Pentrex Ending Video Tape Sales July 31st

SONY 5850 3/4" VCR with SMPTE code reader installed! $50, originally uploaded by Great Deals Every Day.

As a railfan, you may know the name Pentrex; they have provided train nuts like me with truckloads of railroading video entertainment for more than two decades. Not only do they offer their own content, but also the entire catalog from Video Rails. Son David's favorite Pentrex products are mostly video tapes, ones we've picked up over the years at clearance racks, surfside bookstores, and on eBay. They include:

- Those Incredible ALCOs Volume II
- Snow On The Run
- Trains Along The Upper Mississippi
- Above California Rails

Now Pentrex is focusing their business on DVDs only, and ending all sales of video tapes after July 31st. So for one more day they are offering most of their VCR Tapes for $9.95 each! Final chance to get some great railroading tapes for cheap, if you still have a VCR like we do. Railroading media (books, magazines, DVDs etc) tend to be expensive since it's a niche market, so an opportunity like this one is a great way to get the good stuff for cut rate; and we all know how important that is right now!

My order has been placed, and we'll be receiving:

- Battle For Donner Pass
- Street Running

Hope you find something good too!

Clouds and Double Stacks

The Rain on Plain, originally uploaded by steveeshom.

Steve Eshom got this stunning shot of clouds above double stacks in Chelan County. Let's face it: unless you're really into taking pictures of locomotives, by themselves, sitting on tracks in a yard, getting out into the weather and catching those same locomotives in their element can be very rewarding! I'll admit that I do like to take "roster shots," but catching something like this would be my Holy Grail.

Happy Independance Day!

Photo courtesy of BL1961 on Flickr

Here's to a day whose real reason is lost on so many, buried under one-day sales and family get-togethers. If I could ask for one thing today, it would be that everyone have a chance to experience freedom in some measure.

Enjoy the day everyone!

Jalopnik Repost: Ten Worst Train Stations

Jalopnik typically writes about auto-related issues, because they're gear heads and like big diesels. But in an odd twist recently they wrote about the Ten Worst Train Stations in The World. It's a real crop.

Their post goes hand-in-hand with another blog post from The Infrastructurist on Eleven train stations that got the wrecking ball (six more listed HERE).

Great reading!

Video - Sound Transit Light Rail Testing

Oran Viriyincy posted this video of Light Rail testing in the Rainier Valley. It's 9 minutes of crossings, honks, bells, and traffic. Great stuff when you like trains, that's for sure!

If you can't see the embedded video below, click HERE to see it directly on YouTube.