View From the Head End

Recently a Youtube channel appeared called View From The Head End, that was posting complete head end cab videos from Amtrak trains. These were not the more typical "reversed" videos taken from a rear facing window, but legit head end videos that documented both signals and signaling. More significantly the videos were up to date, likely all recorded within the last couple of years. My first thought was that someone had recently retired because since the early 2000's Amtrak (and I assume most railroads) have been somewhat anal about employees moonlighting as content creators. Well, I guess they hadn't retired because if you haven't noticed the link is broken and the entire channel is gone.

While the practice of workers recording head end videos to feed Youtube channels seems to be quite common in Europe (where I should add its practically impossible to fire railway workers), there are surprisingly few full-line inside-the-cab videos from North America. Up through the early 2000's there was a cottage industry head end videos being sold at "Train Shows" on either VHS or DVD. Some of these were professionally produced by outfits like Pantex, while others were made by AV savvy employees with access to a Hi-8 camera and a capture card. Unfortunately the rise of The Internet brought this wildcat era of video to an end as the speed of information made it easier for previously underground works to become known by regulators, the media and lawyers.

In the early years of Youtube, spotty internet connections and the more ephemeral nature of online data encouraged folks to save off important video content like head end videos. This practiced has decreased as the internet became more reliable overall, however when you find something that seems too good to last, you might want to leap into action and save off a local copy. In a sliver of good news I was able to watch some of the videos before they vanished and resolve some outstanding signal questions I had.

Meanwhile if you'd like something similar to watch I can provide two pairs of videos from the late 2000's covering an Acela trip from Boston to NYP (head end) and the Former Conrail Chicago Line between Buffalo and Albany (rear facing). Intended for Train Show (tm) sale both had been scrubbed of ambient cab sounds and the Chicago Line also being video reversed (which I was able to undo). Although mostly silent, the Chicago Line video in particular captures the NYC/Conrail signaling immediately before its complete replacement ~2010.