This program was a quarter-century in the making, featuring footage shot from 1985 to 2010. 65 different locomotives are featured; many that run today and many more that no longer run.
Footage is organized by year, running in chronological order beginning in 1985. Narration is kept to a minimum, with titles and graphics presenting basic information and allowing for much faster pacing.
Featured locomotives in order of appearance: 1. Crab Orchard & Egyptian 2-8-0 #17 2. Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 #765 3. Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 #611 4. Louisville & Nashville 4-6-2 #152 5. St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern 2-4-2 #5 6. French Lick, West Baden & Southern 2-6-0 #97 7. Western Indiana Aggregate & Stone 0-4-0 #1 8. Republic Steel 0-6-0 #191 9. Norfolk & Western 2-6-6-4 #1218 10. Union Pacific 4-8-4 #8444/844 11. St. Louis & San Francisco 4-8-2 #1522 12. Nickel Plate Road 2-8-2 #587 13. J. Neils Lumber Company Shay #5 14. St. Louis & San Francisco 2-10-0 #1630 15. Tuskegee Railroad 2-6-2 #101 16. St. Louis Southwestern 4-8-4 #819 17. Allegheny Central 4-6-2 #1238 18. Baldwin Locomotive Works 0-6-0 #26 19. Canadian National 2-8-2 #3254 20. Blue Mountain & Reading 4-6-2 #425 21. Wilmington & Western 4-4-0 #97 22. East Broad Top 2-8-2 #12 23. East Broad Top 2-8-2 #14 24. East Broad Top 2-8-2 #15 25. East Broad Top 2-8-2 #17 26. Kentucky Central 2-6-2 #11 27. Tennessee Valley Railroad 2-8-0 #610 28. Western Coal & Coke 4-6-0 #1 29. Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 #2317 30. Blue Mountain & Reading 4-8-4 #2102 31. New Hope & Ivyland 2-8-0 #40 32. Gettysburg Railroad 4-6-2 #1278 33. Grand Canyon Railway 2-8-0 #18 34. Grand Canyon Railway 2-8-0 #29 35. Durango & Silverton 2-8-2 #473 36. Durango & Silverton 2-8-2 #482 37. Durango & Silverton 2-8-2 #480 38. Durango & Silverton 2-8-2 #476 39. Cumbers & Toltec 2-8-2 #487 40. Union Pacific 4-6-6-4 #3985 41. Strasburg Rail Road 2-10-0 #90 42. Strasburg Rail Road 2-6-0 #89 43. Southern Railway 2-8-2 #4501 44. Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 #261 45. Soo Line 2-8-2 #1003 46. Northern Pacific 4-6-0 #328 47. Ohio Central 4-6-0 #1551 48. Ohio Central 4-6-2 #1293 49. Strasburg Rail Road 4-8-0 #475 50. Cass Scenic Railroad Shay #2 51. Western Maryland Shay #6 52. Western Maryland Scenic 2-8-0 #734 53. Surry, Sussex & Southampton 2-6-0 #6 54. West Side Lumber Company Shay #9 55. Ohio Central 4-8-4 #6325 56. Pere Marquette 2-8-4 #1225 57. Southern Pacific 2-8-2 #745 58. Iowa Interstate 2-10-2 #6988 59. Iowa Interstate 2-10-2 #7081 60. Denver & Rio Grand Western 2-8-2 #464 61. Southern Pacific 4-8-4 #4449 62. Central Pacific 4-4-0 #63 63. Santa Fe 4-6-2 #3415 64. Black Hills Central 2-6-6-2T #110 65. Southern Railway 2-8-0 #401
Photographers with Diverging Clear Productions have a combined 98 years experience shooting video in the field, and it took ten months or combing through footage to find the highlights of hundreds of hours of videotape. Footage was shot in 23 states.