Producer: Pentrex
Timeframe: 1991
Locations: Many
Length: 2 hours
Do you like variety? Chicago provides the Motherlode! This guided tour, of Chicago and vicinity, will satisfy most any Railfan. Fallen flags, local lines and pre- merger roads. Many old Towers are shown.
Pentrex maximized their time in the field. Concentrating on classic hotspots. Crossings, Yards, Towers are generally, multi- Railroad locations. Busy mainlines, can provide ample supply. Frequent trains are practically a lock.
All the best of the Pentrex production team results in a smooth and well paced program.
Familiar voice of David Drui performs the informative and balanced narrative.
There is a detailed, Chapter Menu. A master map, with nearly 2 dozen locations. Many close-up maps, as needed. Highly organized.
CNW 7005 is an SD50. Pentrex states that, they only have room to hit the highlights of what they have. Likewise with my review. There is so much more to see!
As the sign says. To The Trains…
Alco C424 of Chicago Belt Railway.
Best place to begin the tour. Is the center of the city. That is Union Station. Full visit. visit. Amtrak’s yard is plentiful. Burlington Northern commuters run behind the E9 locomotives, as well.
State Line Tower is far south. Norfolk Southern and CSX. Illinois – Indiana line.
Speaking of towers. Van Loon Tower, is located in Indiana. Elgin, Joliet & Eastern with an SD40, in fresh paint. Norfolk Southern intersects here. I-80 is above.
Blue Island has always been one of the best hotspots. Many roads move through here.
Chessie System, now CSX, with a long lash-up of light locomotives. Barr Yard is nearby, not visited. Blue Island action.
Dolton Jct. is very popular now. Easy to access, for railfans. CSX, Conrail and more.
More.. A grimy Missouri Pacific pair, trundle through Dolton.
McCook Crossing, features the busy Santa Fe Mainline. Multiple ATSF, trains passby. Willow Springs is next. Pre UPS days there.
The details of the trackage at McCook. Everyone seemed to exercise trackage rights, on the Indiana Harbor Belt!
Old, beater CNW geeps are seen here.
Grand Trunk , Chessie, IHB, Amtrak too.
WICT F units at Edgewood are a rare sight! Wisconsin and Calumet. Later, became part of Wisconsin and Southern. The road was called Wicket, for short.
A Soo Line switch job receives a detailed chase. A low speed one. Street running at Goose Island. A truncated version is on Street Running by Pentrex.
The Burlington Northern Racetrack is a must see on any Chicago visit.
BN executive F units appear at Clyde yard in Cicero. You never know what shows up!
Hawthorne yard, has Belt Tower . This is visited inside. A former Illinois Central structure. Chicago Central was here. This structure, is gone now.
Brighton Park has a full – on stop. Rare, a Switchtender with a shanty. A GT transfer caboose, hits the diamonds.
Illinois Central SW14s on their ex: GM&O trackage. Note the unusual, hip cab roofs.
CR 5032 is next to get the wave at Brighton.
Bensenville is now a Soo Line stronghold. The former Milwaukee Road facilities are huge. A freshly painted SD40 powers a hot Soo Sprint train past B-17 tower.
The engine house and Bensenville yard run right along a public road.
Grand Trunk near Hayford Junction.
Hegewisch still has electric interurban service. Chicago South Shore Line.
Chicago and Northwestern, has a major line in a Westerly direction, from Proviso Yard. Union Pacific run through units are common. Metra is the local commuter service. Proviso Yard, is not seen in this show.
Chicago Short Line is another rare find.
Many of the trains, still employ a caboose. The Indiana Harbor Belt used these home built transfer ones for many years.
Pentrex has knocked it out of the park. A home run! An instant classic. This show will give viewers a high rerun value. There is simply, an astounding amount of various, and interesting trains. Outstanding videography, that hits the mark!
Rating: 5 Stars
American Train Video Reviews 