Diverging Clear Productions

Diverging Clear Productions grew from a group of railfans that enjoyed filming, photographing and recording the sounds of American railroads. We amassed a large archive dating back to the mid-1980s before releasing our first audio CDs and VHS tapes in 2003. Since switching to digital formats in 2010, we have released over fifty programs covering both contemporary steam locomotive operations and fallen flags from the late eighties and nineties. Our motto is BY railfans, FOR railfans!
Illinois Central Gulf
76 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
The Heritage Series features railroads as they were in the 1980s and 1990s. This entry features the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad.
The Crab Orchard & Egyptian Railroad: A History Of A Unique Shortline
110 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Come along for a look at the last common carrier railroad to use steam power in daily revenue freight service: the Crab Orchard & Egyptian Railroad.
Southern Railway 630 On The Mainline To Cleveland
42 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Southern Railway 2-8-0 #630 got a rare chance to take to the mainline without diesel assistance for a series of four round trips from the museum to Cleveland, Tennessee.
Norfolk & Western 611: Makin' The Grade
74 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
In May, 2016, restored Norfolk & Western Class J 4-8-4 #611 returned to home rails for a series of excursions out of Roanoke, Virginia.
Steam Returns To Horseshoe Curve
78 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
One of the highlights of Norfolk Southern's 21st Century Steam program was Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 #765's visit to the former Pennsylvania Railroad route over Horseshoe Curve.
Union Pacific 844: The Shiloh Limited
43 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
This program looks at one of these trips, where the locomotive was brought in to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War battle at Shiloh, Tennessee.
Union Pacific's Little Rock Express
57 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Union Pacific's new steam regime announced a P.R. campaign called "The Great Excursion Adventure" where the public was invited to vote on the route for the train to take.
Then And Now: Crawford Hill
170 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
In this program, we visit the line from Alliance to Crawford in two eras: the late eighties under Burlington Northern and 2012 under BNSF.
Missouri Pacific: Last Days Of The Eagle
74 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
In this volume of The Heritage Series, we look back at the end of the Missouri Pacific.
Louisville & Nashville 152 Out On The Mainline
35 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Louisville & Nashville 4-6-2 #152 has spent most of her post-retirement at the Kentucky Railroad Museum; either on display or pulling trains on the museum's trackage.
Sixty Years Along The Illinois Central
120 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Come along for a look at six decades of history on the railroad known as The Mainline Of Mid-America, from 1938 through the end of the Illinois Central's independence.
Early CSX: The Rainbow Years
98 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Seen in this production are locomotives painted for Chessie System, Seaboard System, Family Lines, Louisville & Nashville, Seaboard Coast Line, the Clinchfield, and the Baltimore & Ohio.
Pullman Rail Journeys: Rebirth Of An American Legend
54 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Iowa Pacific made an attempt to bring back Pullman travel on intercity passenger trains in the form of Pullman Rail Journeys.
The Monticello Railway Museum
63 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
In this program, we see number 401 and three of those diesels: Wabash F-7A #1189, Milwaukee Road NW-2 #1649 and GP11 #8733.
Frisco 1522 On The Wabash
55 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
St. Louis & San Francisco 4-8-2 makes two of her earliest excursions, as she traveled from St. Louis to Decatur, Illinois, on October 22, 1988, and to Moberly, Missouri, on May 27, 1989
The Little River's Little Pacific
65 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Today's Little River Railroad is a tourist hauler based in Coldwater, Michigan, and we made visits in the spring and fall of 2013 to view this unique locomotive in action.
Sights And Sounds Of The Tennessee Valley
108 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Come along for a look at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. Ride the train, ride in the cab, visit the shops and go trackside over the space of a quarter-century.
The Rio Grande Scenic Railroad
45 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
One of the trains were steam powered for a time, and former Lake Superior & Ishpeming and Grand Canyon Railway 2-8-0 #18 was the power when we visited in 2012.
Southern 4501 To Summerville
79 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
During Norfolk Southern's five year long 21st Century Steam program, the railroad contributed to the restoration of two veterans of the original Southern Railway steam program: 2-8-0 #630 and 2-8-2 #4501.
5 Years Of 21st Century Steam
94 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Come along for a look at Norfolk Southern's five year 21st Century Steam program and see #630, #4501 , #611 and much more.
Southern Steam Returns
77 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Between the summer of 2010 and the spring of 2011, three preserved Southern Railway 2-8-0 Consolidations were returned to operation. In the spring and summer of 2011, we filmed all three of these locomotives.
The Strasburg Rail Road: The Steam Train To Paradise
94 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Come along for a look at the history an operations of the Strasburg Rail Road, one of the oldest heritage railroads in the U.S.
Norfolk & Western 611: Return To Roanoke
80 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Norfolk & Western Class J 4-8-4 #611 had one last hurrah on the mainline in 2017. Norfolk Southern's 21st Century Steam Program had ended its five year run in 2015, just as #611 had returned to service.
A Union Pacific 3985 Retrospective
117 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
In this program, we look back at operations of the famous Challenger on the eastern regions of the system from 1992 through her final train in 2010.
The Illinois Central: Back In Black
91 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
This program covers the yeas 1988 and 1989, when the mix-and-match look of the Illinois Central Gulf era gave way to the black diesels and "Death Star" image of the "new" Illinois Central.
The Illinois Central: 1990
73 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Locations include Effingham, Centralia, Carbondale, and the hill country between Makanda and Anna. Among the rarities seen are GP30 #2250, the only GP30 to receive new-image paint.
The Illinois Central: 1990-91
120 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
This program looks at the Illinois Central Railroad in 1990 and 1991. We begin with a look at the Edgewood Cutoff in 1990.
Frisco 1522 On Freight
62 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
St. Louis & San Francisco 4-8-2 #1522 was famous for her excursion career that lasted from 1988 to 2002. Occasionally however, she got out on the mainline with freight cars in tow instead of excursion riders.
Frisco 1522: Highball To Centralia
57 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
In June, 1993, St. Louis & San Francisco 4-8-2 #1522 made a pair of runs from St. Louis to Centralia, Illinois, as part of the Norfolk Southern steam program.
N.R.H.S. 1994: Peaches & Steam
100 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Our coverage begins with The Peach Blossom Special, a multi-day excursion that brought #1522 to Atlanta from her home in St. Louis, Missouri.
Steam Specials And Passenger Extras In 2014
92 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
We begin with a pair of excursions from Chattanooga headed up by Norfolk Southern's Southern Railway heritage unit #8099, which pitch hit for 2-8-0 #630.
Steamin' In 2016
100 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Come along for the results of our search for steam in 2016. We started in Roanoke, Virginia, as Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 #611 made a series of trips to Lynchburg and Walton on the former N&W mainline.
Steamin' In 2018
108 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Come along for our year's end look at steam in operation. Kicking things off, Southern Railway 2-8-0 #401 is seen performing for the cameras on a photo freight charter at the Monticello Railway Museum.
Steamin' In 2017
92 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
We start with Southern Railway 2-8-0 #401 at the Monticello Railway Museum, which looked great and sounded great with a guest whistle in the form of an authentic Illinois Central three-chime.
Conrail: Memories Of Big Blue
118 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Come along for a look at Conrail’s west end in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. This program was filmed on the former Pennsylvania Railroad line from Terre Haute, Indiana, to St. Louis, Missouri.
Steamin' In 2019
112 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Come along for our yearly look at steam! Iowa Interstate's Chinese QJ 2-10-2 #6988 made a visit to Illinois, continuing the policy of using the locomotive to pull trips to raise funds for area first responders.
Union Pacific: The MoPac Merger Years
110 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
This program looks at Missouri Pacific territory in Illinois as the Union Pacific image was taking hold between 1986 and 1988.
Union Pacific and Cotton Belt Midwest Joint Lines
119 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
All aboard for a look at a time when Union Pacific and Southern Pacific trains ran side by side on two lines into St. Louis in Missouri and Illinois.
Union Pacific: The Merger Years, Volume 2
109 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Come along for a continued look at the merger era Union Pacifc begun in Union Pacific, The MoPac Merger Years.
Early Norfolk Southern: 1987-1989
110 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
While the locomotives and equipment were being painted into a unified image, there were still a significant part of the fleet still operating in the paint schemes of both the Norfolk & Western and Southern Railways.
Then And Now: The Sand Hills Subdivision
125 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
The Sand Hills Subdivision was once a quiet backwater of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy system. Today, it is a heavy duty piece of railroad.
Burlington Northern: The Former Q In The Coal Fields
110 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
This program features action on the line filmed between 1986 and 1991, with U30C, C30-7 and SD40-2 locomotives as the main power moving western coal to Joppa, Illinois, and Paducah, Kentucky.
BNSF Begins
93 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Come along for a look at the beginnings of one of America’s two remaining western Class I railroads as the Burlington Northern and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe combined to form the BNSF Railway.
Early Norfolk Southern: 1985-1986
93 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
This program was filmed on the former Southern Railway St. Louis line between Bluford and Albers, Illinois. This line includes Centralia, a well known Illinois hot spot.
Norfolk Southern Takes Over The Middle Division
119 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Come along for a look at the former Pennsylvania Railroad line over the Alleghenies and around Horseshoe Curve in the first half of the 21st Century’s first decade, as remnants of Conrail survived even as the Norfolk Southern image had firmly taken hold.
Conrail: St. Loo To Horseshoe
118 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Come along for a look at Conrail in it’s prime during the first half of the 1990’s on former Pennsylvania Railroad lines in Illinois and Pennsylvania.
Early CSX: Changing Times On The West End
106 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
The early years of CSX are the focus of this program in The Heritage Series, featuring scenes of railroading that can never be experienced again.
Santa Fe: Bluebonnets And Kodachromes
69 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
This program features the Santa Fe in four locations in Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. The video footage was shot in 1988 and 1989.
Santa Fe 1990s Memories
84 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Join us for a look at the Santa Fe in its final years. Filmed between 1992 and 1995, this program visits the Santa Fe’s eastern end at several locations in Illinois, Missouri and Iowa.
Then & Now - Union Pacific's Chester Subdivision
240 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Come along with us for a look at thirty years of change along Union Pacific’s water level route south of St. Louis.
Dolton Junction, 1993
48 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Join us for a visit to a popular Chicago area hot spot as it was in July, 1993
Steamin' In 2021
118 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Steam locomotives in operation in six states in 2021.
Steamin' In 2022
120 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Old favorites and new restorations in our search for steam in 2022
Frisco 1522 in the Mid-90s
94 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Frisco 1522 on deadhead moves and excursions in the 90's.
Union Pacific 4014: Big Boy in the Midwest
82 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Union Pacific's Big Boy visits the Midwest in 2019 and 2021
Union Pacific's Living Legend
114 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Three decades of Union Pacific 844. Come along for a look at the only steam locomotive never retired by a Class I railroad in the U.S., Union Pacific 4-8-4 #844.
A Look At The Evansville Western's West End
115 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Come along for a look at a southern Illinois regional railroad
Then & Now: Centralia
164 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Come along for a look at change over the decades at a southern Illinois hotspot
Highlights Of Southern Steam: 2011-2019
120 Minutes by Diverging Clear Productions
Highlights from a decade of filming Southern Railway steam locomotives in action
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