We
stayed a little closer to home in 2025, filming steam along with some traction
and classic diesels.
We
begin with a quick swing by the Illinois Railway Museum at Union,
Illinois. Located fifty-five miles from
Chicago, the museum is home to a large collection of operating trolleys,
interurban cars, classic diesels and steam locomotives. In 2025, J. Neils Lumber Company Shay #5 was
the only operating steam locomotive.
There is way too much to see to get a feel for the museum in a day or
two, let alone in a quick seven-minute segment!
Next
is the Monticello Railway Museum. May of
2025 introduced the “Steam and Streamliner” weekend, where both Southern
Railway #401 and Wabash F7A #1189 were pulling trains. July found #401 in cloudy and rainy weather,
and Railroad Days in September added Canadian National FP4A #6789 joined #401
and #1189.
Then
it’s on to October, where we filmed two different steam locomotives in action
on consecutive weekends.
Chattanooga,
Tennessee, found Southern Railway 2-8-2 #4501 pulling an excursion down the
former Central of Georgia line to Summerville, Georgia. It’s hard to believe the famous fantrip-hauling
Mikado is 114 years old in 2025!
A
week later, Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 #765 was pulling a series of fall colors
excursions on the former Big Four route from Pleasant Lake, Indiana, to
Hillsdale, Michigan. The excursions ran
over three consecutive days. We filmed
the train from trackside on Friday and Saturday, while riding and filming
scenes on board on the cold and rainy Sunday.
We
took note that the 765’s whistle seems to have been swapped since we last saw
her; the whistle we heard sounded like she did in her glory days of mainline
excursions in the early 1990s. She
sounded great!
It’s
a look at four steam locomotives in action along with cameos by traction and
vintage diesels filmed in five states.
After
the show is over, stick around for a short slideshow of photography taken while
the video was being shot using vintage film cameras and black & white film
for that classic steam-era look!
Running time 1 hour and 35
minutes followed by a nine-minute slideshow with sounds of the locomotives
pictured.
Copyright
2025 DVD-R only $17.00 plus shipping.
Shipped by first class mail
