Great American Scenic Railroads | Various

Great American Scenic Railroads | Various | Great American Scenic Railroads is a decent collection of previously published videos

DVDs:

Great American Sce...

	Great American Scenic Railroads Various Questar, 2004 average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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Catch an unforgettable glimpse into America?s storied past as you ride the rails on these rolling museums of steam and steel. DISC 1: CONTINENTAL DIVIDE - The Canadian Rockies have never been captured so beautifully as you ride through the vistas of Lake Louise and Banff on VIA?s famous Canadian. DONNER SUMMIT - The treacherous and beautiful 8,000 foot summit of Donner?s peak stands watch over Donner?s Pass in the Sierra Nevada mountains ? one of the most difficult climbs in American railroading. DISC 2: THE SURFLINE - A whistle-stop tour of spectacular scenic stretches of sun-drenched Southern California coast that begins in Los Angeles and winds its way down to San Diego. CALIFORNIA WESTERN - Redwood forests, the Pacific coastline, the Sierra Nevada Range and the infamous Donner?s Pass ? a once-in-a-lifetime whistle stop tour of the California Western Railroad. DISC 3: THE BLUE MOUNTAINS - The 200 hard miles of track cross Oregon?s valleys, rivers and creeks, and then climbs three summits ? the toughest grades on any of Union Pacific?s routes. MT. RAINIER - The logging railroads are re-lived in the forested Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest. DISC 4: GREAT MISSISSIPPI - The Soo Line, Burlington Northern, Chicago & Western, Minnesota & Eastern, and Dakota storm their way through the upper Mississippi Valley. SHENANDOAH - Visit Virginia?s fabled Shenandoah Valley in diesel-powered work horses that still punch a clock for the Winchester & Western Railroad. DISC 5: DURANGO & SILVERTON - Chasms and curves, crevasses, gorges and perilous passes. Take a thrill ride on one of the most spectacular train lines in the country. CUMBRES & TOLTEC - Climb aboard Mikado Steam Locomotive No. 488 for a historic ride on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad over the dramatic landscape of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. DISC 6: RIO GRANDE - Cool trains, passenger trains, freight trains and winter ski trains ? one of the most remarkable journeys in the U.S. on the Denver Rio Grande Western. UNION PACIFIC -Climb aboard Locomotive No. 3967, a coal-burning Challenger equipped with "elephant ear" smoke deflectors, on its 40th Anniversary Steam Excursion run from Denver to Laramie, Wyoming.

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A Must Own Collection

I love scenic DVDs. I hoped this would be a DVD set that would put me in the seat of various scenic train routes and allow me to ooh and aah at the beautiful sights passing by. However, this DVD package does not do that. Instead, it does something I enjoyed just as much. These DVDs show you detailed footage of day to day operations of various train routes, mostly from outside the train. You will see a little bit of everything including track repairs, snow clearing and such. The quality of the footage is excellent. The narration is perfect. It is detailed but not annoying or full of tech talk that no one but railway fanatics would understand. The sound is also extremely good. Make no doubt, the scenery is beautiful. In fact, most of the footage is what I would describe as awesome. It more than took care of my desire to see scenic footage. This DVD package definitely needs to be part of your collection if you enjoy watching or riding trains. I HIGHLY recommend.

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Great American Scenic Railroads is a decent collection of previously published videos

"Great American Scenic Railroads" is a 6-DVD set with about 12 hours of rail video. Each DVD typically contains two one-hour programs. The words "scenic" and "journeys" on the cover suggest passenger and/or excursion trains, but about half of the video is freight operations. That's OK by me, as I like both. The freight action is a mix of vintage and contemporary, and the passenger is a mix of excursion and Amtrak. The video quality is first rate, and the mix of narration and natural sound is quite good. So this collection has a lot of positives.

But this Questar product is--perhaps in its entirety--a remix of previously published material. This fact is not mentioned anywhere in the online details or on the jacket or liner notes. Here's where eight of the twelve hours were previously seen:

"Continental Divide" is Wild Rose Productions' "VIA Rail Across Canada."
"Donner Summit" was previously released by Pentrex.
"Surfline" was released by Video Rails in 1993.
"Blue Mountains" is the first hour from Pentrex's "The Blue Mountains Combo."
"Great Mississippi" is an edited portion of Pentrex's "Winter on the Upper Mississippi.
"Shenandoah" is in part the Pentrex video "Winchester and Western."
"Rio Grande" and "Union Pacific" are both Pentrex products.

In some cases, the video footage credits the prior publisher; but in other cases there is no such credit.

Don't get me wrong....the video is of high quality, and this is an excellent "collection." After all, Pentrex, Video Rails, and Wild Rose do great work. But I would have appreciated being told in advance that this collection "contained previously-released video."

If you already have a modest railfan library, be prepared to duplicate some of your current holdings. This risk of duplication makes the video less a bargain than it might have been.

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