Customer Reviews

America's Railroads - The Steam Train Legacy [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This set of tapes was a very good idea by someone. The photography and films are very nice, and show trains in action and many aspects of trains and railroading not usually seen. However, the producers really should have remastered the sound, as some of the soundtracks are almost unintelligible. A very nice try, but short.

This is a real good documentary for all you train/history buffs. Real informative and easy to watch.

The study of the great trends of the nineteenth century would be incomplete without the inclusion of the steam locomotive. While the steam engine revolutionized travel on the rivers of the eastern United States, it was the laying of tracks for the locomotive that made it possible for the vast spaces of the land west of the Mississippi to be heavily populated. Without the ability to transport goods rapidly and cheaply, the towns would have remained largely isolated and the local farmers and ranchers would have found it impossible to get their produce to market. Furthermore, the locomotive served to create solid political bonds between regions, as mail and other solid goods took only a few days to go from one coast to the other.
This video is an excellent visual and verbal description of how vital the steam locomotive was and that it was an enormous symbol of pride. Before I watched this video, I was aware of the value of the steam locomotive but had no idea how big and powerful some of them were. Some were so large they had to be articulated in the middle in order to be able to traverse the curves. This tape is an excellent addition to the resource material for courses in the history of technological advancement and how technology made expansion possible.