Run-time: 1h 20mins approx.

In this programme we witness the power and might of some of the most powerful diesel locomotives working in the United States, with some superb soundtracks of trains struggling up grades taking them over the Allegheny Mountains. We look at two main rail routes including the old Baltimore and Ohio line over Sand Patch, now CSX, and the Pennsylvania Railroad over the summit at Gallitzin, just a few miles from the famous Horseshoe Curve, now Norfolk Southern territory. We begin at Sand Patch where BNSFand CSX freight storm up the grade with container and mixed freight trains headed by a mixture of SD50, SD70Mac, Dash-9s & Dash-8s: we also catch sight of Amtrak’s ‘The Capitol’ as it travels between Chicago and Washington. Coal trains through Rockwood are seen with CSX Dash-9s up front and as helpers on the back. We then travel north to the Norfolk Southern route where freight trains are banked up the grades by powerful SD40E and SD40-2 locomotives often with four locomotives coupled together - the sound from these unsilenced machines is awesome! To add to the variety, container, mixed freight, coal trains, trash trains, gravel and a load of farm equipment are also seen with a selection of SD60, SD70, Dash-9, AC44-CW and Dash-8 locomotives up front. Altoona is another location where we study the action including Amtrak P40-2s on ‘The Pennsylvanian’ passenger working, Conrail liveried SD40-2s on helper duties and even a shot of a GG1 electric in Altoona’s National Railroaders Museum. We then return to the CSX line through Sand Patch where we visit Hyndman to witness CSX Dash-8s and SD50-2s on freight as well as a spectacular scene from Wills Creek Valley of two freight trains passing on tight curves. Finally we are back at Cresson on the old PRR route to witness what has got to be one of the loudest sequences we’ve yet filmed, with a 120-wagon coal train headed up the grade by an SD70m and an SD70 - with the train being pushed from the rear by no less than four SD40 helpers making a considerable amount of noise!!!