Get all of Roger M. Koenig's Films in this action packed historic set!
You get over Five Hours of video in this Special Collectors Set...
The 60’s Passenger, Steam, Electrics - Green Frog brings you action galore, from the photography of Roger M. Koenig
Railroading in the 1960’s around Chicago’s south side. The railroads featured are: Wabash, Rock Island, Illinois Central, Santa Fe, Grand Trunk, B&O, Chicago & Northwestern, Pennsy, and C&O. Great passenger train sequences on most roads!
Steam excursions: (Run-bys and onboard) Grand Trunk Western #6218 in winter scenes. Grand Trunk Western #5629 and #6322. Also included are some beautiful steam sequences on the Chicago & Northwestern. Locos #590, 638, 656, 583, 505, 615, and 598 are featured, as well as #629 (streamlined for Dakota & NorthWoods “400’s”).
Steam ended on the C&NW just one month after these shots were taken! 98% color, from original 8mm film, professionally transferred on state of the art transfer system.
Approx.78 Minutes - Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
The Old South Shore - By the late 1970s, the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad was living out the last years as a step child of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. The C&O had purchased the South Shore in 1965 as a bridge route for its freight business. A decade later, the drain on revenues from extensive passenger operations was taking its toll on the 91-mile railway running from down town Chicago to South Bend, Indiana.
Born shortly after the dawn of the twentieth century, the South Shore had been the sturdiest of Samuel Insull’s network of Midwestern electric interurban railways—and it managed to survive on that strength when all the others faded away. By 1976, the paint on the cars was chipped and frayed, and the many stations were becoming, well, a little run-down.
Despite this, the South Shore rolled on in the hands of its capable employees. Join with us as we look at the 1976-1980 era South Shore through the movie camera lens of Roger M. Koenig.
Approx. 64 Minutes - Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Chicago Southwest Suburban Rail Action - The 1970s were a time of change for railroads all over the country—and all over the world. Roger Koenig was out with his Super Eight movie cameras – recording much of the train action before it was gone forever. Roger lived west and south of the Windy City, so it was only natural he would frequently head for the hotbed of rail activity at Joliet Union Station.
But he also visited Homewood, Blue Island, Oak Forest, and several other communities outside of Chicago. He also got farther west – to savor the last remaining switching operation handled exclusively by steam locomotives at Sterling, Illinois, until the early 1980s. Ride with us now as we relive rail action in the 1970s and seen through the movie camera lens of Roger Koenig.
Approx. 68 Minutes - Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
This Was The Rock Island - “The Rock Island Line was a mighty fine line.” The musical ditty aside, there was something special about the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad that set it apart from other rail carriers.
Maybe it was the image of an underdog, surrounded on all sides by larger, more powerful—and richer—railroads. Maybe it was its short, fast passenger trains—appropriately named “Rockets”—barreling across the Western Prairies. Maybe it was the granger railroad, quietly and effectively going about serving its customers.
Roger Koenig grew up in Brainerd on Chicago’s South Side. It was the first stop at ground level on the Rock Island’s Suburban Branch after leaving the main line at Gresham Junction. He often rode into the city on its trains. Roger worked for two sum- mers as an office boy for the railroad, and built his first home in Oak Forest on the main line to Joliet. His summer home was near the Peoria Branch. No wonder the Rock Island became his favorite railroad.
This is Roger’s fast-moving movie kaleidoscope of The Rock during its final six years, from 1974 until shortly before the railroad shut down forever on March 31st, 1980.
Equipment Covered: New Southern Pacific Units, Commuter Trains, FP-Units, Peorian, Rockets, Quad Cities, E-Units, Alcos, E-6, F-Units, U-Boats, Reveler Observation Car, E-9's, GP-7, GP38-2's.
Approx.72 Minutes - Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Rock Island The “Rockets” Defy Discontinuance - The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was so impoverished when Amtrak started up in May 1971 that it could not afford to turn its long distance trains over to the new national passenger system. Instead, its four long distance intrastate trains—the two “Quad Cities” to and from Moline on the main line and the “Peorians” serving the Peoria Branch—continued to roll in and out of Chicago’s deteriorating LaSalle Street Station even as the terminal had its trainshed roof removed and the daily trains became shorter and shorter.
These were all that remained of the once-proud “Rock Island Rockets” that included the “Rocky Mountain Rocket” to Denver and Colorado Springs and a timetable full of other trains. Some fans still referred to the remaining trains by their earlier “Rocket” names.
Meanwhile, Metra—the Chicago Commuter Rail Service Authority— took over responsibility for the suburban trains run over the tracks of the Rock Island and most other Chicagoland railroads. Roger Koenig was there with his Super Eight sound movie camera recording the slow decline of the “Quad Cities” and “Peorian” and the Rock Island system.
Approx.63 Minutes - Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
