Watch The History of American Railroads: The Years of Steam (2007) Online Free
The History of American Railroads: The Years of Steam traces the rise and decline of American steam railroading, following classic steam trains from their prominence in the 1920s through the 1940s, the transition years of the 1950s, and the twilight of steam in the 1960s and early 1970s. Featuring historic railroads including the Central Railroad, Reading Railroad, Delaware and Hudson, Ontario and Western, Canadian Pacific, Pennsylvania Railroad, Baltimore and Ohio, and New York Central, the documentary explores the legacy of America’s steam era.
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May 27th, 1971 was a rainy day. In the small town Radevormwald, the world seems to be still in order. But on this day, 46 people die in a train crash, amongst them 41 schoolchildren. Since then, Radevormwald has been connected with one of the worst railway catastrophes of Germany. The touching documentary reconstructs the tragedy and shows how much the event still influences the life in the town until today.
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Quintinshill: Britain's Deadliest Rail Disaster
Neil Oliver describes the worst ever railway accident in the UK, which happened a hundred years ago on 22 May 1915, in which three trains collided at Quintinshill near Gretna Green. One of the trains was a troop train taking soldiers to fight in World War I at the Battle of Gallipoli: many of the dead were in this train which caught fire due to escaped gas from the archaic gas lighting in the carriages. The cause of the crash was attributed to a catastrophic signalman's error, but Neil examines whether there were other contributory factors and whether there was a cover-up to prevent investigation of them, making convenient scapegoats of the signalmen.
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