Southern Railway "Opportunity on the Hoof", (28 mins. 22 sec) Produced by the Southern's Department of Agri-business, the video describes the different organizations that buy, sell and process meat between the field and consumers' dinner tables. The video explains how much of the profit each step takes, and how farmers can have a larger share of that profit. It introduces “Big John” hopper cars (behind two F unit diesels) in several day and night run-by sequences, being loaded and a comparison to shipping grain in box cars. The video includes rare views of Southern's Agri-business bus being used to visit farmers already taking advantage of lower grain shipping costs.
“Paced to Live”, (17 mins. 30 sec) Released by the Southern, this grade crossing safety film was produced by the Great Northern in the mid sixties. Its somber tone, apparently directed toward high school age drivers, includes several run-by scenes of GN passenger trains led by SDP diesels, freight trains and nice summer and winter views from cabs passing 40 foot box cars and semaphore signals.
“Coupler Reprocessing” (10 mins. 39 sec) This color video was produced by the Southern Mechanical Department. It begins with on-board and aerial views of a Southern Railway freight train and proceeds to describe how draft gear components have to be strengthened by tempering by heating and quenching coupler castings. The film was produced to showcase Hayne Shop's new facility for saving the Southern one million dollars a year by refurbishing and re-using couplers. “Traction Motor Flashover” (14 mins. 35 sec) Produced by the Service Department at EMD, this training film discusses the causes of diesel traction motor flashovers, how much damage they can cause and what is required to repair them. A demonstration set-up at EMD shows flashovers recorded by high speed cameras. The only “train” scene is at the very end of the video, showing a Santa Fe passenger train crossing the IHB at McCook, IL very close to the EMD plant.
“Sonicar” (9 mins. 44 sec) This advertising video was produced by Cardwell Westinghouse to show the features of their “Sonicar” brake system. The system used transducers, a speed sensor, an additional air tank and control circuits to apply a free rolling car's brakes before coupling to another car. Although surely not intended, the video shows the system's complexity and may explain why the Southern never adopted it beyond an experiment.
Set 2, Disk 2 “Off The Hook” (16 mins. 14 sec) “Off the Hook” was produced by the Southern Railway Operating Department. It uses a father-son conversation to explain how transportation in the south was changing and how the Southern “came out fighting” with new locomotives and freight cars. The video includes scenes of NW-2 and slug units switching, Big John hoppers, hogshead “Big Boy” tobacco cars, bulkhead flats, all-door cars 9935 and 9803 going over a hump, open bi-levels auto racks, F units on piggyback, new cushioned under-frame cars and rough coupling examples on regular under-frame cars.
“Piggy-Back Southern Style” (18 mins. 32 sec) Produced by the Southern at the beginning of its intermodal services, this video includes scenes of every element of the railroad's new piggy-back services. Container and trailer loading, unloading (washing!), classic trucks from the 1960s, on-board and run by scenes are all included.
“Progressive Maintenance of the General Motors 12-567A Diesel Engine” (21 mins. 27 sec) & (23 mins. 11 sec) Produced by the U.S. Navy in 1945, this series of training films begin with run-by scenes of the Zephyr, one of the Union Pacific articulated passenger trains, Great Northern FTs on a freight and a Burlington “SC” switch engine. The films were produced to show sailors how to maintain the EMD 12-567 used to power the Navy's LST amphibious ships. The videos show the process for engine cylinder removal and replacement.
Set 2, Disk 3
“Straight to the Point” (23 mins. 16 sec) Produced by the Southern Railway Operating Department, three hunters, two employees and a shipper “Jim Moore” (Southern OVP D.W. Brosnan), discuss freight damage. The video includes several “hard coupling” sequences with pre-merger era box cars from various railroads and an interesting view of pulpwood cars being unloaded at a paper mill. The final scene is shows Brosnan making the “point” of the video.
“Ribbon Rails, Mechanized Handling and Laying” (32 mins. 11 sec) Produced by the Southern Railway Operating Department, this video first shows all of the production steps at the Southern's rail plant at Inman Yard in Atlanta. The welding process is shown with the protective covers removed making quite a show of sparks. (Keeping relay rails in the same sequence as they were as segments of jointed rail through the entire process is an interesting detail.)
Following a run-by of an A-B-B-B-A F unit rail and freight train, the entire process of replacing a segment of rails is shown in detail. The video concludes with views of the Lake Pontchartrain trestle and open wire pole line before it was replaced with a concrete structure.
“Progressive Maintenance of the General Motors 12-567A Diesel Engine” (16 mins. 49 sec) This is the third of four videos of U.S. Navy training films covering the EMD diesel engine. It covers “Reconditioning the Fuel Pump”. While none of these 1945 Navy films are typical rail fan videos, they provide an interesting view of the engine installed at a training facility.
Set 2, Disk 4
“Rolling South” (14 mins. 20 sec) “Rolling South” may have the best production and photography of any of the Southern Railway films. It begins with aerial and on-board shots of “train 154”, moves to the GM auto assembly plant in Atlanta and the Port of Savannah. While the early views of IT and communications hardware are dated, they show what an important role technology had in Southern's operations in the 1970s. The hump yard at Linwood (Spencer, NC), coal mining at Appalachia and rotary dumping hopper cars are a few of the scenes shown. The video ends with a series of aerial and run-by scenes that are as well done as seen in any Hollywood film.
“A Job for Joe” (18 mins. 9 sec) One of the most remembered films by Southern Railway employees, it was produced for the Southern by Campus films. Music was provided by the “Almond Hillbillies” before the Southern Lawmen band was formed. The video begins by describing how the Southern is developing transportation in the South using scenes all over the system and moves to how rough train handling can keep “Joe” from working on the railroad. Green F units and BLW switch engines, also in green, and rolling stock of all kinds is shown throughout the video. Open sided Southern 40' double sheathed box car 148814 demonstrates several rough couplings. Two obsolete, but freshly painted (on the side toward the camera), box cars are wrecked demonstrating a fouled switch.
“Coal Carrier to the World” (9 mins 41 sec) Produced by the Norfolk and Western in 1981, just before the Southern – N&W merger, the video includes many scenes at the mines, coal en route and the facilities at Norfolk. Seldom seen scenes of colliers docking and being loaded are included in the Norfolk terminal segment. Coal blending, other aspects of how N&W worked with customers and the benefits of the future merger for coal customers are all discussed.
“Safety Facts About Crossing Tracks” (13 mins 4 sec) Produced by the Southern Pacific Safety Department with the Railroad Brotherhoods, the National Safety Council and The Association of Western Railways (SP, WP, UP and Santa Fe). In addition to the typical grade crossing statistics and warnings, the video features run-by scenes and from-the-cab views of drivers ignoring warnings at crossings. Common mistakes people make at grade crossings are demonstrated on an HO layout. “Scavenging and Supercharging of Diesel Engines” (14 mins., 37 sec) This 1943 U.S. Navy training film is not part of the earlier series on the EMD 567 engine. It provides an overview of two-stroke, double acting two-stroke (Hamilton engine used on submarines) and opposed piston (F-M engines used on submarines). Blowers, supercharging and the scavenging systems that blow the exhaust gases are all shown with classic training film style ex-service people will remember.
...16mm Frame by Frame Film transfers to 1080i High Definition
...Original SRHA Film Soundtracks
Total Time Approx. 4.7 Hours (282 Min)--Dolby digital 2.0 Stereo
Note: This Blu-Ray BD-R Disc set is compatible with the (Blu-Ray) format, and will play on Most Blu-Ray players in full 1080i HD (including the Sony Playstation 3).
This set has been tested on Numerous Blu-Ray players for compatibility with the Blu-Ray Format! You MUST have a (Blu-Ray) Player to play this video Disc set - this video set will not play on regular DVD Players, nor on Regular Up Converting DVD Players ---
(SRHA Film COLLECTOR’S Set #2) 4 Disc Set--16 Programs Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Chapter Search Motion Menus
