Norfolk Southern’s Kenova District between Williamson, West Virginia and Portsmouth, Ohio has long been known as the Tadpole.   The district’s name comes from Kenova, West Virginia, where this former Norfolk and Western track crosses the Ohio River on a massive double tracked, 4000-foot long, 100-foot high trestle. Described by Trains Magazine as a “conveyor belt for westbound coal’ in the 1960s, today, this busy line handles a mix of loaded coal trains running in both directions, grain trains, mixed carload manifests, and thanks to the recently completed Heartland Corridor clearance project, double stack container trains. Except for the crossing of the Ohio River at Kenova, the track from Williamson to Portsmouth is level or downgrade all the way and passes through six tunnels. The superbly engineered Kenova District along the Tug Fork, Big Sandy, and Ohio Rivers sees some of the heaviest trains in the U. S. This program shows thirty hours of action between Williamson and Kenova on Norfolk Southern’s Kenova District or Tadpole in April of 2011. “The Tadpole – NS Kenova District” is 80 minutes in length.  This DVD can be watched with or without narration. 

“Pan Am Southern’s Patriot Corridor” shows the trains and operations on the historic, former Boston and Main Fitchburg Route main line between Ayer, Massachusetts and Mechanicville, New York, known as Pan Am Southern’s Patriot Corridor in August of 2011. In March of 2009, the Surface Transportation Board approved the Pan Am Railways – Norfolk Southern joint venture to jointly own and operate the Pan Am track west of Ayer, Massachusetts under the name Pan Am Southern. The main line between Ayer and Mechanicville was given the nickname: ”Patriot Corridor”. Three years earlier, Guilford Rail System, the operator of what was then left of the Boston and Maine and Maine Central lines in New England, changed its name to Pan Am Railways. This program shows the trains running in August of 2011 on Pan Am Southern’s Patriot Corridor between Ayer and Mechanicville, New York, where a new intermodal and auto terminal serving Pan Am Southern and the former Delaware and Hudson, now Canadian Pacific, is under construction. This line includes the historic Hoosac Tunnel that gives Pan Am the easiest rail crossing of the Berkshire Mountain range in western Massachusetts. Close to half of Pan Am’s operable main line power has been repainted into Pan Am Railway’s deep blue paint scheme and Pan Am’s eclectic mix of older motive power still draws fans from far and wide. “Pan Am Southern’s Patriot Corridor” is 92 minutes in length.  This DVD has the option of being watched with or without narration. 

Ashland, where the former RF&P, now CSX main line goes right down the middle of the street, is one of the best-known railfan hot spots and most railfan friendly places in Virginia. Ashland is fifteen miles north of Richmond on the CSX and Amtrak main line between the Northeast and the Southeast. This program shows all the trains for 24 hours in March 2011 on the former RF&P two main track line that bisects Ashland with the tracks running right down the middle of Center Street and Railroad Avenue for nearly a mile and half through the center of the town. The track also runs right next to Randolph-Macon College and pedestrians and bicyclists crossing the tracks are a common sight. Traffic on the CSX main line is beginning to recover from the Great Recession and on peak days of the week forty CSX and Amtrak trains pass through Ashland. “CSX and Amtrak at Ashland, VA” is 67 minutes in length.  This DVD has the option of being watched with or without narration.

“CN’s South Bend Subdivision” shows the trains and operations on and around the single-track portion of the South Bend sub between Schoolcraft and Edwardsburg in southern Michigan in October of 2010. CN’s operating philosophy now reigns and CN runs long trains on this relatively flat line. This line is part of the present day CN main line between Montreal and Chicago. This program also shows how the former GTW has fared after the great recession in 2008 and 2009 when domestic car production slowed to its lowest rate in nearly fifty years. And with more and more traffic from Canada coming into the States, traffic on this fascinating line has held up fairly well. “CN’s South Bend Subdivision” is 64 minutes in length.  This DVD haas the option to be watched with or without narration.