Inside the Belt Railway of Chicago
By Midwest Video Productions

This documentary style program gives us a rare look at a self-contained railroad. Every railroad that runs in and out of Chicago interchanges with the Belt Railway of Chicago (BRC). We'll see hump yard action and watch cars being humped from the control tower. We'll go inside the tower and the full service engine house. We'll get some cab views and visit the dispatching center.

And, of course, we'll see the trains! Transfers, yard jobs and mainline trains. We'll visit Clearing Yard and use maps to get a better idea of the flow of cars through Clearing Yard.

Midwest Video Productions was most active in the mid-to-late 1990s when mergers were happening and flags were falling at a fast clip. This video was shot using professional equipment of the time, but is not up to the clarity of today's high-definition video. It is however an excellent snapshot of an important time in the nation's railroad history.