Stacks and Semaphores

Producer: Highball

Locations: Tucumcari Line

Timeframe: 1996

Length: 74 minutes

Source: Peter Crook

The Southern Pacific on the Tucumcari Line. Videotaped in 1996. Semaphores are featured operating in New Mexico. Vaughn towards El Paso. These are Style B lower quadrant signals, which are over 60 years old.

A single DVD-R. Fullscreen 4×3 aspect ratio. Live environmental audio. Windy weather.

No main menu. A chapter advance function. Has a map. No other extras. Narrated by Peter Falconi.

This is post merger and now a Union Pacific route. Still, Southern Pacific power is dominant. Many sets of solid SP.

To the Trains… 👉

The pace of trains is a quick. Mostly double-stack Intermodals at road speeds. Semaphores at Coyote.

Train LBFH (Long Beach to Forest Hills) on a cold day. SD45 9398 and GP60 in the lash-up. Note the snow on the ground.

SP powered BNSF MFF Merchandise Forwarder nears the lines summit. Three clean speed lettered GP60 units lead a grimy pair of tunnel motors.

Union Pacific pair hauls auto parts from Mexico.

A slow roll on this train. Action abounds at Coyote. A concentration of moves here. Train KCWC-Q. Kansas City to West Colton Quality. This freight stops on a signal. SP Tunnel Motor 8524 in speed lettering leads two more engines.

KCPX-M. Kansas City to Phoenix Merchandise.  Engine 8490 is the leader. Carrizozo.

SP GP60 9771 heads PXKC-M.

At Polly is a Westbound Coal move. A pair of newer locomotives here. Engine 232 is on the point.

SP 8351 on a pair of clean tunnel motors.

Stacks and Semaphores

Took a chance on this older Highball show. Tucumcari Line is hard to find. Fortunately,  it is one of the acceptable shows from the period.

The videography technique is fine. The video quality is pretty good. Colors and scenes appear washed out much of the time. However, nothing weird. Think of historical value.

The soundtrack is flawed by wind noise. Not as bad as the miserable Highball, Santa Fe Across Arizona show. Still, the crackle sounds are a near constant annoyance. The noise level is lower on this release.

Narrative is laser focused on train symbols. Could have used some history on the line and signals.

Overall, it is a historical collector video on a rarely seen Southern Pacific line. The dominance of older SP locomotives barely displays Union Pacific influence here. A deduction for too much wind. Countered by a bump up for scarcity of this route. It’s far from great, but it’s probably good enough for Southern Pacific fans.

Rating: 3 Stars