America's Historic Steam Railroads: Georgetown Loop Railroad; Civil War Trains: the U.S. Military Railroad; Locomotion: the Amazing World Of Trains; Riding the Rails

In a Civil War-era guide to railroad wrecking, readers were advised that a most effective way of stopping a train was to "fire a cannonball through the boiler." Not surprisingly, it worked. One of a new quartet of train videos that should prove of interest to fans of the rails, Civil War Trains: The U.S. Military Railroad uses archival photographs, re-enactments, and model trains to recreate the role of trains, in general, and the U.S. Military Railroad, in particular, during the Civil War. Combining background information about the growth of the railroads during the 1850s and 1860s with individual instances of the railroad's importance to various battles and campaigns (viewers will learn, for instance, that Stonewall Jackson amassed an impressive record of destroyed B&O trains), the program--while not in the class of great documentaries by any means--does an effective job of telling the story of the short-lived U.S. Military Railroad.America's Historic Steam Railroads: Georgetown Loop Road, by contrast, is geared more towards attracting tourists than relating history. Following a series introduction, the program visits with Rosa and Lindsey Ashby and their employees who operate the historic Georgetown Loop Railroad, in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The video switches back and forth between interview clips about the railroad's past and present, and scenes of a trip from Georgetown to Silver Plumb, with commentary by conductor John Hammond. More of a regional video than a general documentary.In Riding the Rails, filmmaker Jim Mitchell traces the development of the Daylight steam engine, from its inception in 1938 to the last one's final run in 1958. That engine, the 4449 Daylight came out of mothballs in 1976 to become the Freedom Train for our Bicentennial celebration. Last year, the train made one more run: a 500-mile trip over the Pacific Cascades. With cameras capturing the billowing behemoth rounding the bend into town, cameras attached to the train for a rail's eye view of the journey, and overhead helicopter footage, Riding the Rails shows the legendary steam engine at its glorious best, when having a full head of steam was an awesome sight (as opposed to being an environmental concern). Although Mitchell's narration is occasionally a little too Mom and apple pie for my tastes, he also turns a phrase quite nicely sometimes (describing the engine hitting 60 m.p.h., Mitchell likened the experience to "riding out a hurricane inside a Spam can.") a fun ride. [Note: this is being offered in both SP-recorded and EP-recorded modes, so make sure to specify SP in an order.]But the clear front-runner of the bunch is A & E's impressive 4-part series Locomotion: The Amazing World of Trains. We watched the opening segment, "Engines of Enterprise," which examined the dollars and sense of the railroad business. Right behind the 1,800 miles of track laid in the 1860s came the pioneers, hardy American emigrants who built the prairie towns the railroads depended on in exchange for a sure market back East for their harvested crops. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement, at first. But then the railroads--under the tight-fisted control of the robber barons--changed the rules (and the prices), and would even occasionally tell a town to pick up and move to a location better suited to the interests of the railroads (and the town would do just that). Mixing old newsreels, archival photographs, songs from the period, letters, and wonderful anecdotes, with contemporary interviews of historians, former employees, and seniors who recall the impact of the railroad during the first half of the century, the program traces the exploitation of the workers and their costly move to unionize (an 1894 strike left 34 people dead), and the later impact of both the truck and the automobile. Ironically, the so-called "engines of enterprise" would be overtaken by engines of another sort: for a number of railroads, the last time they made notable profits was when moving concrete West for the building of the nation's highways. An excellent series. The other three titles, which examine the science and technology behind locomotion, the role trains played during the World Wars, and the shifting perceptions of trains over the years, are "Taming the Iron Monster," "The War Machines," and "Magic Machines and Mobile People." This handsome, boxed set is sure to be quite popular.Locomotion is, far and away, the best suited for general audiences, and it is highly recommended. Riding the Rails, though more specific, is still a fun train video at a reasonable price and is recommended. Civil War Trains: The U.S. Military Railroad is recommended for collections with strong Civil War and/or railroad history holdings. America's Historic Steam Railroads: Georgetown Loop Railroad is recommended primarily for regional collections, or collections where the subject of railroading is very popular. (R. Pitman)