Category: Machines of Iron

Producer: Dave Gross

Locations: Denver to Bond, Craig branch

Timeframe: Late 1980’s to 1999

Length: 90 minutes

A tour of the Moffat Route. Filmed over a decade. All seasons. Rio Grande with pre and post merger, to Southern Pacific.

Single DVD-R. Chapter menu is numbered. On- screen graphics, with locations. Maps are included. Narrated by Rich Melvin.

Videography is excellent. High quality. Newer videos are slightly better. Appears really good on an HDTV. Colors are solid.

Soundtrack is outstanding. Balanced narrative with train sounds. Expert audio engineering. Great on a soundbar system.

Additional Railroads seen include: Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, Burlington Northern. BNSF with trackage rights.

Cab ride sequences are plentiful. Enjoyable to experience these views.

The Craig Branch is visited after Bond. Another 13 tunnels located here. Elevation and location map. Coal business originates out here.

Start of show with background history. Actual tour, begins near Utah Junction. Train going to North Yard.

Rio Grande Passenger Service

Rio Grande Ski Train and Passenger Service. Appears throughout the show. These are GP40 powered, with a B unit.

Hot Shot Piggyback waits on a Coal Train

A Hot Shot Piggyback waits on a siding. Mid-train helpers pass by, on the Unit Coal Move.

SP helper on Amtrak California Zephyr

Rare, is this SP helper on Amtrak #5. The California Zephyr is at Blue Mountain Crossing.

SP 144 leads 502 mk5000c at Coal Creek.

Tunnel #25 from Amtrak cab

Amtrak Cab Ride. Experience many tunnels. You ride along an Amtrak run. Tunnels are interpolated within the tour.

SP C44-9W on a Taconite move

SP C44-9W leads a Taconite train in 1995 near Cliff.

SD40T2 with GP30s and GP35

At Tolland, SD40T2 leads triple GP30 and a GP35. Here at 8800 feet elevation.

Moffat Tunnel

Rio Grande 5374 SD40t exits on the point of coal hoppers. Mid-train and rear end helpers on this move. This is at 9195 feet in elevation. Moffat Tunnel.

Union Pacific DPU pair in mid-train

Byers Canyon with Union Pacific remote control DPU. This shot in 1999.

Tunnel 38 and mid-train helpers

A 5 mile long Upper Gore Canyon. Even 4 more tunnels. At Tunnel number 38. Mid-train helpers on a Coal Move.

SD50 leads a Piggyback at Lower Gore Canyon

Lower Gore Canyon. TOFC led by an SD50 locomotive.

Bond is a divsion point.

5405 leads Coal on Craig Branch

Above, Rio Grande 5405 with a Unit Coal Train, on the Craig Branch. This has another 13 tunnels. Coal mines are at Craig.

Coal train arrives at Bond

Craig Branch has Unit Coal to Bond. Earlier video footage here.

Rio Grande Moffat Route

Extensive coverage of the Rio Grande Moffat Route, and a bit more. Great care went into the production of this show.

A must have for Rio Grande fans. Mountain railroading Railfans and Model railroaders can find this an excellent choice. Fine show.

Rating: 5 Stars

Tags American Train Video Reviews, Amtrak, Coal, Rio Grande, Southern Pacific, Union Pacific

ATVR Reviews Machines of Iron

Indiana Harbor Belt and Belt Railway

Post author By William J. Hudson
Post date January 3, 2023
No Comments on Indiana Harbor Belt and Belt Railway

Producer: Ken Brown

Locations: Chicago area

Timeframe: 2000

Length: 73 minutes

This show explores two of Chicago’s major Rail transfer lines. Indiana Harbor Belt and Belt Railway of Chicago.

*Quality Control Advisement

First order of business is major quality flaw. An annoying green or blue color bar displays across the top of the view screen! It also contains active dots. Really bad.

Also, a bottom distortion bar appears along the bottom horizontal of the screen.

Vertical, Gray Bars appear on the right hand side of the screen. Full height.

Appears as if, someone goofed on Quality Control.

There is a Chapter Menu. No maps. Live Audio. Narrated. Pro shot. Interviews of Railroad men.

Chuck Allen, General Manager of Indiana Harbor Belt, provides interesting insights. Operational, Historical and Business.

Hey Man! Amtrak coming

The Narrator, Dave Reed enjoys a forward role. Somewhat apart from many other Producers. He frequently appears before the camera. Sometimes, during runbys..

Green distortion bar, appears active and worse on large TV screen.

The Camera crew certainly gets around. Hitting the key points around the IHB system.

Alcos on the Belt Railway

The Belt receives a comprehensive introduction. Includes Diesel development. Alco Locomotive history

Belt C-424

C-424 Locomotives are Featured.

Green bar top, gray bars right and general distortion along the bottom.

The BRC was still operating a Bicentennial painted switcher, well into the 1990s.

Blue Island Hot Spot is featured.

Indiana Harbor Belt and Belt Railway

Obviously, this show is ruined. Somewhere along the line. A careless transfer likely occured. Any changes, and review shall update.

Annoying, with multiple screen errors occuring throughout the show.

Hence, this one is not worth my time. Straight to the junk pile.

Rating: Quality Control Advisement

Tags American Train Video Reviews, Chicago railroad

ATVR Reviews Machines of Iron

Producer: Michael Pirelli

Timeframe: 1999- 2000

Locations: Southside + Indiana

Length: 63 minutes

Source: Machines of Iron

Take a tour of 13 Chicago area Railroad towers. These are mainly inside visits. Southside area. All the way down to Hammond, IN. These old towers, amoung the last ones operating.

Each tower has a map with trackage. An exterior view of the structure. Shots of the boards and levers.

Brighton Park shows all, except a train.

A Chapter Menu is provided. A choice of on/ off narration. Smooth edits. Well paced.

Too much to cover. Some highlights…

Camerawork is steady. Some views are negatively affected by dirty windows. These units are going to Willow Springs.

This local with ; Grand Trunk and Canadian National power. Rolls on former: Gulf, Mobile & Ohio trackage, to nearby Glenn Yard.

The narrative is limited. Rich Melvin does a fine job. Script is fine overall.

State Line Tower, with some complicated trackage.

Amtrak 305 to St Louis, at Corwith.

Corwith Tower is an original Santa Fe. Serves BNSF here.

Part of the board inside of Corwith.

Blue Island Junction is an all time, classic hotspot. One of Chicago’s busiest!

Wisconsin Central travels through Blue Island Junction.

Blue Island. Iowa Interstate departs the old Rock Island, Burr Oak Yard. Vermont Street.

State Line Tower has a long history. Once had over 200 levers! An original hotspot.

A CSX locomotive leads through, Dolton. This location is action packed!!

Indiana Harbor Belt had purchased some ex: Illinois Central Gulf SD20 rebuilds.

Ash Street takes the cake, for a small tower. It is electrically operated. Chicago River is nearby.

Conrail paint still appears, as at Calumet Tower. East Chicago. SD40-2 on a light move.

This Norfolk Southern on a light engine move is at State Line Tower. On former N&W trackage.

The video is shot well. Consider the premise. Tower views. Obstructed views. Not an easy task.

Metra locomotives sure are ugly! Gresham.

Canadian Pacific with Soo Line, at Blue Island Crossing.

Plenty of action at Hohman Tower.

Hohman Avenue crosses into Hammond, Indiana. An Indiana Harbor Belt transfer run to and from Gibson Yard. Hohman Tower is now closed.

A rare drawbridge operation is seen.

Viewers get a chance to tour some of the last operating towers in the Chicagoland area. An interesting trip, which includes some locations that are uncommon.

A worthy addition to any train video collection. Just a bit different!

Rating: 5 Stars

Tags American Train Video Reviews, Amtrak, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, Conrail, CSX, Grand Trunk, Norfolk Southern, Santa Fe, Union Pacific

ATVR Reviews Machines of Iron

Otto Perry’s Santa Fe

Otto Perry’s Santa Fe

Machines of Iron

Format: DVD

Length: 40 minutes

Time Period: 1940’s – 1950’s

Locations: Colorado, New Mexico, Missouri, Kansas

Source: Otto Perry/ Rocky Mountain Railroad Club

ATVR is working on featuring some of the original masters of train films. Otto Perry is one of the top cinematographers of the early era of color film. He shot in the 1940’s on black and white film. This is true vintage footage of a world, that no longer exists. The Rocky Mountain Railroad Club has an archive that contains these films.

Otto Perry lived in Denver, CO. He was always out, filming trains. Sometimes whatever else was happening at the scene. Relying on a 1935 Ford and later on, a 1951 Ford, he would travel thousands of miles in pursuit of trains. What makes his films so interesting, are his willingness to roll the camera at any train. The steam to diesel transition years provided the perfect source of unending variety to record.

In this feature about Santa Fe, we sure get to see that variety of railroad equipment. Steam, early diesels, streamliners, switchers, freight trains, old automobiles, it’s all here.

The film has a chapter menu, which is always nice. There are some fine maps too. The way the story moves around, we will need these maps.

Rich Melvin is our narrator. He does a fine job with; a good, information driven presentation. On screen graphics provide more locations.

A good chapter revolves around the ATSF joint line from Denver and southbound trackage that arrives at Palmer Lake. Castle Rock is approximately halfway there and it is seen as some background scenery. Colorado and Southern was a subsidiary of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, aka, CB&Q or Burlington Route. By filming the shared line, we get the bonus of viewing C&S and CB&Q trains. This predates BNSF by decades. A small world indeed!

High quality imagery with the use of 16mm film. This footage was edited, from many locations and different years. As a film source now, the archived footage is consistently excellent.

Steam and early diesels share the screen time. Big northern types, smaller Prairies, 2-10-2, smoke it up. Diesels seen: EMD FT, F3’s along with Alco PA units. Classic Santa Fe warbonnets pull the passenger trains. Freight schemed Blue and Yellow F’s are on point of freight action.

The Las Vegas subdivision is another area that is visited. Black and white film for these 1942 scenes that show an E6 on the El Captain and steam. Color film now with an Alco PA. The Chief and Super Chief pass by, in black and white. 1947 color shot of California Limited with diesels. A 4-8-4 follows with a 2nd section of train number 3 and heavyweight cars.

In 1946, Otto has journeyed to Fort Madison, Iowa. Steam has had it’s sunset on ATSF in 1958. We are in Kansas, as Otto continues to film trains. Warbonnet F7 sets lead lengthy US Mail trains across the plains. Show closes with a smattering of Santa Fe diesel trains.

Machines of Iron has given the viewers a great showcase of Otto Perry. Fans of Santa Fe, steam to diesel era railfans and general train enthusiasts, all will find a plentiful array of vintage scenes. As was true for the era, you never know what is coming next on this show.

Rating: 5 Stars