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No More Mindless Runbys
Below are the ten newest releases from Big "E" Productions in both DVD-R and VHS format.

CSX's S&NA North Subdivision DVD

This video shows over twenty-four hours of action on the former Louisville and Nashville, now CSX, S&NA North Subdivision which runs from Nashville, Tennessee to Birmingham Alabama, a distance of two hundred and five miles.  This is part of CSX’s most important north-south traffic lane between Chicago and Florida which they have nicknamed the Southeast Corridor.  Trains were videotaped south of Nashville in south-central Tennessee, between Cornersville and Dellrose.  This part of southern Tennessee is full of winding valleys and high ridges as the tracks pierce the edge of the Appalachian Plateau and Tennessee’s Southern Highland Rim between the Cumberland River at Nashville and the Tennessee River at Decatur, Alabama.  There is even a fifteen hundred foot long tunnel here although it is inaccessible for videography.  At the time that these trains were videotaped in late April of 2017 CSX was a couple of months into the Hunter Harrison era where dramatic changes in train operations were taking place with many hump classification yards and intermodal terminals being closed and trains combined into 10,000 foot monsters.  As an example, two pair of intermodal trains have been added since our 2011 visit to this line but one pair will be re-routed via Atlanta only a week after our visit.    In spite of the train consolidations, the freight train count on this line is nearly triple of what it was fifty years ago. Length = 61 minutes.  This program can be watched with or without narration.

Price: $30.95

Attributes

  • Video Format: DVD

The Transcon in Illinois Blu-Ray

If you want to see the greatest show in freight railroading in this country, head to the former Santa Fe, now BNSF, main line between Chicago and Los Angeles known as the Transcon.  The Santa Fe’s extension to Chicago helped to bankrupt the company only five years later, but that extension was a key factor in making the Santa Fe the most admired and one of the financially strongest railroads in this country for the next one hundred and seven years.  West of Galesburg in central Illinois where we videotaped, the line once known as “the Airline” is nearly straight as an arrow as it crosses the Galesburg Plain and heads down an undulating grade into the Mississippi River Valley at Lomax.  Trains then thunder along the Mississippi River for twelve miles to Niota where the great bridge over the Mississippi to Fort Madison is located.  Traffic on the Transcon is five or six times what it was fifty years ago, arguably the greatest increase in traffic on any significant rail lane in the country that doesn’t handle coal from the Powder River Basin.   This video shows over twenty-four hours of action on the Transcon on the one-time Santa Fe Illinois Division between Ormonde, thirteen miles west of Galesburg, and Fort Madison in October of 2016.  And some Union Pacific trains between Chicago and the Southwest or Southern California use this line also, a condition of the Burlington Northern – Santa Fe merger.  Two disk set.  Length = two hours and 40 mnutes.  This DVD can be watched with or without narration.

Price: $40.95

Attributes

  • Video Format: Blu-Ray

The Transcon in Illinois DVD

If you want to see the greatest show in freight railroading in this country, head to the former Santa Fe, now BNSF, main line between Chicago and Los Angeles known as the Transcon.  The Santa Fe’s extension to Chicago helped to bankrupt the company only five years later, but that extension was a key factor in making the Santa Fe the most admired and one of the financially strongest railroads in this country for the next one hundred and seven years.  West of Galesburg in central Illinois where we videotaped, the line once known as “the Airline” is nearly straight as an arrow as it crosses the Galesburg Plain and heads down an undulating grade into the Mississippi River Valley at Lomax.  Trains then thunder along the Mississippi River for twelve miles to Niota where the great bridge over the Mississippi to Fort Madison is located.  Traffic on the Transcon is five or six times what it was fifty years ago, arguably the greatest increase in traffic on any significant rail lane in the country that doesn’t handle coal from the Powder River Basin.   This video shows over twenty-four hours of action on the Transcon on the one-time Santa Fe Illinois Division between Ormonde, thirteen miles west of Galesburg, and Fort Madison in October of 2016.  And some Union Pacific trains between Chicago and the Southwest or Southern California use this line also, a condition of the Burlington Northern – Santa Fe merger.  Two disk set.  Length = two hours and 40 mnutes.  This DVD can be watched with or without narration.

Price: $40.95

Attributes

  • Video Format: DVD

BNSF Twin Cities to Fargo Mains Blu-Ray

This program takes a look at the two BNSF main lines between the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the adjacent cities of Moorhead, Minnesota and Fargo, North Dakota. Fargo is referred to as the Gateway to the Northern Plains and is the largest City in North Dakota.  The predecessors of these two lines are the first railroad in Minnesota, the St. Paul and Pacific, nee St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba, later Great Northern Railway, and the Northern Pacific Railway, the first northern transcontinental railroad and third overall transcontinental.  First, we will show trains on BNSF’s former Northern Pacific Staples Subdivision around New York Mills and Perham, Minnesota.  Perham in sixty-five miles east of Dilworth, BNSF’s main terminal for the Fargo-Moorhead area, and one hundred seventy-five miles west of Northtown, BNSF’s primary classification yard in the Twin Cities.  Then we will cover the trains on the former Great Northern Twin Cities to Fargo main between the outskirts of Breckenridge, Minnesota and Benson.  Breckenridge is forty-eight miles railroad east of Fargo and two hundred and fifteen miles from St. Paul.  These two lines handle all of BNSF’s Northern Transcon traffic between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest and are part of BNSF’s northern coal corridor and are the eastern outlet for crude oil from the Bakken Shale oil field in North Dakota.   In spite of the downturn in coal and crude oil, these lines are still quite busy and the fall grain rush was also on when we visited BNSF in Minnesota.  BNSF has recovered from its Bakken crude oil induced meltdown on their Northern Transcon in 2013 and 2014 after billions were spent on added capacity and new power.  This DVD shows over 24 hours of traffic on both of BNSF’s main lines between the Twin Cities and Fargo in September of 2016.  Two DVD set.  Two hours and ten minutes in length.  This DVD can be watched with or without narration.

Price: $36.95

Attributes

  • Video Format: Blu-Ray

BNSF Twin Cities to Fargo Mains DVD

This program takes a look at the two BNSF main lines between the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the adjacent cities of Moorhead, Minnesota and Fargo, North Dakota. Fargo is referred to as the Gateway to the Northern Plains and is the largest City in North Dakota.  The predecessors of these two lines are the first railroad in Minnesota, the St. Paul and Pacific, nee St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba, later Great Northern Railway, and the Northern Pacific Railway, the first northern transcontinental railroad and third overall transcontinental.  First, we will show trains on BNSF’s former Northern Pacific Staples Subdivision around New York Mills and Perham, Minnesota.  Perham in sixty-five miles east of Dilworth, BNSF’s main terminal for the Fargo-Moorhead area, and one hundred seventy-five miles west of Northtown, BNSF’s primary classification yard in the Twin Cities.  Then we will cover the trains on the former Great Northern Twin Cities to Fargo main between the outskirts of Breckenridge, Minnesota and Benson.  Breckenridge is forty-eight miles railroad east of Fargo and two hundred and fifteen miles from St. Paul.  These two lines handle all of BNSF’s Northern Transcon traffic between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest and are part of BNSF’s northern coal corridor and are the eastern outlet for crude oil from the Bakken Shale oil field in North Dakota.   In spite of the downturn in coal and crude oil, these lines are still quite busy and the fall grain rush was also on when we visited BNSF in Minnesota.  BNSF has recovered from its Bakken crude oil induced meltdown on their Northern Transcon in 2013 and 2014 after billions were spent on added capacity and new power.  This DVD shows over 24 hours of traffic on both of BNSF’s main lines between the Twin Cities and Fargo in September of 2016.  Two DVD set.  Two hours and ten minutes in length.  This DVD can be watched with or without narration.

Price: $36.95

Attributes

  • Video Format: DVD

The Alaska Railroad Blu-Ray

Alaska - the Last Frontier, land of glaciers, incredible vistas, the mountain known as “The Great One” - Denali, and incomparable wildlife – whatever superlative one applies to our largest and forty-ninth state, it can also be applied to the Alaska Railroad, arguably the most unique railroad in the United States.  The Alaska Railroad bills itself as “the last full-service railroad in North America”.  Twenty-seven percent of its revenues are from passengers.  No other freight common carrier that is not a commuter railroad in the lower forty-eight even comes close to that.  Its passenger car fleet, much of which is glass-topped and traditional domes and is supplemented by tour operators and cruise lines’ cars in three different color schemes, is easily the most eclectic in the country.  And its freight operations are unique also – with its captive rail cars and only connections to the outside railroad world being weekly barges from Seattle and twice monthly from Prince Rupert.  Yet the railroad is impeccably modern with welded rail, diesels with AC traction motors, distributed power, and majestic bi-level passenger cars all dressed up in a beautiful blue and gold.  Alaska has always been a land of booms and busts.  Tourism is the latest boom and the now state owned Alaska Railroad has taken full advantage of that.  This program shows the trains and traffic including all scheduled passenger and freight trains on the Alaska Railroad between the ports of Seward and Whittier and Fairbanks with many trains set in the grandeur of the Bold Land that is Alaska filmed in late August and September of 2016.  Length = 79 minutes.  This DVD can be watched with or without narration. 

Price: $32.95

Attributes

  • Video Format: Blu-Ray

The Alaska Railroad DVD

Alaska - the Last Frontier, land of glaciers, incredible vistas, the mountain known as “The Great One” - Denali, and incomparable wildlife – whatever superlative one applies to our largest and forty-ninth state, it can also be applied to the Alaska Railroad, arguably the most unique railroad in the United States.  The Alaska Railroad bills itself as “the last full-service railroad in North America”.  Twenty-seven percent of its revenues are from passengers.  No other freight common carrier that is not a commuter railroad in the lower forty-eight even comes close to that.  Its passenger car fleet, much of which is glass-topped and traditional domes and is supplemented by tour operators and cruise lines’ cars in three different color schemes, is easily the most eclectic in the country.  And its freight operations are unique also – with its captive rail cars and only connections to the outside railroad world being weekly barges from Seattle and twice monthly from Prince Rupert.  Yet the railroad is impeccably modern with welded rail, diesels with AC traction motors, distributed power, and majestic bi-level passenger cars all dressed up in a beautiful blue and gold.  Alaska has always been a land of booms and busts.  Tourism is the latest boom and the now state owned Alaska Railroad has taken full advantage of that.  This program shows the trains and traffic including all scheduled passenger and freight trains on the Alaska Railroad between the ports of Seward and Whittier and Fairbanks with many trains set in the grandeur of the Bold Land that is Alaska filmed in late August and September of 2016.  Length = 79 minutes.  This DVD can be watched with or without narration. 

Price: $32.95

Attributes

  • Video Format: DVD

BNSF at Perry, Oklahoma Blu-Ray

Perry, a county seat town in north-central Oklahoma, sixty-three miles north of Oklahoma City, is in a unique position on the sprawling BNSF system.  (Second commentary)  There, two important main lines run side by side through this town of 5100 residents – the north-south former Santa Fe Kansas City to Fort Worth and Galveston line  and the east-west former Saint Louis San Francisco or Frisco and later Burlington Northern Tulsa to Avard line.  Avard is ninety-three miles west of Perry where it connects with the BNSF Chicago to California Transcon and Tulsa is eighty-three miles east of Perry.  The two lines cross at Black Bear, six miles northeast of Perry.   After the BNSF merger connecting tracks were installed at Black Bear and Perry in order to allow westbounds from the hump classification yard in Tulsa to head south onto the former Santa Fe main at Black Bear and vice-versa.  The former Santa Fe line through Perry, BNSF’s present day Red Rock subdivision, has been an important trunk line since shortly after the Santa Fe took over the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe in December of 1886 and opened a through route between Kansas City and Galveston.  Until 1973 the former Frisco line through Perry was a sleepy branch line with a train a day between Tulsa and junction of two branch lines and some of the largest terminal elevators in the wheat belt at Enid, thirty five miles west of Perry.  Then in 1973 the Santa Fe and Frisco moved their interchange point for transcontinental traffic from Floydada in the Texas Panhandle to Avard.  At that time heavier rail was installed and several sidings lengthened but the Avard branch or Avard subdivision as it is known today didn’t really come into its own until after the merger of the Santa Fe and Burlington Northern to form BNSF in 1995.   This program shows over twenty-four hours of action at Perry in April of 2016.  Length = 1 hour, 52 minutes.  This program can be watched with ot without narration.

Price: $34.95

Attributes

  • Video Format: Blu-Ray

BNSF at Perry, Oklahoma DVD

Perry, a county seat town in north-central Oklahoma, sixty-three miles north of Oklahoma City, is in a unique position on the sprawling BNSF system.  (Second commentary)  There, two important main lines run side by side through this town of 5100 residents – the north-south former Santa Fe Kansas City to Fort Worth and Galveston line  and the east-west former Saint Louis San Francisco or Frisco and later Burlington Northern Tulsa to Avard line.  Avard is ninety-three miles west of Perry where it connects with the BNSF Chicago to California Transcon and Tulsa is eighty-three miles east of Perry.  The two lines cross at Black Bear, six miles northeast of Perry.   After the BNSF merger connecting tracks were installed at Black Bear and Perry in order to allow westbounds from the hump classification yard in Tulsa to head south onto the former Santa Fe main at Black Bear and vice-versa.  The former Santa Fe line through Perry, BNSF’s present day Red Rock subdivision, has been an important trunk line since shortly after the Santa Fe took over the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe in December of 1886 and opened a through route between Kansas City and Galveston.  Until 1973 the former Frisco line through Perry was a sleepy branch line with a train a day between Tulsa and junction of two branch lines and some of the largest terminal elevators in the wheat belt at Enid, thirty five miles west of Perry.  Then in 1973 the Santa Fe and Frisco moved their interchange point for transcontinental traffic from Floydada in the Texas Panhandle to Avard.  At that time heavier rail was installed and several sidings lengthened but the Avard branch or Avard subdivision as it is known today didn’t really come into its own until after the merger of the Santa Fe and Burlington Northern to form BNSF in 1995.   This program shows over twenty-four hours of action at Perry in April of 2016.  Length = 1 hour, 52 minutes.  This program can be watched with ot without narration.

Price: $34.95

Attributes

  • Video Format: DVD

Norfolk Southern's former D&H - a Phoenix Rising Blu-Ray

Norfolk Southern’s takeover of the former Delaware and Hudson south of Schenectady on September nineteenth of last year has continued the slow increase in traffic on the critical midsection of the former D&H that began with the 2004 trackage and haulage rights agreement with Norfolk Southern that resulted in a modicum of profitability for this beleaguered line.  The midsection and main stem of the former D&H where we videotaped has long been known as the Susquehanna Division and later as the second or Susquehanna subdivision and is now part of Norfolk Southern’s Freight Main Line, continuing the title and mileposts that under Guilford ownership had been applied to their main line from Mattawaumkeag, Maine to Sunbury, Pennsylvania.  The Delaware and Hudson has surmounted many challenges and been near death more than once in the past eighty or so years – first with the loss of the anthracite coal business to oil and gas, then the loss of friendly connections as a result of the formation of Penn Central and later Conrail that led to near death in the late seventies and early eighties before Guilford took them over, the bankruptcy and directed service crisis after the strikes on Guilford in the mid-eighties, and finally Canadian Pacific’s indifference to growing the traffic after failing to find an acceptable buyer for the D&H and their constant cutbacks in service in the past few years.  Preceded by Norfolk Southern acquiring haulage rights on much of the D&H in 2004 and a half interest in Pan Am’s line from Mechanicville to Ayer Massachusetts in 2009, Norfolk Southern’s acquisition of the south end of CP’s D&H subsidiary seemed a foregone conclusion but it still took years for the parties to come to an agreement.  For the first time since the 1920s the former D&H is arguably entering a stable period where its future isn’t in doubt.  This program shows over twenty-four hours of action on the former second subdivision between Delanson where the now truncated Albany main joins the main line and Belden tunnel, sixteen miles from Binghamton, in July of 2016. Length = 61 minutes.  This program can be watched with or without narration.

Price: $30.95

Attributes

  • Video Format: Blu-Ray

 

                                                       Big “E” Productions

P.O. BOX 75

GREENLAND, NH 03840

Our DVDs show the whole train!

Our web page is at www.trainvideos.com, email us at bigeee@trainvideos.com.

 800-832-1228 or 603-430-3055   Visa, MasterCard, AMEX or Discover Card Orders Accepted.

Last updated 12/14/2023

 

Frequency – twice a year

 

 Issue #179                            December, 2023

May all of you have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

Remember, our DVDs make great Christmas gifts for the railfan in your family.  This Newsletter begins our 32th year of selling train videos.  As long as both my wife and I are in good health we intend to continue selling old videos and I still have some hope to do a few new programs. We will not be attending the Big Train Show in West Springfield, Massachusetts anymore.

 

Again no new programs.  I was recently diagnosed with AFib (atrial fibrillation – fast, erratic heartbeat).  Medication seems to help but it will be some time before I know how much.  Also both knees need to be replaced but it will also be some time before that can happen.  My wife is still recovering from having both knees replaced.  She is using a wheelchair and walker to get around.  I would still like to do more videotaping but this is looking less and less likely.  We hope that all of you are safe and sound.  Our next newsletter will be around June of 2024.  Railfan Depot in Indianapolis is now carrying some of our videos.

 

We have four grandkids playing sports right now – two here in New Hampshire and two in Illinois.  I hope to be able to see their games in person as much as I can.  And then we have 12 other grandkids and one great grandson to keep track of.  I am looking forward to attending the girls state basketball tournament in Illinois beginning in 2025 and the class IV boys baseball tournament here in New Hampshire next spring.

 

No other train video producer shows and explains railroading like we do and our catalogue includes programs on fallen flags ATSF, SP, BN, CNW,  IC, Wisconsin Central, and Conrail.  We almost always show the whole train and most of our videos show all of the action – day and night.  Our newest program is “PSR on CSX’s Chicago Line in Northern Indiana”, part of our look at PSR on eastern railroads.  This is our 49th program to be released in both Blu-ray and in regular DVD.  You need to specify what type of DVD you are ordering with programs available in both DVD and Blu-ray.  All of our DVD’s have chapters and menus and around half – everything videotaped from 2004 on plus a few programs from 2003 - have a choice of being watched with narration and without narration by using the menu or audio and language buttons on your DVD player controller.  321 programs are available in DVD (49 in Blu-ray) and all are listed in the flyers.  No other train video producer shows and explains railroading like we do and our catalogue includes programs on fallen flags ATSF, BN, SP, CNW. IC, Wisconsin Central, and Conrail.  Our shipping and handling charge on orders remains $5.00 with no charge on orders over $100.  We offer year-round discounts on large orders.  See flyers for details.  These discounts are available only by mail and phone.  If you have questions and get our answering machine, please leave your name and number and we will call you back as soon as possible.  You can reach us by email at bigeee@trainvideos.com or on our webpage at www.trainvideos.com.

 

If we are able to videotape again, the focus will be on changes on the western railroads due to PSR.

 

                                              Dick and Barb Eisfeller