Illinois Hot Spots

Illinois Hot Spots

Green Frog Productions

Format: DVD

Length: One Hour

Locations: Galesburg, E.Dubuque, Benton, Centralia.. more..

Time Period: 1989 – 1990

Source: Steve Neff

MSRP: 24.95

This release finds an assortment of railroads, trains and locations within Illinois. The ‘hot spots’, are busy places where the railfan can see a bunch of trains, in a short amount of time. As a snapshot of the time, it is a fast paced look at the areas shown.

As with most older productions, limited map inclusion. There is a general map that shows where the hotspot is within the state. Every chapter location is covered. A chapter menu is divided by the town. This was shot on video. It looks pretty good overall.

The major roads: Burlington Northern, Conrail, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, Santa Fe, Illinois Central, CSX, Amtrak, Chicago & Northwestern.

There are some unrepainted locomotives: Chessie System, Illinois Central Gulf, Southern, Louisville and Nashville, Family Lines. Also, Missouri Pacific in blue buzzsaw and MP lettering on UP style paint!

Second and newer third generation power is in service. A few early locomotives spice things up. There are cabooses, on a few freights.

At Cairo, A Norfolk Southern crew change is performed.

Centrailia is one of the busiest of the hot spots. It rates 2 visits in this excellent show.

There are some various views in this video. Rain and fog are rarely filmed. Longshots that let the trains come to you. Descriptive narration with explanations of symbol freights, slack action, and so on. Mostly, it is standard angle ground level action.