Our program begins with a 1972 trip to Europe and a visit to Spain where we see Broad-Gauge action with 2-8-2's on the Renfe (National Railway of Spain). We had only limited information during this time, and stuck to one area west of Zaragoza, which featured steam in Castajon, which had a roundhouse full of steam, and Pamplona. Pamplona you might recognize as the city where you can run with the bulls each year, but we were there for some steam operations and caught a couple of daily passenger trains to Castajon. There is a cool shot of a train passing through an ancient Roman aqueduct, plus two passenger trains meeting. There is also action chasing a freight toward Castajon on a different route. Seeing nothing but steam at the Castajon roundhouse was pretty special, even if they were all oil burners (tough on the shoes).

Next we head to Austria in 1974 as part of a 6 week trip. We see a little bit of a sample in Vienna, and Linz, before moving to the Linz-Summerau line which is Austrian Railways standard gauge. Most traffic on this line was steam hauled with the Kreig-Lok German designed 052 2-10-0's working both freight and passenger trains. Electric polls were up on 2/3 of the line so we spent more time on the northern end for better looking sequences. This was all upgrade going north too which made for better action. We also see a Czech 4-8-2 (475 class), which was on a cross-border train in Summerau. This was during the cold war and a guard was sent so the engine crews did not defect to the west.

After the Linz-Summerau line, we see a little bit of action the narrow gauge line from Gmund, and see a meet, and do some pacing on one train. These trains hauled some standard gauge cars on their narrow gauge flats. After this we spent a days on the "Iron Mountain" at Vordernburg for this unique Rack line with steep grades. Empty trains went up the grade with an engine on either end, and besides good action there was great scenery as well. This line stopped running steam a few years after we were there.

Lastly we visited Italy in 1974 and got a few shots in March of 1975. The region was the northern part of Italy (Tyrol), on the Fortezza to San Candido line. This very scenic line featured some freight action and a couple of passenger trains each day. Power was 2-8-0 class 740, and the unique class 741. The 741 2-8-0's were converted 740 class engines that had Franco-Crosti boilers which had modified boilers to preheat the water, and a side-stack for exhausting smoke and steam. We have good coverage of these unique locomotives, and an explanation of the basic design. This was some of the best weather of that 1974 trip. Greg went back in March 1975 and got a little more action with each class engine.

The Austrian and Italy footage was a mix of footage shot by Greg and his brother Randy, while the Spain was shot by Greg. This is not a long video, but it is certainly unique. We finish up with a slide show of some 35mm stills shot during these segments. Standard Definition, all color, with music and narration. (There was no sound on film in the early 70's). 52 Minutes

SKU: SI3C

Runtime: 52 Mins

Disc Format: DVD

Producer: Greg Scholl Video Productions

Aspect Ratio: Full Screen

Shrink Wrapped? Yes

Regional Encoding? NO. Plays on any NTSC capable player worldwide.

UPC: Does Not Apply