Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Follow the largest operating steam locomotive in the world as it travels the eastern leg of its West Coast Tour from Sacramento CA to Cheyenne WY.
In celebration of America 250, this exciting tour covers the rain-soaked Feather River Canyon, the remote desert of Nevada, the Great Salt Lake Desert of Utah, the Wasatch Mountains and windswept plains of Wyoming.
This full-length program is available on DVD and Blu-ray at 7ideaproductions.com 7ideaproductions.com/collections/frontpage/products/big-boy-4014-america-250-west-coast-tour
Follow the largest operating steam locomotive in the world as it travels the eastern leg of its West Coast Tour from Sacramento CA to Cheyenne WY.
In celebration of America 250, this exciting tour covers the rain-soaked Feather River Canyon, the remote desert of Nevada, the Great Salt Lake Desert of Utah, the Wasatch Mountains and windswept plains of Wyoming.
This full-length program is available on DVD and Blu-ray at 7ideaproductions.com 7ideaproductions.com/collections/frontpage/products/big-boy-4014-america-250-west-coast-tour
![Main Line to the Great Salt Lake! [Union Pacifics Lynndyl Subdivision]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WKWQ1MYNQkA/mqdefault.jpg "Main Line to the Great Salt Lake! [Union Pacifics Lynndyl Subdivision]
In the remote desert country of west-central Utah, a pair of steel rails provide an important connection between Salt Lake City and southern California.
Known today as Union Pacific’s Lynndyl Subdivision, this 207-mile-long territory is the northern segment of the former San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake rail line.
Although it is not one of Union Pacific’s busiest corridors, the Lynndyl Sub does offer the patient railfan a variety of trains. Intermodal trains roll to and from the ports at Long Beach. Coal trains enter off the Sharp Subdivision from Provo. Long manifest trains originate from various points such as North Platte, Nebraska, or West Colton, California. And an occasional rack train makes an appearance. In addition to through-trains, locals are busy servicing the various industry along the line powered by older EMD SD70M’s.
We will begin at the crew-change point in Milford and head north to Salt Lake City passing old ghost towns such as Black Rock and Clear Lake. The old railroad town of Lynndyl marks the junction with UP’s 88-mile Sharp Subdivision to Provo which was the original route of the LA&SL. We continue north, on what was known as the Leamington Cutoff toward a crossing of the Tintic Mountains at Boulter. The line then drops down through the Rush and Tooele Valleys to the southern shore of the Great Salt Lake.
At Smelter, Western Pacific’s main line from Northern California joins the Lynndyl Sub, adding more traffic to the mix for the final miles to Salt Lake City. We will spend some time at Grant Tower and catch Utah Transit Authority’s Frontrunner commuter trains in action and the Salt Lake City Southern makes an appearance as well.
Shot in both winter and summer, the stark contrast between the seasons adds to this amazing presentation which is our final chapter on the old Salt Lake Route.
This program is available on DVD and Blu-ray at 7ideaproductions.com. https://www.7ideaproductions.com/collections/frontpage/products/union-pacifics-pocatello-sub-part-1
0:00 Intro
4:15 Map
7:54 Milford
17:01 Murdock
22:58 Read
24:32 Black Rock
31:17 Twin Peaks Road
36:49 Cruz
40:00 Graymont Lime Plant (Bloom)
56:33 Clear Lake
1:09:57 Fort Deseret
1:13:03 Delta
1:20:02 Strong
1:22:10 Lynndyl
1:27:55 Champlin
1:29:22 Jecicho
1:33:54 McIntyre
1:37:06 Tintic
1:39:15 Boulter
1:42:15 Lofgreen
1:44:47 Faust
1:51:54 Stockton
1:55:00 Erda (Great Salt Lake and town of Tooele)
2:02:12 Great Salt Lake
2:03:22 Kennecott Smelter and Mine
2:04:27 West Garfield
2:05:33 Smelter
2:10:02 Grant Tower (Salt Lake City)
2:18:19 UP North Yard")
![Winter on Marias Pass Part 1 [Along the Flathead River to Essex]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/W_OHJ7BOz6k/mqdefault.jpg "Winter on Marias Pass Part 1 [Along the Flathead River to Essex]
Winter comes to the Rocky Mountains of northwestern Montana.
BNSF trains follow the frozen route of the Great Northern over Marias Pass.
Part one of this two-part series covers the western half of the line between Whitefish and Essex.
The entire program is available on DVD and Blu-ray at 7ideaproductions.com. https://www.7ideaproductions.com/products/winter-on-marias-pass?_pos=1&_sid=9faa3245d&_ss=r
00:00 Intro/Whitefish
03:38 Halfmoon
05:33 Bad Rock Canyon
09:09 Coram
10:56 Belton
15:27 The Canyon
18:48 Nyack
22:33 Stanton Creek
23:45 Paola
26:15 Milepost 1175.1 Detector
28:02 Essex")
![BNSFs New Mexico Main Line [The Gallup Sub]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/X9aaY2kPTQs/mqdefault.jpg "BNSFs New Mexico Main Line [The Gallup Sub]
[This program was originally released on DVD in 2015]
BNSF’s Gallup Subdivision cuts through a wild country etched in red rock cliffs, high mesas, and jagged black formations of ancient lava flows. Running nearly 165 miles from the Arizona border at Lupton to Belen, this former Santa Fe route through the Land of Enchantment continues to see a high volume of rail traffic.
Watch long double stacks, hot shot Z trains, coal, grain, and mixed manifests roll beneath the huge sandstone cliffs that mark the southern boundary of the Colorado Plateau. Thrill to the sight and sound of high horsepower diesels lugging freight over the Continental Divide and racing down the east side toward the Albuquerque Basin. Besides BNSF trains, catch Amtraks Southwest Chief racing between LA and Chicago plus the Escalante Western Railroad hauling coal to a power plant just off the main line.
Well even show you some of the last remaining semaphore signals still working on the nearby Raton Subdivision. This is modern day main line railroading through the rugged setting of the American southwest! This is BNSFs New Mexico Main Line: The Gallup Sub.
This program was shot in March of 2015.
Available on DVD and Blu-ray at 7ideaproductions.com. https://www.7ideaproductions.com/products/bnsfs-new-mexico-main-line?_pos=1&_sid=3453f94b3&_ss=r
0:00 Intro
2:42 Map
4:27 Lupton
12:11 East Defiance
14:44 Gallup
18:59 Zuni
20:10 McCune
22:56 Perea
30:38 South Guam
40:35 Continental Divide
42:27 Gonzales
45:53 Thoreau
48:55 Pegs
52:01 West Baca
53:59 Escalante Western Railroad
1:00:17 East Baca
1:04:05 Mount Taylor
1:08:12 Grants
1:14:00 The El Malpais
1:17:10 McCartys
1:19:07 Laguna
1:22:23 Quirk
1:24:10 Mormon Crossing
1:27:28 Rio Puerco
1:31:28 Dalies
1:39:00 Semaphore Signals on nearby Raton Sub
1:42:04 Belen")
![East to Laramie [Union Pacific through Wyoming]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XbF-Ld0enio/mqdefault.jpg "East to Laramie [Union Pacific through Wyoming]
For over 150 years Union Pacific’s transcontinental main line has played a key roll in the growth and prosperity of the nation. Since the driving of the golden spike at Promontory, Utah, the prairies of southern Wyoming have been alive with the humming of steel wheels.
7idea Productions takes you on a tour of Union Pacific’s Rawlins and Laramie Subdivisions between Green River and Laramie. This rarely visited portion of the Overland Route sees over fifty trains per day. The double track main line follows the route of the Overland Stage crossing the Continental Divide three times through Wyoming’s Great Divide Basin.
We will begin at historic Green River and head east for 250 miles. Watch coal being delivered to the Jim Bridger Power Plant and its origin at the Black Butte Mine. Then we cross over the Continental Divide to Wamsutter, then again at Creston and Hadsell before arriving at Rawlins. Entering the Laramie Sub, we will continue east passing the refinery at Sinclair and around the northeast side of the Medicine Bow Mountains before arriving at Laramie. This is two-and-one-half hours of great main line action over a portion of UP’s original stomping grounds! Join us now as we head East to Laramie!
This program is available on DVD and Blu-ray by visiting 7ideaproductions.com https://www.7ideaproductions.com/products/east-to-laramie?_pos=1&_sid=ea5dac096&_ss=r
0:00 Intro
2:50 Map
4:16 Green River
12:52 Kanda
15:09 Rock Springs
17:09 Baxter
20:16 Salt Wells
24:33 Thayer
30:25 Point of Rocks
44:56 Hallville
48:05 Black Buttes
51:57 Black Buttes Drag Line
1:00:21 Jim Bridger Power Plant
1:03:56 Patrick Draw
1:05:38 Bitter Creek
1:10:40 Table Rock
1:14:21 Tipton
1:18:08 Red Desert
1:13:31 Wamsutter
1:21:30 Latham Road (MP 716)
1:24:02 Creston
1:31:45 Hadsell
1:39:31 Rawlins
1:48:28 Sinclair
1:51:18 Ft Steele
1:55:10 Walcott
1:56:23 Durrant
1:57:52 Hanna
1:59:05 Como
2:00:26 Medicine Bow
2:03:33 Wilcox
2:08:13 Lower Pine Ridge
2:16:25 Cooper Lake
2:19:38 Howell
2:20:33 Laramie")
![Union Pacifics Lordsburg Sub Part 2 [Steins, NM to El Paso and the Morenci Copper Mine]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Zr7D5vEaUg8/mqdefault.jpg "Union Pacifics Lordsburg Sub Part 2 [Steins, NM to El Paso and the Morenci Copper Mine]
Rolling across the American Southwest between Tucson and El Paso, The Lordsburg Subdivision has been an integral part of the Sunset Route since its rails were first spiked down in 1880. In Part 1 of this two-part series, we covered the west half of the subdivision through Arizona between Tucson and Steins.
In Part 2, we continue east to El Paso as trains race across desert of southwestern New Mexico and into the Rio Grande Valley.
At Lordsburg, Arizona Eastern’s Clifton Branch provides access to the impressive Morenci Copper Mine. We will visit this fascinating operation complete with its own railroad: the Freeport-McMoRan Industrial. Watch a quintet of non-turbocharged GP38-2’s and dash 3’s battle a five percent ruling grade out of Clifton, Arizona.
Back on the UP main line, heavy stack trains over three miles long sprint across the desert, passing old lava flows and ghost towns. We will visit UP’s busy Santa Teresa Intermodal Facility which first opened in 2014. It is an important hub linking Los Angeles with Chicago, Houston, New Orleans, and Mexico. Finally, we will cross the Rio Grande River into the west Texas town of El Paso.
This program is available on DVD and Blu-ray at 7ideaproductions.com. https://www.7ideaproductions.com/collections/frontpage/products/union-pacifics-lordsburg-subdivision-part-2
0:00 Intro
2:22 Map
5:08 Steins
12:35 Gary
20:43 Lordsburg Junction
27:27 Morenci Copper Mine
1:03:46 Lordsburg
1:08:22 County Line
1:13:49 Demming Junction
1:18:03 Dona
1:22:38 Adin
1:29:53 Lava Flow near Afton
1:33:15 Afton
1:40:45 Lanark
1:42:27 Santa Teresa
1:56:24 Rio Grand Crossing
1:59:47 El Paso")
