2018 was difficult year for big steam, as an Amtrak policy change in late March effectively ended mainline excursions for many locomotives. Nonetheless, a number of big locomotives were still running and we traveled across the country "In Search of Steam" in order to film five of them in action. Our first stop was Chattanooga, Tennessee in mid-March, where Southern Railway 2-8-0 #630 and 2-8-2 #4501 doubleheaded on a short freight train during a 2-day photo charter at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.
Next we traveled to Cheyenne, Wyoming in July to see Union Pacific 4-8-4 #844 pull the Cheyenne Frontier Days Train for, what ended up being, the last time. Sadly, the long running annual excursion was discontinued the following year. Then in September we visited Chicago, Illinois for a weekend of ‘Joliet Rocket' excursions with Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 #765 on Metra's Rock Island Line. This was the second straight year #765 ran these half-day trips, which featured open vestibules and 60mph running. After the excursions, we chased #765 on the ferry move back to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
This program concludes the following weekend with 2 locomotives in action. We visited eastern Pennsylvania on Saturday September 22nd to see Reading & Northern 4-6-2 #425 on an excursion from Mountain Top to Jim Thorpe, including an unassisted run up the grade on the return trip. Then the following day we traveled west to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, as #765 pulled a couple of short excursions out of Akron, Ohio during the annual 'Steam in the Valley' event.
Filmed entirely in HD, this video showcases five big steam locomotives working hard, including some high-speed running and great stack talk. This program has minimal narration (with the option to turn it on or off) and no distracting music.
In addition to the standard widescreen DVD, this program is also available on HD Blu-ray disc.
Running Time: 102 minutes
(plus 9 minutes of previews)
Next we traveled to Cheyenne, Wyoming in July to see Union Pacific 4-8-4 #844 pull the Cheyenne Frontier Days Train for, what ended up being, the last time. Sadly, the long running annual excursion was discontinued the following year. Then in September we visited Chicago, Illinois for a weekend of ‘Joliet Rocket' excursions with Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 #765 on Metra's Rock Island Line. This was the second straight year #765 ran these half-day trips, which featured open vestibules and 60mph running. After the excursions, we chased #765 on the ferry move back to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
This program concludes the following weekend with 2 locomotives in action. We visited eastern Pennsylvania on Saturday September 22nd to see Reading & Northern 4-6-2 #425 on an excursion from Mountain Top to Jim Thorpe, including an unassisted run up the grade on the return trip. Then the following day we traveled west to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, as #765 pulled a couple of short excursions out of Akron, Ohio during the annual 'Steam in the Valley' event.
Filmed entirely in HD, this video showcases five big steam locomotives working hard, including some high-speed running and great stack talk. This program has minimal narration (with the option to turn it on or off) and no distracting music.
In addition to the standard widescreen DVD, this program is also available on HD Blu-ray disc.
Running Time: 102 minutes
(plus 9 minutes of previews)
Customer Reviews
👍 17 found this helpful
- 5 of 5
i ordered this and watched it last monday and this was another excellent video from steam train videos in search of steam vol.2 looks at five steam engines that operated during the 2018 season (the 2018 season wasn't the best due to the policy amtrak put out which i'm hoping it's gone) there was still plenty of steam operations for the year the video starts with a vist to the tennessee valley railroad museum chattanooga tennessee with both the museum's operating steam locomotives southern consolidation 630 and mikado 4501 on a 2 day photo charter fright train in mid march with the charter on the museum grounds in front of grand junction and latter heading towards east chattanooga for the first day the next day the train would head towards summerville georgia on the former central of georgia mainline with many locations providing a great scene the last segment for the photo charter looks at the 4501 on the train running solo in trion georgia the next segment follows union pacific northern 844 on the cheyenne frontier days trains in july unknown at the time this would be the last run of the frontier days train and was discontinued the following year and during the trip a women was struck and killed by the 844 (for standing on the tracks taking video of the engine) but 844 provides a great run the next part of the video looks at nickel plate road berkshire 765 on the joliet rocket excursions in september for the second straight year running from joliet illinois to chicago's lasalle street station on the former rock island line now owned by metra with the berkshire providing great 60mph running and lots of activates at the lasalle street station after the joliet rocket trips there's a look at the 765 on the ferry move back to fort wayne indiana which would run on the former nickel plate road mainline and there's a short look of the 765 on a dinner train on the cuyahoga valley scenic railroad after the 765 there's a vist to eastern pennsylvania to see reading & northern pacific 425 on an excursion on september 22nd named the mountain top excursions which would operate from mountain top to jim thorpe which would run on the former lehigh valley mainline with the 425 on an 8 car train and the axuilary water tender and a diesel helper (for the downhill trip there was no need for a diesel helper for the uphill trip) the mighty pacific puts on a grand show with this trip the video than concludes with another look at the 765 the following day on the cuyahoga valley scenic railroad pulling trips out of akron ohio for the steam in the valley event over all this was a another spectacular video in my review of the first vol i was hoping there would be a second vol and i'm glad that there is and this was as great as the first vol both vol's are highly recommended for steam fans as both provide great action of steam action
Additional comments:
Narration: Just enough.
Would kids enjoy this? Maybe.
Image quality: Excellent!
Value: Excellent value!
Recommend? Definitely.
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