Northern Plains Regionals DVD

The northern plains, where the wind seems to never stop blowing and the winters can be brutal, are also the home to several fascinating regional railroads. Thanks to the importance of agriculture there, this is one part of the country where the presence of railroads is perhaps more appreciated and indeed more necessary than the rest of the country. For the northern plains are a long way from the coastal ports and navigable rivers that bounties of the land usually need to get to customers in Europe and Asia. Just like the rest of the country, the large railroads operating on the northern plains began to sell off or abandon their maze of branch lines in the 1980s and early 1990s. This left the northern plains with a number of spin-offs from the larger roads that seemed to have neither the traffic nor the resources to rebuild their worn-out track and survive the harsh climate and the vicissitudes of the weather on crops. Yet some of these smaller railroads have not only survived but seem to be thriving as they are in far better condition than that which they were left with by their class I parents. This program shows the trains and operations on four northern plains Regionals – the Northern Plains Railroad, the Dakota, Missouri Valley, and Western, the Red River Valley and Western, and the Twin Cities and Western in November of 2008. These four railroads between them operate over 1700 miles of track in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and Montana.  Length = 76 minutes.  Price = $30.95 plus $5.00 for shipping and handling.  This DVD has the option of being watched with or without narration.