IC Around Edgewood, Illinois

Producer: Dick Eisfeller

Locations: Edgewood, Cairo

Timeframe: 1995

Length: 66 minutes

Source: Dick Eisfeller

Illinois Central action mainline at Edgewood and more. Inaccurate listing is the seldom filmed Edgewood Cut-Off (zero trains). Cairo is included.

A single DVD-R. Fullscreen 4×3 aspect ratio. Live audio. Videotaped on Hi 8.

Chapter Menu. Map. Narrated by Dick Eisfeller

Big E advertised, view the whole train. Detailed narrative. Edgewood, Edgewood Cut-Off and Cairo.

Chapter Menu lists Metropolis Bridge, Tunnel #3 and a bridge at Cairo. No trains at these places. The Cut-Off is 168 miles long. NOTHING is shown here. He claims that Maintenance of Way was the reason for no trains. Fine. However, The Big E should NOT have advertised the Cut-Off.

To the Trains… 👉

ESME is led by IC 3101. East St. Louis to Memphis.

They relocate to Edgewood, at night. Camera shall spend approximately 24 hours around Edgewood. Not a fan of night filming. Appears like headlights were used to illuminate the trains. Marginal trainwatching. Foamers only.

GP40 3136 on train IO-3. A combined Piggyback/ Double-stack with much of this being SP bridge traffic.

CEGL wraps it up. Centralia to Glenn Yard. The leader is 6119.

Illinois Central Edgewood, Illinois

First off. Where is the Edgewood Cut-Off footage? This fails on the advertisement. The reason that I ordered this show was for the Cut-Off.

Locations are mostly around rural Edgewood. Not bad in itself. However, this gets repetitive. One dimensional 3/4 angle at trackside. Picture quality is very good for a 1995 recording.

This was when rebuilt SD40 units were dominant. All black repaints on IC. Newer power had not been online in May, 1995.

Narration is very detailed, if common information. Symbols, freight, operations and recent history. The voiceover is at a louder volume compared to the live audio in the background. Narrative is nearly constant.

Not very impressed with this release. The failure to include any trains on the actual Edgewood Cut-Off is misleading and extremely disappointing. Deal breaker. I would have passed on this release!

Rating: Not Recommended