on my many business trips for practice. My lovely wife had also surprised me in the previous month with a brand new professional trumpet for Christmas.

The conversation again veered towards figuring out who all played musical instruments. Now the count was up to at least eight! Four Cornets, three Trombones and a Tuba player! And they all were in attendance at this event! So I began in earnst to formulate a band.

There really wasn't a committee, I just told the ones we had identified to be ready to bring their horns the next year as we were going to try an 'experiment'. Our other fellow Cornetist, Carl Malone, told me about his hobby of collecting antque brass instruments and having them restored to playable condition. Well I was now 'hooked' into a dangerously new hobby. Here I am trying to put together an band that recreates the sound of a late 1800's Railway Band, and already one of our members plays on authentic antique instruments. Well, we were going to need a Soprano Cornet for our traditional brass band, so I began a quest to find an antique one. And I did! In only four months!

It was at this time the information about the Erie Railroad cornet surfaced. Marc had seen one listed on the internet auction house Ebay a year or so earlier. That was all the information we had. As 1999 progressed, I began to try to coordinate and assemble the band which I now had named the "Clack Valves & Cornets Steam Band". It's a name that just fell into place because it is a play on words that brings our common hobby of live steam locomotives and music together. Nobody complained, so I stayed with the name.

This internet site you are now reading was initially created with one purpose in mind. I wanted to give others an idea of what I was trying to put together for the 2000 Steamup. I had eight members in the band, but it wasn't enough. I needed some mid range instruments to help fill out the sound. So... I created a very simple site, complete with a little history lesson about Railway Bands of the 1800's and beyond in hopes of picking up a few other members. Well, it worked! I posted the site on a bulletin board frequented by many of the live steamers in the hobby to flesh out musicians. In a couple of months I filled the majority of the minimum positions and was in the process of picking out music.

So how does the Erie Cornet fit into all of this you ask? It was the simple mention of the existance of such a cornet in the history page that allowed me to find it. During the past year I had purchased an antique Cornopean from a gentleman who saw that I had bid on one at Ebay.com and lost. He contacted me directly and told me about one that he had for sale and I arranged the purchase. My e-mail signature by now was sporting a link to this Clack Valves site as I was trying to elicit reaction from livesteamers I corresponded with to find more musicians. The gentleman I purchased the Cornopean from followed the link and then contacted me again to let me know that he thought he had the Cornet! He didn't buy it off of Ebay however, he had bought it at a flea market in a Boston suburb along with a couple of other antique instruments. I was thrilled, and told him that I would love to have a picture of it so I could add it to my history page. After several months, a picture materialized. Unfortunately, it wasn't of sufficient quality to show the engraving, so I just let it pass. Another few months went by, and I was contacted again to let me know that he was willing to part with it since I had a 'special' interest in it. The deal was negotiated, and the Erie Railroad Cornet has a new home!

Erie Cornet

The cornet is a Besson Prototype, manufactured for the Carl Fischer Company ~1917 based on the serial number. The design of the Cornet was a pretty standard design that goes back to 1880.. It was in 'pretty good' condition, and after I gave it a bath and cleaned it up a little, she allowed me to push out some beautiful tones. Much better quality than I had expected for an old instrument. Some slides are stuck, but luckily the valves had already received some work and are very good. The bell edge is bent back. This is a common problem found on antique Cornets and Trumpets when they don't have a case to protect them. The horn will soon go off to a repair shop to be returned back to a more pristine condition. These are the 'before' restoration pictures. I'll have the 'After' in about three months.

Erie Cornet and Bands History

Now comes the next request from our internet citizens. If anyone has any of the pre-1998 history about this instrument, or on any of the Erie Railroad bands, please forward it to me so we can continue to add to the chronical of this piece of our musical railway history. Thanks.

Sincerley,
Scott