New Year's Trains, Hornshows and More in this Grab Bag

In the absence of wizard Joe Peach some of our other team members have stepped up to provide some Grab Bag entertainment until he is able to return. While we cannot promise the regular schedule of previous releases we will do our best to post them regularly.
Our VRF Grab Bags (GB) videos are compiled from content from our cameras as Mods and fans spot something neat while watching our cameras. In the GB you will, of course, find a variety of TRAIN content, special trains, maintenance, steam, diesels, interesting rail cars, cool paint schemes and more. You will also find fun people, city events, boats, planes, cars (sometimes going wild) and nature. Thank you for taking the time to sit back and enjoy these highlight reels that we call "Grab Bags"!
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[@DebS819]

Loved the train going over the trestle train track in Greeley, CO starting at 11:14 mark. Beautiful scenery going over the trestle track and mountains. ⛰️🚞🏔️

[@donnaj9964]

Beautiful horn symphony and fireworks in Belen. Lovely voice from the steam engine in Paradise, and it makes me happy to see that the Connecticut train is still looking so festive. Hesperia was gorgeous, and it's always great to see 4822--including the guts this time lol! Many thanks to everyone for another excellent video and best to Joe Peach! Happy New Year all!

[@MrBnsftrain]

0:40 wow, SEPTA trains running to Harrisburg! What's the reason? 1:00 Lovely hornshow at New Year's 2025! Many other railroad sites around the world sounded their whistles and horns at noon local time to celebrate the start of the 200th anniversary of the first railroad, the Stockton & Darlington 2:28 these HZRX units are ex-CSX units, two of which are slugs 5:48 CSX 9969 trailing on a freight train! 9969 is assigned to an inspection train 6:04 nice to see freshly rebuilt CN SD75Is, a few have been spotted in primer over 2024. 13:44 this NS slug is built out ofan ALCO RSD15 15:00 nice catch of those ex-Amtrak baggage cars sandwiching an old business car

[@TheMetGuy]

Love the foreign power & tanker trains! My favorite!

[@roberthuron9160]

A real oldie,but goodie from NS,that number 855,is a carryover from Penn Central,and was an RSD-12,if memory serves,converted with EMD trucks! Minimum 40+ years old,as a slug! Great catch,and really a treasure,in this day and age! Thank you 😇 😊! Happy New Year 😊!

[@RoadsRails]

Virtual Railfan, you’ve truly redefined railfanning! The sights, the sounds, the energy-it's like being trackside from the comfort of home. Those train sounds are the highlight of my day. Keep it rolling

[@the-terrible63]

Wow! Excellent catching all the trains, I like them, they're awesome, @Virtual Railfan, thank you very much and have a nice day and night.

[@SilverThunder710]

1:00 actually warms my heart.

[@jacktaggart2489]

Wonderful 'Grab Bag'! Nice catching the SEPTA on the Harrisburg AMTRAK Mainline. I just rode a similar train today from Glenside, PA to Market East in Downtown Phila., then returned to Elkins Park, PA. A great variety of 'heritage' units shown. Thank you, VR

[@ThePhilmaywalt]

A REALLY wonderfully done GrabBag. Wishing Joe a speedy recovery and Happy New Year to one and all!!

[@mr.destruction615]

Septa train: Hey old timer, how's your day working at Strasburg? Steam train: Eh, the usual, just stopping to get a little breather.

[@cammieg4381]

Loved the model train too! 👍

[@FurthermoreJack]

I tremble with excitement

[@RailRider9571]

1:01 Thats just epic. Would have love to seen that in person! Thanks VRF!

[@CSX1827]

Jaw tooth on the cam 0:33 🚂🚂🚂🚂and happy 2025 railfans!!

[@revharrycwigmoreiii5787]

Best Grab Bag, yet, especially the new camera at Glendale, OH. Keep up the great work, Vitual Railfan.

[@WilliamJones-v3d]

NICE ONE!

[@jimmhenry657]

Awesome grab bag catches and trains

[@chriscarlson7915]

Another awesome grab bag!

[@dennisnieradka6668]

Happy New Year & Healthy

[@adriananderson76]

Awesome Grab Bag!

[@TigerDominic-uh1dv]

Great Variety of Trains 🚆 👌

[@FatherSonTrainAdventures]

Jaw Tooth spotted in the grab bag!

[@baracc10]

6:04 good catch of the CN rebuilds. As I mentioned in another comment earlier about the middle of last October, that’s when I saw the rebuild of CN 8307 as it was leading a mixed freight train

[@ronaldrondeau7870]

Thanks that was a great one- Happy New Year ot all the staff

[@Elliottblancher]

2:46 thats an SD70M-2 not an SD70Acu

[@njtrains487]

I have seen septa a ton of times and I don’t think that I have ever heard that much of its horn. 0:52

[@traindudeaaa]

Nice catches

[@Branddenthepinkgoldpeachfan]

*Awesome Video*

[@texastrainfan56]

2:27 those went to the Blacklands railroad on the Henderson to Overton Branch

[@ryanfrogz]

Glad to see some more railcars in this one. These compilations are sorely lacking in them.

[@margiecooper6045]

Super grab bag. Great trains. Thank you VR.

[@TheMetGuy]

CN 8952 is an SD70M-2!

[@Josephcavagnaro]

0:54 now i'm convinced SEPTA Is extending to Harrisburg or at least lancaster

[@johnchambers8528]

As far as I know this is just an occasional move to qualify the crew to run over this part of the railroad to be able to turn their train down the line in case of a failure to do so at their regular spot on the line. At present there is no plan for SEPTA to run as far as Lancaster.

[@jeffdayman8183]

Another great grab bag! Really enjoyed it. Happy New Year VRF! re "Grit Drive" door open at 7:02 - I had a car with that once, felt like 14 pounds of grit in the rear end. Hope the NS locomotive's grit drive is smoother...oh wait... 8^) Cheers!

[@Benjaminthe17th]

Another great video as always. Happy 2025

[@Mauscmkwk]

13:21 slug moment

[@zachross8081]

happy new year 2025

[@Trip0905]

Hey that’s me filming in big sandy!

[@albanyrailfan]

4:24 I saw this in Amsterdam, NY

[@baracc10]

2:45 Grand Trunk. And all of this time since the middle of last October I’ve been wondering what the GT stood for

[@zacharycalgher3978]

Canadian National 8952 is an SD70M-2 not an SD70ACU.

[@Rob-tr1st]

Facts

[@railfanningrailproductions]

2:43 it is actually a CN SD70M-2

[@The_Mason_Transportation]

5:17 8952 is a SD70M-2

[@nikkimeyer-b5u]

12:30 the train i recommended they add. to the grab bag! as it was loaded with fallen flags! they just kept coming! family lines, cnw? wabash ex chessie

[@poowg2657]

Every train's better with a warbonnet on it!

[@SeanBleaking]

I never know have one Indiana other than Lafayette and New York central museum

[@chrisyy_poo.07]

Jaw tooth on the camera 0:33

[@upchessbyabzolute]

2:45 that's an sd70m-2

[@aidantherailfan2175]

0:47 what was the reason that the septa silverliner V was on the Harrisburg line? I was not told anything about it

[@johnchambers8528]

The SEPTA crew have to qualify over the line as far as Lancaster because they ocassionaly run to that point non revenu to turn around their train.

[@aidantherailfan2175]

@ was any passengers on the septa silverliner 5, or was the septa just running on the Harrisburg line for a test?

[@nathancorcoran5347]

Great video Virtual Railfan. I have a question, have you heard that the famed creator of Thomas and Friends, Britt Allcroft has passed away on December 27th 2024?

[@alanosilva886]

1:06 Imagine, you are a train driver and instead of spending New Year's with your family, you spend New Year's Eve on a train.

[@railfan9428]

II except a GB Sunday

[@DownriverTrains]

Thank you VRF for showing the Ferromex on the Porter Cam and the GTW heritage unit on Deshler cam!

[@ScojoDak]

Just what defines a loco as a "bonnet" version? T.I.A.

[@annaf7812]

it is the type of paint job the has

[@lonestranger]

For a more thorough answer, search "atsf warbonnet" for a great article on the American-Rails site. The gist of it is that Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (ATSF)'s passenger diesels in the '30s got a now-famous red, silver, & yellow livery. The red had a curve on each side that made the front resemble a Native American war bonnet. Later colour variations (for various reasons such as freight locos or being leased to Amtrak) were blue & yellow "blue bonnet" or freight bonnet and yellow & silver "yellow bonnet". I suppose the '80s red & yellow Kodachrome livery from the failed SPSF merger could be called some sort of bonnet, but I don't know that anyone does. The red, silver, & yellow warbonnet went away when Amtrak took over passenger service, but in 1989 ATSF began using the warbonnet livery on freight locos. When ATSF became part of BNSF, those locos remained in service, still with large "Santa Fe" lettering on the sides. After the merger, some locos got the warbonnet livery with "BNSF" lettering as seen in this video. Apparently these were painted before the merger but delivered afterward, but I can't confirm that. These are often referred to as fake bonnets in order to distinguish them from pre-merger "Santa Fe"-marked warbonnets, a.k.a. true bonnet or real bonnet. All of the above can be called bonnets, and to avoid confusion or arguments it's sometimes simpler to omit the prefix.

[@trainsofmichiganproduction5418]

2:43 editing mistake there

[@jamesmckenzie3532]

9:11 What was that bright flash of light?

[@johnnyclash9775]

🇺🇸🇺🇸👍👍

[@CSXproductions-vq8li]

CN 8952 is an SD70M-2 not an SD70ACu

[@lowellvillerailfanproductions]

Even in virtual railfan I can't seem to not see an SPMX Hopper

[@TheBengineer-x7k]

Since when did Seto run on the Harrisburg line?

[@johnchambers8528]

It is a somewhat regular training run to qualify crews over that portion of the line.

[@janeordway4841]

I was under the impression that most railroads are getting rid of slugs?

[@J3scribe]

CSX has been getting rid of their older mainline slug sets. It's not a blanket policy across the industry.

[@TherealJamorieDesean]

Yall still didn't include the CSX b241 with 4 CN gevos and 100th anniversary 3881 with the friendly crew from 2024 bro.

[@annaf7812]

if you see something be sure and let the moderator know so if possible they can clip it for the grab bag

[@TherealJamorieDesean]

@annaf7812 how

[@michaelbrown6927]

At 11:05, I don't get the refernce?

[@J3scribe]

I think that was a misedit. He mistakenly used the caption from the CN rail train instead of saying something like, "hey look, a flatcar on a flatcar." That would be my guess.

[@jefferykeeper9034]

I guess the rail cars on flats that went through Princeton Indiana isn't good enough for the bag

[@annaf7812]

if you see something on camera that you think should go in the grab bag be sure to ask the moderator to submit it.. Sometimes they are able to do that. There is no way we can possibly catch everything.

[@rogertemple7193]

Happy New Year 2025 Virtual Railfan Grab Bag and I'm ready for some new train footage thank you.🚂🚃🚃🇺🇲🇨🇦