This video documents the recent increase in trains on the former Chicago and North Western’s Twin Cities Line, the one-time route of the “400s”. This increase is due to the amazing growth in recent years of hydraulic fracturing or fracking for oil and gas in this country. Nearly seventy percent of the sand used for fracking comes out of Wisconsin and UP handles the largest share of that sand. This historic line is now the property of Union Pacific and until recently was really treated as a secondary line by UP. Today the Adams Line sees more freight trains and much more tonnage than any time since the end of steam in the 1950s. Experts argue that this line has been saved twice in the past decade – first by the addition of a Triple Crown RoadRailer, and then by the frac sand boom. UP has been gradually rebuilding this line and today it hosts a mix of sand and other unit trains, manifest trains, and the Triple Crown train. Although the sand business on this line has receded somewhat from its peak in 2014, UP still puts on quite a show with their long trains and distributed power. This program shows parts of three days and one night of action on UP’s Adams and Wyeville Subdivisions often referred to by railfans as the Adams Line between Wyeville and Ashippun, thirty-eight miles west of Milwaukee in April of 2015. This DVD is 76 minutes in length and can be watched with and without narration.

This video documents the recent increase in trains on the former Chicago and North Western’s Twin Cities Line, the one-time route of the “400s”. This increase is due to the amazing growth in recent years of hydraulic fracturing or fracking for oil and gas in this country. Nearly seventy percent of the sand used for fracking comes out of Wisconsin and UP handles the largest share of that sand. This historic line is now the property of Union Pacific and until recently was really treated as a secondary line by UP. Today the Adams Line sees more freight trains and much more tonnage than any time since the end of steam in the 1950s. Experts argue that this line has been saved twice in the past decade – first by the addition of a Triple Crown RoadRailer, and then by the frac sand boom. UP has been gradually rebuilding this line and today it hosts a mix of sand and other unit trains, manifest trains, and the Triple Crown train. Although the sand business on this line has receded somewhat from its peak in 2014, UP still puts on quite a show with their long trains and distributed power. This program shows parts of three days and one night of action on UP’s Adams and Wyeville Subdivisions often referred to by railfans as the Adams Line between Wyeville and Ashippun, thirty-eight miles west of Milwaukee in April of 2015. This DVD can be watched with and without narration.

Union Pacific’s line between Fresno and Bakersfield traverses America’s breadbasket - the southern half of California’s great Central Valley known as the San Joaquin Valley for the river that runs through it. This historic, former Southern Pacific line was once in SP’s San Joaquin Division and was part of the first rail line to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles. Part of UP’s Fresno Subdivision today, this line was once home to long blocks of Pacific Fruit Express reefers carrying all kinds of produce and SP’s pioneering piggyback trains. Today, UP’s Fresno Sub is populated mostly by lumber drags from Oregon and Washington, grain trains, and stack trains carrying all kinds of merchandise between Portland, the Bay Area, and Southern California. Perishable traffic has even made a small comeback with the two day a week Railex unit trains. With all scheduled freight trains having been taken off of the UP’s Coast Line between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the Fresno sub has seen an increase in train count in recent years. This program shows two and a half days of high speed action on UP’s table flat Fresno Subdivision between Fresno and Delano, thirty-three miles north of Bakersfield, in October of 2014. This program is 59 minutes in length and has the option of being watched with or without narration.

Union Pacific’s line between Fresno and Bakersfield traverses America’s breadbasket - the southern half of California’s great Central Valley known as the San Joaquin Valley for the river that runs through it. This historic, former Southern Pacific line was once in SP’s San Joaquin Division and was part of the first rail line to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles. Part of UP’s Fresno Subdivision today, this line was once home to long blocks of Pacific Fruit Express reefers carrying all kinds of produce and SP’s pioneering piggyback trains. Today, UP’s Fresno Sub is populated mostly by lumber drags from Oregon and Washington, grain trains, and stack trains carrying all kinds of merchandise between Portland, the Bay Area, and Southern California. Perishable traffic has even made a small comeback with the two day a week Railex unit trains. With all scheduled freight trains having been taken off of the UP’s Coast Line between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the Fresno sub has seen an increase in train count in recent years. This program shows two and a half days of high speed action on UP’s table flat Fresno Subdivision between Fresno and Delano, thirty-three miles north of Bakersfield, in October of 2014. This DVD is 59 minutes in length and has the option of being watched with or without narration.