High Speed Rail Travel
a three-hour train ride from Mexico to Canada
This week’s virtual tour of North America is brought to you by Reader’s Digest Home Video, AmVet’s Thrift Store in Knoxville, Tennessee, and me! As I was sorting through the tapes on the media shelves, I came across all three of these Scenic Rail Journey releases from 1996. This is the exact kind of stuff I love to find. Each are nearly an hour long and are the kind of media that just isn’t created anymore.
I recently watched practically all Max Headroom combined media over the past couple weeks. Multiple TV shows, a movie, adverts, news stories about the VERY real Max Headroom incident — I attempted to track down everything and watch it all. Something really stood out to me.
In the 1985 Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future movie, which reveals the tragic backstory of how Max Headroom was created, the TV stations are implementing something they call “blipverts” — three second ads intended to communicate all the information needed to compel a viewer to become a customer in the shortest amount of time. There's one small problem: The blipverts can cause people to spontaneously combust from having too much information packed into their heads.
In my experience away from streaming services, I think I’ve grown extra sensitive to advertisement. Not only can I recognize an advertisement from a mile away, but it also bothers me more when I see one. Modern advertisements are a lot like the blipverts from Max Headroom, though I don’t think they will cause any physical harm. I see a lot of similarities in how media has changed and morphed over the years, and I think the writers for Max predicted a lot of things we see as normal now.
That’s all to say I don’t think the videos I have for you this week would ever get made today. These are hour long montages featuring a good amount of history and information, but are ultimately created by tourism boards and were distributed by a general interest magazine publisher. What I’m saying is that each of these Scenic Rail Journey tapes is the kind of longform advertisement that doesn’t get made anymore and it’s the kind of marketing and advertisement that I think is completely lost these days.
I know for me, I grew up knowing everything on TV aimed at my demographic was workshopped specifically to get me to ask my parents to purchase something for me. I still love a lot of those shows and commercials, there’s a lot of substance there, even if the intention seems insidious. Transformers or He Man are great examples of this from the generation prior to mine, but by the time I was watching TV, every show had toys or merch associated with it —it had become normal.
I love finding these relics, and I love being able to present them to all of y’all in the highest quality I can, and this is the first batch of digitizations where I’ve implemented my new capture rig! It may not be instantly noticeable, due to the already somewhat low fidelity nature of VHS recordings, but the new rig is capturing double the resolution from previous setups of mine, and even syncs the audio much more reliably. Be on the lookout this coming month for more information about the gear I’m using to capture, if you’re interested.
But for now: all aboard!
The Copper Canyon & The Coast Starlight
1996 | Runtime 50 minutes
The Copper Canyon
You'll have a first-class window seat as you travel along the Sierra Madre Express from the busy border town of Nogales to the heart of Mexico's vast, colorful Copper Canyon. Enjoy stunning vistas such as the 100-mile view from the soaring 8,000 foot heights of the Continental Divide. Witness astounding feats of engineering such as the 1,000 foot long Rio Chinipas Bridge suspended 355 feet over the river. Take a helicopter ride over the towering cliffs of scenic Copper Canyon -- and more!
The Coast Starlight
Ride the Coast Starlight up California's legendary Pacific coastline through the scenic Santa Lucia Mountains. Next stop, tour the glittering opulence of historic Hearst Castle in San Luis Obispo. Relax on the luxurious Napa Valley Wine Train. Then it's on to the misty valleys and quaint towns of America's scenic Northwest -- and more!
The Alaska Railroad
1996 | Runtime 50 minutes
Hear the train whistle blow as you pull out of the station to begin your adventure on the Alaska Railroad. You'll journey from Anchorage to Fairbanks and Seward, crossing America's last frontier, a vast unspoiled wilderness where nature reigns in pristine wonder.
You'll roll through the awesome snow-capped Mt. McKinley, tallest mountain in North America. You'll travel deep into 7,000 square-mile Denali National Park to see moose and brown bears. You'll pan for gold, marvel at 1,000 foot long Hurricane Bridge -- and more.
Enjoy the thrill of the ride, the splendor of the sights. All aboard!
The Canadian Rockies & the Adirondack
1996 | Runtime 50 minutes
The Canadian Rockies
You'll ride the rails on The Skeena from the charming Rocky Mountain town of Jasper to the quaint fishing village of Prince Rupert Harbor. Along the way you'll cross 191 bridges, wind your way through 14 tunnels and see countless tranquil lakes and tumbling waterfalls.
The Adirondack
Climb aboard the Adirondack for a ride though one of the most historic and beautiful regions in the United States, along the fabled shores of the rolling Hudson River. You'll round the bend to witness stunning serenity from the famous Adirondack Mountains to charming Montreal in Canada's Quebec Province.
If you’d like to check out my other archival work, please check out my Youtube playlists for video and audio archives.
Thanks so much for checking out this week’s edition of Diptych. As always, if you have any questions or comments you can get at me here or here or leave a comment below this post. If you haven’t subscribed to this newsletter yet (it’s free) please think about doing so.
See you soon.
—Forrest
👀
The Alaska one is so fun!