some oil wells and drilling rigs to really help set the location. I was surprised at how much variety
there is to see and photograph here. Camera angles are steady and varied, and narration is noninvasive but very informative; I firmly believe you will en- joy viewing this title. Disc 2 showcases Canadian Pacific in
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scenic northwestern North Dakota. We see plenty of Bakken oil field trains, along with a good mix of road freights, in- termodals, and local trains. A nice high- light was seeing a Canadian Pacific geep and a Soo Line unit pulling a rail train. Plenty of run-through power shows up as well, including CSX, Norfolk South- ern, Kansas City Southern, and a couple of leased units for good measure. You are sure to like the footage of the Northern Plains Railroad with its fleet of former Santa Fe GPs. The Dakota, Missouri Valley & Western footage is enough to make me want to book a flight to Minot — talk about a classy looking regional railroad! The scenery here is nice and varied,
with some very enjoyable shots of trains rolling through downtown Minot that stand out as a favorite location. A par- ticular highlight is the “you have to see it to believe it” Valley City Trestle. This location is definitely on my must-see list. Plets Express is definitely on a roll
here, because Bradley Plets and his crew continue to churn out title after title that help showcase just how varied and inter- esting the Midwest and Upper Midwest rail scene truly is. With excellent cam- erawork, a wide variety of trains, and a penchant for showing the trains and the scenery they travel through to good ad- vantage, these titles are so good that just about any railfan would enjoy them. My suggestion is that you pick up both titles because there is so much variety to be seen between them. — FRANK GARON
A new DVD from A&R Productions Guilford’s East Deerfield Yard
East Deerfield, Mass., was the heart of the old Boston & Maine. It still is today for Guilford Rail System, on the crossroads of the east-west line to New York and the north-south line to Springfield, Mass., and Connecticut. One hour and 23 minutes.
Model ED-1 • $30 plus free shipping!
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ClassicRailroadVideos.com PHONE (800) 246-5898 MAIL PO Box 492, Kensington, CT 06037
goldenspikeent2014_Layout 1 5/5/2014 1:38 PM Page 1
611 Trilogy Volumes 1, 2 and 3 from Greg Scholl Video Productions, P.O. Box 123, Batavia OH 45103-0123; (513) 732-0660;
www.gregschollvideo.com. DVD set $60, Blu-ray set $75.00 plus $5.00 domestic shipping. If you want to get yourself pumped up for this year’s series of fan- trips with Norfolk & Western J-Class 611, then these are the discs for you. Having been one
of the fortunate ones to be trackside last year as she stormed up the grade over Linden Hill in Virginia, I have been ea- gerly awaiting this spring’s trips and have been busy planning my schedule to fit in as much time with her as I can get away with! This three-disc set is worth every pen-
ny of the modest asking price. It serves three different functions: (1) as an excel- lent reminder of just how fortunate we
24 APRIL 2017 •
RAILFAN.COM
are to have live mainline steam in the year 2017 and as a reminder of just how awesome the last two years of trips have been; (2) as a research guide to allow you to pick the best trackside locations for photographing this year’s season of trips; and (3) to encourage you to consid- er donating to help support the good peo- ple behind 611 so that we may continue to enjoy her for years to come. Disc 1 starts off with a review of 2015’s
series of trips. We start out in Spencer, N.C., and see 611 being prepared on the turntable and in the roundhouse. Next, we see a photographers’ special with a mixed photo freight. A restored REA truck pulls up and unloads packages in one scene that really stands out. Next, it’s the May 30 trip from Spen-
cer to Roanoke, Va.; some excellent videography is here. Then we see three days’ worth of trips over Blue Ridge and Christiansburg grades. I really enjoyed this part of this disc because it has a wide variety of scenes and we see 611 in both sunshine and rainy weather. We see plenty of N&W position light signals, which really help you feel like you’re watching scenes from the 1950s. Two video cameras were used to film this footage, and a wide variety of angles and locations are the result. Disc 2 shows the trips for May 7 and
8, 2016, as 611 once again runs east to Lynchburg and west to Walton out of Roanoke, Va. If you want to see steam working hard over some challenging grades, this is the footage for you! Disc 3 covers the excursions from Greensboro, N.C., to Roanoke and the trips from Manassas to Front Royal, Va. I was fortunate enough to be trackside for one of the Front Royal trips, and the sights and sounds are still vivid in my head nine months later. In typical Greg Scholl fashion, the vid- eography is steady, sharp, and well-com- posed with unobtrusive, yet highly infor- mative, narration. If you ask me, Greg is definitely one of the best in the field and I really appreciate his efforts to bring us some cutting-edge footage of today’s modern steam scene. Please note that while you can buy
these discs individually, it is a real bar- gain to get all three of them together for only $60 on DVD and $75 on Blu-ray. To watch 611 on a 55-inch screen in Blu-ray is nothing short of amazing. I am in awe of how far technology has come over the past few years because this is literally movie-quality footage. I hope to see you trackside for this
year’s 611 trips and I would ask you to consider riding at least one trip and do- nating to the good people that help take care of her. Please visit the website at
http://fireup611.org. For less than a tank of gas you can help keep 611 running for all of us to enjoy. — FRANK GARON
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