idk... I'm not fond of Augustin Hadelich's version.  I didn't get a sense of the original tune for quite a while, the audience noticed, too (in the recording I heard)... just saying. 

I want to 'feel' like I'm going for a train ride!  Granted, there are probably many folks who never got near a steam locomotive - you'd hear not only several prevalent patterns of sound from the pistons/valves & steam/water vapor released, but also some from the rails (once the train started moving).  The whistle & bell are prominent features, too.  

From the Archives: 98 Years ago – Orange Blossom Special arrives in Naples on Jan. 7, 1927

 - little article in the Naples [Florida] Daily News. 

I'm also not particularly attracted to Michael Cleveland's, John Hartford's, or the Charlie Daniels band versions, and Doug Kershaw's version is too painfully drawn out (for me).  I do like Paul Warren's (Foggy Mountain Boys), Cubby Wise's (Bill Monroe's Band) & Roy Clark's version I've heard.  The video of Vassar Clements (in post #46) was fun to watch.

I'm sure everyone has their own personal favorites.  Once learned well, I think it would be a lot of fun to play!  

Anyone here have it as a regular part of your repertoire?

To me, sight-reading (and actually pulling this off) seems ridiculous unless time is spent making bluegrass/old-time bowing patterns & fast string crossings automatic.  I do think the Fiddlerman tutorial can definitely get ya going!  I've spent a little time with the 'Red Desert' tutorials (post #64) - they are step-by-step, you can't go wrong (I just haven't commited to taking enough time for this, being I'm more interested in other genres).  Nothing wrong with learning the simplest version first, then learn the typical riffs played along with it - Orange Blossom Special 20 licks (The Fiddle Channel). 

Look a-Yonder Comin’: “Orange Blossom Special” and Ervin Rouse

- little article (with score) about Ervin Rouse (born in North Calolina), he did copyright the tune, but I don't see where he recorded it. 

1st RECORDING OF: Orange Blossom Special - Roy Hall & his Blue Ridge Entertainers (1938).  Fiddling by Tommy Magness, recorded November 7, 1938 - first recorded on wax, not released until much later (read the video description).

Walter Hurdt & His Singing Cowboys - 'Train Special' - fiddling by Lawrence 'Smoky' Wiseman, recorded February 2, 1939. 

From The Singing Cowboys Guide:

Particularly noteworthy is fiddler Lawrence Wiseman, who had zinged his way through a couple of hot duets ("Fiddle And Guitar Runnin' Wild" and "Playing Around") with guitarist Leroy Johnson, really zippy stuff that owed as much to Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti as to Bob Wills and his crew. Hurdt wrote a bunch of ersatz cowboy tunes, but played 'em with a wild jazz undertone; likewise he and the band played a lot of Delmore Brothers-style hillbilly blues, but they used the formula's simple sound as a platform for soloists to improvise.

On tunes like "Rhythm In E" and the dazzling "Guitar Rag" the guitar work is amazing for the time; Wiseman's often-impatient fiddling takes over on "Blue Skies Above" and "The Old Gulf Coast," as well as the album's most historic track, "Train Special," which was actually the first commercially released version of the fabled "Orange Blossom Special," a tune that Wiseman learned from its composer.

Randy Noles wrote 2 books about Ervin Rouse & The Orange Blossom Special.  Has anyone read one of them?

• Orange Blossom Boys: The Untold Story of Ervin T Rouse, Chubby Wise and the World's Most Famous Fiddle Tune (2002) 
  
• Fiddler's Curse: The Untold Story of Ervin T. Rouse, Chubby Wise, Johnny Cash, and The Orange Blossom Special (2007) 
  

...this tune is on my list, just not the highest priority - I'll get to it eventually.