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Privately run intercity passenger service in Milwaukee was a thing of the past by early 1971. The Federal government had formed Amtrak to remove the burden of passenger service from the railroads and insure that core passenger routes remained active. By May 1st, when Amtrak rolled into Milwaukee, things had changed. Milwaukee Road"s Hiawatha and C&NW"s bi-level Streamliners were out, but Amtrak"s Empire Builder was in. Direct rail service was now available all the way to Seattle, but one could no longer travel to Green Bay! All passenger service on C&NW rails was gone, but Amtrak did pick up some Chicago-Milwaukee trains over Milwaukee Road rails. These new trains looked different, too. Amtrak paint was months away and its first units were made up of mismatched heritage cars and engines that earned them the nickname "Rainbow" trains (BN green, GN orange and blue, Milwaukee yellow, Burlington silver, NP greens, and others). Their classic motive power included E-9s, F-3s, F-7s, and F-9s.
Empire Builders to Milwaukee takes you back to the six months preceding and following the start of Amtrak service in Milwaukee. You"ll view the Morning Hiawatha and the C&NW bi-level Streamliners during their last winter and spring of operations as well as Amtrak"s new Empire Builder and Chicago-Milwaukee corridor service. Also making appearances are freights (many pulled by venerable GP35s and GP9s) on the Milwaukee Road and Soo Line, the commuter Cannonball, and specials including Amtrak"s Turbo Train on its national tour and the Great Circus Train of 1971. These exciting scenes were filmed at Oconomowoc, Pewaukee, Duplainville, Brookfield, Elm Grove, Wauwatosa, Oak Creek, West Bend, and other Milwaukee metro areas. There"s plenty to enjoy in this fascinating tribute to Amtrak"s early Empire Builders!
DVD Special Features:
Chapter Menu provides instant access to program segments.
Audio Feature provides the option of watching the program with or without narration.
50 Minutes In Color with Hi-Fi Sound and Narration Full-screen (4x3) Format No region code; can be played in any NTSC DVD player worldwide Packaged in Sturdy Vinyl Clamshell Case ISBN: 1-56342-201-8 UPC: 7-48268-00484-1
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DVD Item#:
EMPIRE-DVD
Runtime:
50 Mins ($0.48/min)
Producer:
Pentrex
Aspect Ratio:
Full Screen
DVD UPC:
748268004841
Shrink Wrapped?:
Yes
Disc Type:
DVD
Region Code:
0 Worldwide NTSC
Empire Builders to Milwaukee DVD
Jeffrey Ornstein on 2008-03-31 22:02:38.
People who found this review helpful: 1
5 of 5
Lots of early Amtrak "Rainbow" consists await you in this video of vintage footage of various local and long distance passenger trains. It's mainly trackside footage, but if you like mis-matched passenger trains, as was the norm in in the early 70's, then you will definitely find this video of interest. There's also some freight action as well as an interesting look at a circus train.
Empire Builders to Milwaukee DVD
Steamboy (Revere MA US) on 2018-01-22 08:29:47.
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5 of 5
This 2006 dvd features the transition of fallen flag passenger trains with a great variety of early diesels, as well as some well done sound recorded from these rare 16mm films. This was the only pentrex dvd to feature 12 previews! Overall Dave Drui did a fine narration and yes you can turn it off to listen to the rare sound films as well.
Additional remarks by Steamboy: Narration:Way too much! Narration CAN be turned off in special features. Would kids enjoy this?Yes. Image quality:A little rough around the edges. DVD Value:Excellent Value! Recommend to others?A "Must Have"!
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5 of 5 (
