Producer: Midwest Video
Locations: Chicago, Naperville, Eola, Galesburg, West Burlington
Timeframe: 1997
Length: 1 hour 27 minutes
Source: Bob Calvert
The show has BNSF from the Chicago area to Burlington, Iowa, in 1997. Burlington Northern paint is dominant on the power.
A single DVD-R. Detailed narrative. No chapter advance or menu. Includes a couple of maps. Card screens with various information.
Played it in fullscreen. This show has a digital transfer date in 2016. Picture quality is fair to good. Decent videography. A live audio soundtrack. Colors are solid. Strong sunlight at times that gets problematic. Definitely not modern standards.
For those with interest. Train symbols are revised in 1997. Narrator gives those current at the time.
To the Trains… 👉
A look at several trains at Clearing Yard on Belt Railway. BNSF 1406 with a leased Electromotive unit 838 are on a daily transfer move out of Cicero.
Relocate to action Naperville Station and vicinity.. This is along the BNSF 3 track mainline to Chicago. A GP50 and GE B unit on an Intermodal. Symbol is Q-CHCSPH to St. Paul, MN. Time at 1:03 pm. The Naperville trains seen are 99% freight traffic only on a single day in 1997.
Another at Naperville. This Conrail is destined for Elkhart Yard. The whole train is shown. Other freights are seen in this fashion. Union Pacific and CSX also have some traffic.
BNSF 1074 is a GE C44-9W. Trailing is BN 8088. Moving at slow speed out of Eola Yard. Portland to Cicero. Vehicle train is V-PTLCHC.
Santa Fe 3815 leads a high priority manifest. Cicero to Kansas City.
Amtrak #6. Locomotives are 835 and 45. California Zephyr is Eastbound from Oakland to Chicago.
A map display of the BN lines, which are, in and around Galesburg, Illinois. Extending Westward to Burlington, Iowa. Galesburg includes 5 ex: BN routes. The BN trackage has the only trains filmed.
Unit 9216 at Galesburg. M- GALNTW.
UP 9311 on the head end. Varied predecessor engines in this colorful lashup. Trailing are: Rio Grande, CNW, and Southern Pacific engines. Long Beach to Chicago move.
The Mississippi River Crossing is visited. A Former CB&Q bridge. Manifest is Galesburg to Denver.
BNSF 9575 and 9764. Empty coal train on the K line.
There you have it. Surprises left for viewers to find in this show.
BNSF Burlington Lines
This release has over 70 trains per the advertised. The focus is on freight. Some Amtrak and a couple of brief commuter scenes. Plenty of foreign and leased power.
Summer sunlight can be strong and results in some deep shadows or bouncing sunlight at times.
A show which is packed with many trains. The old video quality holds back the rating. Nevertheless, the content is interesting. The right Railfans and Model Railroaders may find this a worthwhile release.
Rating: 3 Stars
American Train Video Reviews 