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Tommy Johnson’s DVD of the Month Review |
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| Title | Denver & Rio Grande Western |
| Producer | Pentrex |
| Format | DVD |
| Playing Time | 1 hr 52 min |
| Purchased From | Railfan Depot |
| Date Purchased | 12/20/2009 |
| Price Paid | $23.74 |
This is one of my favorite DVDs in my collection of over 150 RR videos. I admit to being biased by my affection for the Denver & Rio Grande Western RR and for the beauty along the route from Denver to Salt Lake City. I rode that route in 1960 on the California Zephyr when I was just eleven years old. That experience left impressions on me that remain to this day. Also covered in this video are the routes from Denver to Pueblo and from Minturn over the Tennessee Pass to Pueblo.
The filming took place in 1986 while the Denver & Rio Grande Western was still an independent railroad and the freight trains were pulled by locomotives proudly wearing the D&RGW badging.
We see the Amtrak California Zephyr climb the grade up the Front Range of the Rockies and then watch a freight train pass though the six mile long Moffat Tunnel at the Continental Divide.
Next up is a cab ride through Gore Canyon, a narrow, rugged canyon with the Colorado River white water rapids running through it. The scenery in Gore Canyon is spectacular.
The chapter devoted to the route from Minturn eastward to Pueblo contains some exciting railroad action against the backdrop of golden aspen leaves shining in the sun on the mountain slopes. Helper locomotives are added to trains at Minturn before they tackle the grade to Tennessee Pass.
There is no mention of helpers until they are cut loose at the summit of Tennessee Pass and sent back down to Minturn. One of the shortcomings of this video is the shortage of narration. We are told very little about the trains we are viewing as far as their origin, their cargo, their destination, or the types of locomotives being used.
It was disappointing how few scenes from Royal Gorge were included in the video. The trains on the Minturn to Pueblo route had to pass through Royal Gorge before arriving at Pueblo fifty miles to the east of the gorge.
There was no use of maps in this video and that is inexcusable. They show diagrams of the routes but they are only lines with dots on either end with the names of the locations printed next to them, no map features at all, not even the outline of the state boundary. If the viewer didn’t know beforehand that the subject matter was in Colorado, he would never know it from the video.
Despite the mentioned short comings, I still say this is one of my favorites. As good as it is, it could have been much better, though.
CSX Q026 hit a chicken truck between Nortonville and Morton’s Gap, Ky on the Henderson Subdivision on 5/29/14. No on was hurt, even the chickens seemed ok. Remember, never play chicken with a train… -Thomas Bryan
June 5, 2014. It looks like an ex ICE locomotive, in fact I thought it was until Rick Bivins asked if I saw the herald on the front! Turns out it was a former Alaska RR locomotive! Seen in Morton’s Gap. – Matt Gentry
Greetings, fellow Chapter members.
We had a great time at our May Chapter meeting and a big thanks goes out to our Hopkinsville members who hosted it. Thanks for the good job in grilling hamburgers and hotdogs for us, Bill! They hit the spot.
Chuck Hinrichs entertained us by telling us how he got to be a rail fan and how he combined his love of trains with his passion for photography. Good job, Chuck!
Matt reports that we do not have an idea for our discussion at the upcoming meeting. Why are you guys not submitting ideas? Hopefully, someone will come up with one before the Pennyrail is published.
We’ll see you Monday night June 16th at 7:00 PM at the depot.
Your Prez
Tom Johnson
June 4, 2014 – CSX Tote Train Q026 passes the signals at River Branch in Henderson, Ky as it heads North on the Henderson Subdivision. -Jim Pearson
Armour Yellow everywhere! Multiple UP locomotives are spotted outside the engine shops in North Platte Nebraska in 2004. – Donny Knight
UP1995 is seen heading east/south out of Robert Young rail yard in Elkhart, IN late in the evening of May 31, 2014. Even though I have a photo of UP1995, I’m still excited I got to see it again, especially in a night setting! -Matt Gentry
A discussion was held at the May meeting of setting a work day to clean up around the former L&N Depot in downtown Madisonville. In discussion with Rick Bivins, he and I decided upon a date of Saturday, June 7th at 9am. Thankfully it wasn’t an overly hot day! A lot was accomplished that needed to be done. The overgrown bushes on the south side of the building were cut out, new spindles were installed on the wheelchair ramp, weeds were cut back, the signs were sanded in preparation for new paint around the trim, light bulbs were moved around and installed for better lighting inside, and general clean up was performed. Although not finished, a huge step forward was taken and the depot looks better!
A special thanks to Rick Bivins, Steve Miller, Keith Kittenger, Donny Knight, Rich Hanes, Wally Watts, and Jim Kemp who helped out during the day! – Matt Gentry
| Title | Norfolk Southern Heritage Vol 1 Family Portrait |
| Producer | RailTrek Media |
| Format | Wide Screen DVD |
| Playing Time | 1 hr 46 min |
| Purchased From | Trainvideodepot.com |
| Date Purchased | 05/15/14 |
| Price Paid | $23.95 |
This is an excellent railroad video! It is a beautifully illustrated history lesson that teaches us how today’s Norfolk Southern Railway came to be. It traces the mergers that have occurred over the years and shows locomotives with shiny new paint jobs in their pre-merger livery.
This was my first purchase of a RailTrek production and I am extremely pleased with the quality. The image quality is fantastic, the format is wide screen, maps are used to show the routes of the individual pre-merger lines, and a brief history is given for each of the old railroads that were merged into the Norfolk Southern. If this is typical of RailTrek videos I will certainly be buying more of them in the future.
