Windy City Rails Vol 5 Dolton Junction DVD 5 of 5 (1)
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Dolton Junction, a busy multi-diamond crossing located 20 miles from Downtown Chicago, was a place once synonymous with railroad greats like the Pennsylvania, Chicago and Western Indiana, Missouri Pacific, Louisville and Nashville and the Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal. Times have changed, mergers have occurred and some track arrangements have been made, but one constant remains at Dolton, the endless parade of trains by this still-manned IHB interlocking tower. The Pennsylvania Panhandle Route, now mostly abandoned, has given way to the hot bottle moves of the Norfolk Southern on what little bit of this route still exists. Conrail's presence, which was commonly found on the tracks of the Indiana Harbor Belt have also given way to trains of the NS. Missouri Pacific's merger has made their rails now those of Class 1 giant Union Pacific, as they now run the route that was once MoPac/L&N (nee-Chicago and Eastern Illinois) and C&WI. L&N and B&OCT moves are now under the umbrella of CSX, and account for many moves seen on a variety of routes through the busy plant. The Indiana Harbor Belt, which has resisted the change that many other routes have had, was and still is a very busy line, mingling their own traffic with hosted moves from CSX, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern and even shortline Chicago, Ft. Wayne and Eastern. Dolton's close proximity to UP's Yard Center, CSX's Barr Yard and IHB's Blue Island Yard assists in making this place an outstanding hotspot. Throw in pooled and run-thru power from Santa Fe, BNSF, KCS, FerroMex, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific and the Indiana Railroad's use of Montana Rail Link power and you will witness firsthand why this location is a railfan's paradise. While the look of railroading on the southside of Chicago has changed drastically over the years, the countless parade of trains pounding Dolton's diamonds certainly have not join us in this look at Dolton Junction in C. Vision's Windy City Rails Volume 5!
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DVD Item#:
WC5DVD
Runtime:
2 Hours, 00 Mins ($0.22/min)
Producer:
C Vision Productions
Aspect Ratio:
Full Screen
Shrink Wrapped?:
No, but security sealed
Disc Type:
DVD
Region Code:
0 Worldwide NTSC
ITEM NOTES REGARDING THIS PRODUCER
Most of the DVDs from this producer are not shrink-wrapped, but they do include a security seal either on the top or all three sides of the case.
Windy City Rails Vol 5 Dolton Junction DVD
armchairrailfan on 2009-06-23 23:44:40.
People who found this review helpful: 2
5 of 5
This is the fifth of a multi-volume DVD series covering railroad hot spots in the Chicago IL area.
<p>Dolton Junction is the hottest of railfan hot spots in the Chicago area. Located on the south side of Chicago, it is right next to the Dolton City Hall and Police Department. And yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus! The Dolton Police are railfan friendly. You can park in the City Hall parking lot while you watch trains. In fact, don't wander across the tracks...the Police will quickly tell you to either return to the City Hall parking lot or leave. Dolton Junction serves well over a hundred trains a day. Dolton Junction is used by CSX, CF&E, IHB, NS and UP. And you can expect to see power from just about every railroad that runs into Chicago, along with run-through power from many other lines.
<p>Early in the video, we see one of the NS “Bottle Trains” hauling molten steel between the former LTV now Arcelor-Mittal Steel in East Chicago and a mill in Riverside. This scene is repeated several times throughout the video. And we see a CN train with 2 of the “Draper Taper” cowl units. We see many trains running to or from UP's yard that is just to the south of the junction, CSX's Yard to the northwest and IHB's yard a mile or two to the west. A special unexpected treat for me was the Finger Lakes Railroad geep painted in the New York Central lightning stripe scheme.
<p>Narration is minimal and sufficient. Unfortunately, there are no train symbol markers showing the origin and destination of the trains. The photography is excellent, the only way it could be better would be the 16X9 Widescreen format (Hint, Hint, C Vision!). This video is two hours of non-stop action. The kids may or may not like this one – it is a bit slow moving but there are a lot of loud horns. This DVD is a “Must Have” for anyone that likes to see a lot of trains.
Additional remarks by armchairrailfan: Narration:Just enough. Would kids enjoy this?Maybe. Image quality:Excellent! DVD Value:Excellent Value! Recommend to others?A "Must Have"!
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