In June of 1999 the face of railroading in the East changed overnight. It has now been over eleven years since CSX and Norfolk Southern split up Conrail and began operating their respective shares. How has Norfolk Southern’s former Conrail Chicago Line fared since the Conrail breakup and has traffic begun to recover from what some are calling the “great recession” that began over two years ago. “NS Chicago Line in Northern Indiana” answers those questions and more as it shows the trains and operations for over twenty-four hours on NS’s Chicago Line between the outskirts of La Porte and South Bend in northern Indiana in April of 2010. There have many changes in operations since our last look at this busy line across northern Indiana in 2001 as NS has really grown the business on their Chicago Line. And, in addition to Amtrak’s Lake Shore and Capitol Limited, Canadian Pacific’s trains between Chicago and Detroit also utilize this busy, former New York Central main line. “NS Chicago Line in Northern Indiana” is two hours and thirty-six minutes long and is a two DVD set.  This DVD has the option to be watched with or without narration. 

Union Pacific’s triple track main between Gibbon and North Platte in central Nebraska is the busiest line for freight trains in this country and carries more tonnage than any rail line in the World – over 300 million tons per year. This historic line, part of the first transcontinental railroad, is also part of UP’s central corridor that stretches from Chicago to Ogden where trains can take one of four routes to Seattle, Oakland, or Los Angeles. To paraphrase the title of a best selling book on the building of the UP, “there is nothing like it in the world”. 20,000 ton coal trains powered by distributed power, long manifests, hot “Z” intermodal trains, and pooled power from all Class I railroads in the country - they’re all here on this incredible piece of track. Just about any superlative you can think of applies to UP’s triple track main. The current recession has taken a significant bite out of the traffic on the triple track main, but the economy is beginning to recover and we still saw 124 trains in twenty-four hours on this busiest piece of track for freight trains on this continent. And today’s trains are longer and heavier than those seen during our last visit to the triple track main in 2001. This program shows all the trains for over twenty-four hours around Kearney, Nebraska on UP’s triple track main in October of 2010. “UP’s Triple Track Main in 2010” is a 3 disk set and is 4 hours and 32 minutes in length.  This DVD has the option of being watched with or without narration.

“NS Automotive Artery west of Decatur, Illinois” shows over 24 hours of action on each of the NS main lines to Kansas City and St. Louis west of Decatur in central Illinois in May of 2010. Norfolk Southern’s main Line from Detroit to Kansas City and St. Louis has a long and colorful history. Once part of the Wabash, the only railroad to breach both the Chicago and St. Louis gateways, this line today still handles more auto parts bound for assembly plants near St. Louis or Kansas City or the Southwest than any other rail line in this country. And now, with the split of Conrail between NS and CSX, NS’s automotive artery has taken on a new role as a key part of Norfolk Southern’s traffic lane from the East Coast to the St. Louis and Kansas City gateways. Decatur in central Illinois, where the former Wabash main lines from Detroit to Kansas City and Chicago to St. Louis cross, was the physical heart of the Wabash and remains an important rail center today. This DVD shows also shows how NS’s automotive artery is recovering from the current recession. “NS Automotive Artery west of Decatur, Illinois” is 69 minutes in length.  This DVD has the option of being watched with or without narration.

“The Trains of Atlantic Canada 2010” shows the trains and operations on almost all the railroads still operating in Atlantic Canada during the summer of 2010 including the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia and Windsor and Hantsport. Much has changed since our last visit to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia twelve years ago. Improbably, Canadian National has bought back some of the rail lines that they had spun off only a decade earlier. Today’s trains on CN’s main line from Montreal to Moncton through Edmundston, New Brunswick, although fewer than a dozen years ago, are twice as long, running up to twelve thousand feet in length and making for some impressive scenes running through the deep woods and across the great bridges of CN’s superbly engineered, former National Transcontinental Railway line though northern and central New Brunswick. “The Trains of Atlantic Canada 2010” is 95 minutes in length.  The DVD of this program can be watched with or without narration.