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BNSF around Savanna, Illinois Blu-Ray

BNSF around Savanna, Illinois Blu-Ray

Savanna, Illinois, 138 miles west of Chicago on the Mississippi River, was once one of the busiest railroad towns west of Chicago. Savanna was the first crew change and division point west of Chicago for two class I railroads, the Milwaukee Road and the Burlington. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, more transcontinental streamliners hammered the diamond crossing of the two railroads in Savanna than in any other small town west of Chicago. It was all too good to last. The Milwaukee Road became Canadian Pacific, then I&M Rail Link, Iowa Chicago and Eastern, and finally DM&E, with the shops, yard, and most of the trains gone. Burlington successor Burlington Northern closed the yard and eliminated their crew change in Savanna. Then traffic began to rise on BNSF. With the explosion in crude oil from the Bakken shale oil field, Savanna again became a busy crew base and forty to fifty BNSF trains a day now run through Savanna. BNSF was averaging around seven crude oil trains a day and the corresponding empties through Savanna during our visit in the fall of 2013. Just south of Savanna the BNSF main divides with trains heading east to Chicago and south to Galesburg. This program shows over twenty-four hours of BNSF action in October of 2013 in and around this railfan hotspot, including trains along the Mississippi River and ones viewed from the Palisades that line the east bank of the river north of Savanna. And with BNSF being power short this fall, just about anything can be seen on the head end of their trains. “BNSF around Savanna, Illinois” is a two DVD set and is two hours and 51 minutes in length. This DVD can be watched with or without narration.

Price: $42.95

Attributes

  • Video Format: Blu-Ray