Some of the well known railroad video makers are Pentrex, Allen Keller Production, Kalmbach, and Green Frog productions. Anyone heard of Greg Scholl Video Productions? They have a 30 min DVD on DM&IR Yellowstones. It seems intresting enough, but I’m unsure of the quality.
At first I was sceptical about Charles Smiley Videos, but after getting that SP Vintage West DVD, I figured he’s okay. Not as good as Pentrex, but pretty good.
Hopefully GSVP is as good as Charles Smiley.
I have three of the Greg Scholl videos, entitled America by Rail. They are travelogue-type videos via Amtrak with scenes shot from the locomotive cab, passenger car dome, through side windows, or trackside. They feature stops along the way at various tourist lines, amusement parks, zoos, etc. Each video features a different Amtrak route. Volume I, The Heartland, for example, features an Amtrak trip from Washington, D.C. to Chicago on the Capitol Limited, and then from Chicago to San Francisco aboard the California Zephyr, with 12 stops along the way. Each video has a minimal narrative and special musical score. Overall quality is good. One of the videos has a bad portion at the very end during the showing of the credits. Mine are VHS tapes. The DVD versions probably don’t have any such defects.
I also have a Greg Scholl video and am very pleased with the quality of the filming as well as the arrangement and narrative of the video’s presentation. I don’t think you’ll go wrong with this company.