The Santa Fe in Illinois Part 3
John Szwajkart
Format: DVD-R
Length: 1 hour
Time Period: circa 1995
Locations: Chillcothe, Edelstein, Galesburg and more grade crossings
Source: John Szwajkart
MSRP: 25.00
This is the continuation of a post merger look at BNSF in Illinois. Here, the trip to Iowa begins in the countryside, west of Tolucca.
You should read the review of the first two parts of this series. No extras on this amateur level release. It is difficult to even rate this as commercial product. It is not, in the sense that it is edited for a comfortable and smooth show to watch. Shaky camerawork, and unedited soundtrack. This is not hardcore or amateur, this is in a home movie class.
There was an extremely high level of dissatisfaction with the endless crossing bells ringing throughout most of the previous volume. Does that continue in Part 3?
This is more of the same… ding, ding,ding, ding, ding…………
It is a pain to sit through this again…ding, ding, ding………………….
Way too many grade crossing ‘easy shots’, and irritating bells throughout.
The scenes do include other views besides the crossing gate.
However, as the bells dominate the show, the gates can dominate the review.
Even the bonus section! The bell syndrome settles down near the end. Camerawork bounces around, and brings this show downward. Aren’t these gates annoying? Exactly!
There are some nice scenes, the old Santa Fe signals are a welcome sight.
Some good viewing at this bridge, though poorly edited. See Below.
Believe it or not! There is a BNSF freght behind these trees. What is this forest doing? Edit, edit, edit. Why do the big guys and some are not big, do editing so well? Others don’t.
Speaking of editing. A fine view of this train will appear, after this messy view. Amateur.
Milwaukee Road 261 makes a couple of cameos. You can find this engine anywhere.
It gives me no pleasure to slam shows, such as this series. Even the artwork shows a gate. Like the first release, we need an alternate title…..BNSF in Illinois: The Gate Show.
Another substandard release. Not much better then the previous volume of this series.
Consider what $25 will buy. Yes, you can purchase a high quality train video, for around this amount. So what good is this? How does it enhance someone’s collection?
Again, lazy film-making is sold in this series. Stay away!
Rating: 1 Star
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