VIDEO REVIEWS
614 Revival, 614 Encore, and 614 Coal Trains Greg Scholl Video Productions, P.O. Box 123, Batavia, OH, 45103-0123;
www.gregscholl
video.com. Revival (70 min.), Encore (51 min.), Coal Trains (78 min.), DVD only, standard definition. Each program $30.00 plus $5.00 shipping, or all three for $66.14 plus shipping. OH residents add sales tax.
The 614 Encore program covers more
runs of the Chessie Safety Express. First is the trip from Cincinnati to Louisville with the first location at Bank Lick Creek trestle, a beautiful, spindly curved steel affair. After 614 stalls just west of the trestle, it is caught twice more on the grade and exiting two tun- nels. A ferry run from Cincinnati to Colum- bus provides nice runbys. A Richmond to Clifton Forge ferry move goes over Afton Mountain on a crystal clear fall day. Anoth- er westbound run in the New River Gorge in sun provides more rare shots. Last up are 1981’s four Huntington-Hinton round trips over three sunny, cool days. The usual spots are visited but the Hawks Nest overlooks are added along with different angles at Thurmond, Kanawha Falls, and Chelyan. January 1985 saw No. 614T (“T” for test)
A mere 31 years ago, the big story in eastern main line steam action was newly restored Chesapeake & Ohio No. 614, a Lima 4-8-4 built in 1948. The 614 and the Chessie Safe- ty Express barnstormed the system in 1980 and 1981 with a matched passenger train, spreading goodwill and taking the public on a variety of spectacular excursions. In Janu- ary 1985, No. 614 pulled coal trains over the former C&O between Huntington and Hin- ton,
W.Va., to obtain data for the ACE 3000, a proposed modern, coal-fired steam locomo- tive which never was built. This video trilo- gy brings us back to the days when Lima Su- per Power ran flat out on the main line and struggled mightily to cross the Alleghenies. The 614 Revival program starts with a
brief history of the locomotive and its restoration. Then at trackside at a variety of classic locations including Harpers Ferry, Seventeen Mile grade at Luke Viaduct (the exhaust cadence is cut in half as the grade starts), then some great runbys on Sand Patch grade. On trips west from Richmond we see good starts at Gladstone, Va., a slow march up a Blue Ridge grade and on the fer- ry move to Huntington, rare westbound-in- the-sun shots in the New River Gorge (the latter, unfortunately, are stills, but very good ones). The Huntington to Hinton round trips are covered eastbound only, due to the night-time return runs. Over four days and in varying weather conditions, 614 is seen at Barboursville, Hurricane, St. Albans, Charleston , Thurmond, Prince, and Quinni- mont,
W.Va. The runbys at Thurmond, Quinnimont Tower and the Prince station are excellent time warps. The last day was crystal clear, with a long start at St. Albans, arriving West Handley with the yard and river visible, and Thurmond, again. Many scenes include signal bridges and other structures now long gone. Two runs east from Cincinnati to Russell, Ky., are next. Ex- cellent sequences show the climb up to the Ohio River bridge, running fast along the river, meeting Amtrak’s westbound Cardi- nal, and westbound shots in the afternoon. The absolute best footage, shot only by
the Scholl brothers, was on the eastbound deadhead run up Cranberry grade. Starting near Amblersburg,
W.Va., many, many run- bys show the engine on its hands and knees, a certain stall if it weren’t for the booster working continuously. Excellent sights and sounds. Notice the engineer standing up, ready to close the throttle quickly should the engine slip when wide open. Miraculously, even when crawling along, 614 never loses its feet. Great, exclusive coverage.
running between Huntington and Hinton on alternate days in sometimes abysmal weather, but there are two major sunny spells. Snow is on the ground at Hawk’s Nest and east. Due to the short daylight hours and the train leaving westbound be- fore dawn, shooting locations were restrict- ed. Even so, on several days the normal pho- to haunts are visited. The mostly hand-held camera work varies from very good to jerky, but there are some great sound clips, such as the echoes below Hawks Nest. These were rare operations, witnessed by too few, that will not reoccur. This is the only commercial video on this subject that I am aware of. The quality of the Super 8 sound movies
which were the source of the Revival and Encore programs, and the recent, exceeding- ly high quality video transfers employ the latest digital enhancement techniques not only rivals many 16mm originals, but ex- ceeds the quality of much 16mm footage shot in the glory days of steam many decades prior. The sharpness and color across the frame is superb. This is a new era of small format film transfer capability and we hope to see more examples. Super-8 Ko- dachrome film shot in good cameras certain- ly exceeded the quality of the video equip- ment available to mere mortals at the time. The composition, set-ups on grades and high speed corridors, and camera work are very fine throughout all three programs, with a few minor exceptions. Sound quality and the transfer are very good to excellent. Since movies were not shot at all locations on all trips (due to weather, mostly), scanned slides fill in as needed and also set the scene as trips are introduced. This is a nice con- cept and the stills are generally excellent — I wish they had been on screen longer. Fast forward to 1985 and we are in the consumer grade movie-to-video transition period. Professional-grade video gear cost a fortune then and was very difficult to lug around, so this video was shot in VHS. The sharpness and color accuracy is materially lower than that of the Super 8 films, but the sound is great. Since the coal train content is most rare, forgive the technical limitations and enjoy the images and sound, where end- less smoke plumes fill the sky. These three programs bring back a lot of
happy memories and are well worth the en- try fee for anyone who would like to know what this grand locomotive, now resting on display in West Virginia, sounded and looked like when it worked on home rails. Buying the package of all three DVDs is a good deal, since you get the third program for only $6.14. — TOM KELCEC
Capitol Limited, 20th Century Limited, Broadway Limited, Cali- fornia Zephyr, Hiawatha, 400, and City of Denver. Included are maps, station drawings, timetables and promotional advertising. 128 pages softbound. $29.95 plus $6 shipping
by John Luecke - Published by Grenadier Publications. 200 pages, 400 photographs and more than a dozen maps illustrate the rich history of this classic railroad within the Gopher State. $51.00 plus $6 shipping
More Chicago Great Western in Minnesota
ILLINOIS RESIDENTS ADD 9.25% TAX
CNWHS-R, PO Box 1068, North Riverside, IL 60546 order online at
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Erie and DL&W
Wreck Trains by Ron Dukarm Available through the
Erie Lackawanna Historical Society
Chicago Stations & Trains Chicago's six major railroad stations and the trains that served them. Includ- ed are Dearborn Station, Grand Central Station, Central Station, La Salle Street Station, North Western Station, and Union Station featuring Super Chief,
This 100 page, five chapter spiral bound book includes 153 photos of Lackawanna, Erie, and EL wreck cranes and their associated equipment. Most of these photographs are being published for the first time. The book also includes 36 drawings and equipment charts. Ron thoroughly covers the complete roster of wrecking cranes, wreck trains, and wrecking procedures of all three railroads. Ron also provides the first ever explanation of Erie's mysterious Maintenance Of Way numbering system.
Member price plus $8.95 s&h
www.erielackhs.org $1696
US Funds Only Visit us online at Dealer Inquiries Welcome
Order from: ELHS, Department RF Jay Held, 10-10 ELLIS AVE, FAIR LAWN, N.J. 07410 No phone calls will be accepted For information send SASE
N.J., PA & Ohio res. add sales tax. Outside US extra s&h.
ELHS membership at $35 per membership cycle. Cycle includes four issues of our magazine “The Diamond” and four newsletters with modeling
information. Separate check please. Send to: ELHS c/o Randy Dettmer, 290 W. Prospect St., Hudson, OH 44236
49
Non-member price $1995
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