Producer: John Pechulis
Locations: many
Timeframe: June 1984
Length: 67 minutes
Source: Jonathan Reck
Volume 3 with Jonathan Reck traveling from East to West.
A single DVD-R. Main Chapter Menu.
Narrated by Mike Bednar.
The usual exceptional film restoration. Live audio of train sounds. Everything in its place. The colors are fine. The soundtrack is well balanced.
Jonathan Reck is a fine cinematographer. Nice composition with the scenes.
Railroads covered: Norfolk Southern, CSX, Illinois Central Gulf, Squaw Creek, Missouri Pacific, and more with cameo appearances.
Locations in several States. Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, West Virginia.
This program starts out strong. Loses some power and picks back up again. That Chessie with Norfolk and Western coverage is a high point.
Chessie gp30 at Harper’s Ferry West Virginia. More Chessie paint in Ohio.
NW coal on parallel tracks to CSX, at Little Walnut, Ohio.
Maroon NW 8082 with a parked caboose and a forklift. Model railroad scene potential.
Peabody Coal 415. Linville Mine
Squaw Creek RSD15. Yankeetown as well. Get your lifetime supply of these two lines here. Both are Shortline coal haulers. This chapter runs too long and drags the show pace considerably.
MoPac caboose hop at West Vienna Jct. (He misprounces it) Illinois. Had to research it in order to figure this out. Another good scene for Model Railroaders.
Amtrak St. Louis Mule. A good amount of various Amtrak trains to see.
MoPac meet with a road worthy transfer caboose.
Illinois Central Gulf at Carbondale. Four Paducah GP10 rebuids with a GM&O GP38.
BN 6140 SD9 at Alton,Illinois. Local train.
Chicago & Illinois Midland at Taylorville yard and Springfield.
An early CSX train at Crawfordsville, Indiana. Seaboard Coast Line and Family Lines locomotives here.
Whitewater Valley. Steam powered. Weird locomotive and little information was given.
A Chessie System Safety caboose on a coal train. Circleville, Ohio. Show includes some assorted cabooses.
Classic Midwest Rails Volume 3
A nice variety on the Class One railroads. The shortline coverage is too long and not very interesting.
Film and audio are fine. One of Mike’s lesser narratives. In fairness, these areas are not his old stomping grounds. Big difference.
Still, there is plenty of meat on the bone. Pick out what you like, and those trains are fine. Just doesn’t attain the highest rating overall.
Rating: 4 Stars
American Train Video Reviews 