America by Rail, Volume 1*** - Capitol Limited, Washington, DC to Chicago/Union Station; California Zephyr, Chicago/Union to Station-Oakland. Program also included coverage of The Potomac Eagle, The Strasburg Railroad, The Ohio Central Railroad, Boone Scenic Railroad, Durango & Silverton Railroad, The Heber Creeper, Virginia & Truckee Railroad, Big Trees & Roaring Camp Railroad, and The Santa Cruz, Big Trees, & Pacific Railroad. This tape was good. Many good chase shots, aerial shots. Good sound. The music was a bit corny at times.

America By Rail, Volume 2** - The San Diegan, San Diego to Los Angeles; The Coast Starlight, Los Angeles-Seattle. Also covered the Tijuana Trolley, the Yosemite Valley Railroad, the Napa Valley Wine Train, and the California Western Railroad. Good railfan-oriented program covering the West Coast.

The Great Trans-American Train Ride (A Doug Jones Travel Video) - The Broadway Limited, New York-Philadelphia-Chicago; The California Zephyr, Chicago-Salt Lake City; The Desert Wind, Salt Lake City-Los Angeles. More of a travel program than a railroad program. Cheesy music. Extremely affected. Not for railfans.

Railscapes/A 9,000 Mile Photographic Odyssey*** - The Capitol Limited, Alliance, OH to Washington, DC; Montrealer, Washington, DC to Montpelier, VT; Adirondack, Plattsburgh to Poughkeepsie (including a brief Turbo Train Cab Ride); Lake Shore Limited, Poughkeepsie to Chicago; California Zephyr, Chicago to Salt Lake City; Coast Starlight, Los Angeles to Portland; The Desert Wind, Salt Lake City to Fullerton; The San Diegan, Fullerton to Oceanside; The San Diegan, Oceanside to Los Angeles; Coast Starlight, Los Angeles to Portland; Empire Builder, Portland to Chicago; The Broadway Limited, Chicago to Alliance, OH. A program for serious railfans. Nothing but trains. The music was a bit too much on the sleepy side.

Hudson River Railroading: The River Line** Weehawken, NJ to Selkirk, NY. With cab rides, run-bys, historical footage, and interviews with railroaders who've worked the line, this show has plenty of interesting information. The folk music is a bit out of place, since most of the focus is on modern railroading. Actual train sounds might have better.

The Rockies By Rail - A trip aboard American Orient Express, Denver-Salt Lake City-Yellowstone National Park (Pocatello? Idaho Falls?)-Portland, OR. This tape has interesting shots from a camera that must have been mounted near or on the engine's front coupler during the train's ascent of the Front Range. I would like to have seen more! The tape, however, is in general much more about the sights along the way rather than it is about the American Orient Express or the railroads of the The Rocky Mountains. Essentially, the presentation seems to be a promotional piece for the American Orient Express. It is aimed at upscale travelers with only a passing interest in railroading.

All Aboard! Passenger Trains In America*** Nothing but trains here. A very broad overview of American passenger trains past and present. A very interesting mix of music. A good tape.

Love Those Trains! - National Geographic Videos* - General historical roundup of American railroads.

Railroad Video Productions, Volume 15*** - The Yankee Clipper. This was a cab ride on a trip from NYC/Penn Station to New Haven, CT aboard an AEM-7. It was shot during the '80s. It's an interesting ride, but it's definitely time to re-shoot the same trip, and this time from an Acela power unit. A good tape for serious railfans. Nothing but natural cab sounds and an extra wide view from the AEM-7's large cab windows. Cameraman provides brief factual details.

Railroad Video Productions, Volume 22* - The Lake Shore Limited. This excellent cab ride aboard an FL-9 from Croton/Harmon, NY to Grand Central Terminal was mired only by frequent slow orders and a limited forward view. Great sound.

Great American Steam Trains***
Cumbres & Toltec Railroad

Great American Steam Trains***
Cass Scenic Railroad & Illinois Traction Museum

Great American Steam Trains***
George Loop Railroad

Great American Train Rides, Volume 1*** Yreka Western R.R., Virginia & Truckee R.R., Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge RR, Manitou & Pikes Peak Ry., Georgetown Loop R.R. Also covers Portola Railroad Museum, Nevada Northern Railway Museum, and the Golden Spike National Historic Site. Excellent picture and sound. A generous amount of subject material for a 60 minute program.

America's Scenic Rail Journeys/The Adirondack Interesting general travel tape, but most of the focus is on the stops along the way rather than the train ride itself. Some railfans may find all the off-train "sightseeing" disappointing.

America's Scenic Rail Journeys/The Canadian Rockies (sic) - The Skeena, Jasper-Prince Rupert. As in the case of this same series' treatment of Amtrak's Adirondack, there is too much time spent "off" the train at the stops along the way. This makes the program a travel promo more than a railfan program. It does have some awesome aerial shots.

The Great Canadian Train Ride (A Doug Jones Travel Video) - The Canadian, Toronto to Vancouver via Jasper. Another cheesy treatment of what should be a great railroad subject. Its affectation makes the jprogram downright silly. The serious railfan, and by my guess most any insightful traveler, will be disappointed by this pretentious production. Awful music.

British Rail Journeys Slow paced, and frequently off the topic of the trains themselves, these tapes will appeal predominantly to the thoughtful traveler with only a general interest in English passenger trains. The music is extraordinarily tedious.

-Northern England, Settle to Carlisle*
-South West, Exeter to Penzance

Great Railway Journeys*
Ireland, Derry To Kerry. Not bad, but the focus is less on trains than on Ireland's culture and political issues. It also gets a bit sentimental. The program's narrator is Michael Palin of Monty Python fame.

European Rail Journeys - Austria By Rail Vienna to Bregenz. This is really just another travel video with very little in-depth coverage of Austrian passenger trains. It does feature some good shots of Austria's mountainous scenery.

Great Railway Journeys - Capetown To The Lost City This program is more about the political climate of the new South Africa than trains. The narrator even ridicules train watchers, which is entirely inappropriate, given the subject of the tape.

The Indian Railway, National Geographic Videos** - Darjeeling Toy Train & Others. A brief and extremely thoughtful examination of both the railways and, more decidely, the culture of India. But what else would one expect from National Geographic? It's a truly fascinating presentation.

Australian Railway Adventures This well-produced series provides an interesting, detailed introduction to some of Australia's best-known passenger trains.

-XPT, Melbourne-Sydney**
-XPT, Brisbane-Sydney*
-The Ghan, Adelaide-Alice Springs*
-The Queenslander, Brisbane-Cairns***
-"Three Trains North": The Spirit of the Outback, Brisbane-Longreach; The Savannahlander, Cairns-Forsayth; The Gulflander, Normanton-Croydon***

Around The World in 80 Days (with Michael Palin), Parts 1 & II These two tapes document Mr. Palin's successful 1980s circumnavigation of the world in under 80 days. He made the journey following the path of Jules Vernes' Phineas Fogg, and, like Fogg, Palin went solely by surface conveyances. While not exactly a program for railfans, the program featured quite a few train interesting rides.

Venice Simplon Orient Express, London-Venice
Bombay-Madras; Hong Kong-Shanghai; Shinkansen, Osaka-Tokyo/Ueno; The San Diegan, San Diego-Los Angeles; The Desert Wind, Los Angeles-Salt Lake City; California Zephyr, Salt Lake City-Glenwood Springs (stopover)-Chicago; The Lake Shore Limited, Chicago-New York/Grand Central Terminal;
Southhampton-London

Lurking railroad video producers, take note!

Dave

That "Great Canadian Train Ride" was awful, I thought. I generally don't wear a bow tie and pretend I'm Harry Connick, Jr. just because I'm taking a train trip. And how about that music! It sounded like it was from Bugs Bunny! Is that Doug Jones like the "Mister Rogers of Rail Travel?"

Dave

One disappointment -- after watching that video and seeing the bellman from the Royal York wheel the baggage cart across the street for some passengers, full of their suitcases and luggage, I thought I would get the same service in 1999 when I rode the Canadian. I checked out of the Royal York, and the bellman did carry my suitcase across the street, but didn't use the big wheeled luggage cart. Oh well.....