Railfanning the South in Film 1960's-1970's

A collection of clips from various sources covering the territory south of the Mason-Dixon line, east of the Mississippi, spanning two decades. Apologies for the dark segments, they were horrendously underexposed and I did the best I could with software enhancement. I find a lot of these older films focus on passenger trains, probably because they ran on predictable schedules. Atlanta and Birmingham seem to have been busy places, these stations are now both gone to the history books. Sounds are from my video library and Arkay records.

[@VistanTN]

Thank you for salvaging, collecting, resurrecting, and improving such great old clips. So many wonderful shots of classic equipment and flags of the era. Bravo!

[@peterhanahoe4913]

Absolutely fantastic tea-time entertainment. That is a phenomenal collection of stuff and great job with the sound and digitising. Also, no adverts, like watching the BBC. Very enjoyable.

[@Greatdome99]

23:00: If you look closely on the Frisco E8, there's a name under the side cab windows--Kentucky Derby winners. Each loco had a different horse name on it. Stems from the days of the Texas Special when it was special.

[@georgecarter838]

At 12:25 I recognized the Georgia Railroad mixed train on the Washington, Georgia branch. The bridge it is going over spans the Little River and train is heading back to Barnett, Georgia to connect to the main line to Camak, Georgia where it was based at. I used to be an extra engineer out of Atlanta, Georgia and would run the train when the regular engineer was out or extra help was needed in the late 2000- 2015 and by that time it belonged to Georgia Woodlands Railroad, a line owned by Omnitrax out of Colorado.

[@garymccullah1143]

Even after only watching half of the video, I have to say that your work on correcting the lighting and syncing the sound is superb. Good job!

[@fmnut]

Most of the sound is derived from just 10 clips. The trick is in varying the volume levels and trimming to get the correct Doppler shift. I try to always use actual sounds correct for the locomotives in the film. Thanks for your comment.

[@kleenexbox974]

@@fmnut oh so the sounds arent actually from the trains like is the actual video jus quiet

[@fmnut]

@@kleenexbox974 yes, the original film was silent as sound film didn't exist when most of these films were taken. All of the soundtrack is added in from other recordings.

[@iusetano]

That was great. I love watching this older footage of fallen flags. Excellent video. Thank you for the upload.

[@90STETURBO]

Great video footage. Love seeing the Central of Georgia and the A&WP

[@geac9100]

You put this together very well and the footage was excellent.

[@tommythomason6187]

Amazing. I always had hoped there was footage around concerning Atlanta's passenger service. Birmingham was even busier.

[@paulbergen9114]

Since my family didn't take many vacations this was a fine substitute

[@jontaylor6068]

First station that showed in Richmond Virginia is the Broad Street station which is now the science museum. The second station is the Main Street station right downtown in Richmond Virginia which is still open today. I’m surprise they show the triple crossing in downtown Richmond.

[@montgomeryrail]

Loved the CIRR footage

[@Pensyfan19]

Great footage as always!

[@kawasakiz76]

Wow, what a great video!! ❤

[@amyreynolds3619]

Nice group of southern railway locomotives

[@huskerhank6231]

Just saw was up...looks great

[@markfrench8892]

All those Fallen Flags....so sad.😭

[@derrickwong5337]

That's is amazing!!

[@edwertduvall6953]

Great video

[@gunterfessler1520]

Die rundnasen loks sind super

[@bfitzy94]

Where'd you find that Beaufort and Morehead footage? That's the only film I've seen other than your video from the 1990's

[@fmnut]

The film part I took myself when I was 11 years old in town visiting relatives. Just a grab shot, and I got my hands slapped for using my mom's movie camera without permission. We saw several more B&M moves on that trip, but I was not allowed to film them. The rest are slides from my collection and 2 photos from the internet that I added simply because I love the railroad. By the time I got back there in the 90's, the Whitcombs and the line into Beaufort city were gone and Radio Island was being switched by Fairbanks Morse switchers. Still nice, but I missed the "Route of the Jets!"

[@bfitzy94]

@@fmnut you're probably one of the only people out there with color footage of the line from this era. I've been researching the B&M for the better part of 10 years to eventually publish a book and model as much of the line as possible. Thanks for posting these

[@tomt9543]

I went to work for Sou. Ry. in 1979, and at that time SR and the NC state ports were planning to build a huge coal shipping terminal in Morehead City. In anticipation, SR put in welded rail and signals from Greensboro to MC to handle the expected flood of coal traffic. Ultimately, nothing ever became of those plans, and I’m sure the looming SR/NW merger weighed heavily in that decision! SR used to have an office car beside the agents office in Morehead City that originally belonged to one of the principals of the Ringling bros. Barnum & Bailey circus. Company officers could reserve the car for a week at a time for beach vacations! The agent was responsible for taking care of the car. Only got to stay there once before they got rid of it!

[@MonValleyNathan]

Nice

[@gunterfessler1520]

Super Sound

[@fmnut]

Vielen Dank!

[@RonnieThePRRLocoAKARPTLMR]

Happy 50th anniversary of Amtrak!

[@ryanfrogz]

What type of locomotive is that in the thumbnail?

[@fmnut]

Whitcomb 65 ton with the low clearance cab. These were built for the US Army during WWII for use in Europe, hence the shape. After the war they were sold surplus to many shortline and industrial buyers. B&M 85 had the standard US clearance cab, while 75 was a taller 80 ton model. All are seen in the video.

[@ryanfrogz]

@@fmnut thank you! I couldn’t remember. Very interesting locomotive.

[@gunsaway1]

Sure miss those trains. Amtrak just doesn’t have it.

[@ident42]

Where did you find that video from Beaufort?

[@fmnut]

The movie part I took myself when I was 11 years old in town visiting relatives. Just a grab shot from the car, and I got my hands slapped for using my mom's movie camera without permission. We saw several more B&M trains on that trip going back and forth from Morehead City, but I was not allowed to film them. The rest are slides from my collection and 2 photos from the internet that I added simply because I love the railroad. By the time I got back there in the 90's, the Whitcombs and the line into Beaufort city were gone and Radio Island was being switched by Fairbanks Morse switchers. Still nice, but I missed the "Route of the Jets!"

[@sombatstudios]

2:30 what locomotive is that?

[@fmnut]

Whitcomb 65 ton with the low clearance cab. These were built for the US Army during WWII for use in Europe, hence the shape. After the war they were sold surplus to many shortline and industrial buyers. B&M 85 was another 65 tonner with the standard US clearance cab, while 75 was a taller 80 ton model. All are seen in the video.

[@ModelRailroadTips]

Oddly, Piko has chosen to make an HO scale model of this very locomotive model!

[@fmnut]

@@ModelRailroadTips not that odd, Italy had a fleet of them that lasted into the 1980s, which is what they're modeling.

[@johnhauser4589]

No litter. No graffiti. A more moral society. Thank you.

[@user-kz4ye6lm9v]

🌐🌐🌐

[@jmream2618]

There’s a goof in you’re title it say 1060s Instead of 1960s

[@stalkinghorse883]

There is video of railranning the Battle of Hastings!

[@fmnut]

Fixed! Thanks for pointing that out.

[@gunterfessler1520]

Da hört mann Alco Sound gut

[@doug595959]

good video but lack of narration sucks

[@fmnut]

As I've said many times on this issue in the comments on other videos, I don't do narration. First, because my voice isn't suitable, second, it takes editing time that I'd rather spend working on other content, and third, because researching locations is problematic for films I didn't shoot myself.