Cascades Tunnel 4 Enya "A Day Without Rain" & Dave Carter...

[htc6600]

Pairing this great video and this great Enya song is pure genius. Anyone wishing to learn more about the area would do well to check out the Charles R. Wood book on the Great Northern.

[Nigel16032009]

This looks very like the Highland Main Line in Scotland. Tall ever green trees and single track. Is it always snowy here?

[murphicus]

@Nigel16032009

Thanks for the reply! No, the are is very green in the summer. The Cascade Mountians in Washington State are not part of the Rocky Mountains. Mt Rainier (SE of Seattle) is the tallest mountain in the range. The tunnel in the video is 8 miles long!

Search "North Cascade Tunnel" for more info on the area - a very interesting history - and very near here is the site of the largest train accident in US history - Train disaster at Wellington kills 96 on March 1, 1910. "Stevens Pass"

[CFrobertmartin]

what do you need to do to become a L engeneer? and how long does it take, i'm going to graduate from H-school in 1-2 years and this would be a good job

[murphicus]

My guess is that an engineer will reply (many railroad people watch these!), but I am not one. I actually cheated in this video by reversing the footage - I shot it from the rear of the Amtrak Westbound Empire Builder a few years ago... Good Luck!

[elrodjones]

I'm an ex trucker with some stories that will curl your hair. Little Liza Chain sure gave me the chills of some hard driving memories!

[Muthinator]

The Video is being played backwards at first...

[murphicus]

You are correct! It's a great way to get to the front of the train - unless there is smoke, or snow falling (or blowing around - or, one that rail road people have caught several times, the signals are red, so if it were going forward, the train should be stopping!

[Parlinear]

actually, u can tell its going backwards cuz theres this part where there's some smoke/steam/fog stuff and it was moving the wrong way....

[upbnrailroad]

Whats the stuff being sucked into the tunnel? Great Video!!! 5 stars!

[murphicus]

Hey Thanks! Actually, I cheated on this one! The video has been reversed, so the smoke from the engine is actually being blown West, out of the 7.8 mile long New Cascade Tunnel.

(There is a good Wikipedia article on the history of the "Cascade Tunnel")

They actually close the doors at the East end, and use huge fans to blow the diesel fumes out.

It is the longest railroad tunnel in the United States and was constructed by the Great Northern Railway, being put in service on January 12, 1929

[murphicus]

Also, you might notice that after the footage shows the train being "sucked" into the West end, it goes black, then the footage is faster, and the footage is the original direction as the train goes into the East end of the New Cascade Tunnel.

The "Roadsideamerica" site also has a great description of the "Old Cascade Tunnel" and calls it "The scariest place in America"

It's hard to see in Google Maps (it's a low res area) but there are lots of photos posted on Google Images.

[jsakr12]

happiness and sadness twins in different colors.....

[PikCstix]

Sweet, my car's name is Liza Jane after that song.

[indycar101]

That was cool! Thanks for the ride and the music. Retired Amtrak Engineer Chicago Div.

[indycar101]

After watching a few times, I've noted that we are running red signal's at a fast speed? What's up with that?

[murphicus]

Sometimes you just need to let art flow over you!

I reversed the footage... *SMILE*.... SHHHHHHH! Don't tell!

[indycar101]

Wellllll OK Then! That was a neat trick! Thanks for sharing!

[Bullettube]

Great video and great music!

[alexgago1228]

i feel sad for song.... beautiful

[JawsJaws]

Awesome video

[flyinghooker]

were can i get this song dave catcher

"liza jane"

[murphicus]

"Little Liza Jane" if from an amazing cd called"Drum Hat Buddha" from Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer - every song on it is... awesome - is the only word that comes to mind. Before Dave left us, he left these gifts - Do yourself a favor and search for Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer - and buy all 3 CD's - iTunes has double samples of all their songs.

[awesley1]

Wonderful video. I too love the music of Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer. But "Little Liza Jane" is on "When I Go."

[historyvideos101]

iTunes also now has all of their mucic - with 2 samples of each song!

[PikCstix]

It's on the album "When I Go"

[murphicus]

Thanks! Did you see that Tracy left a comment? *Smile* Very sweet of her...

[aleksankazakov]

I want to be an engineer and to be a redneck YYYEEEE

[TheShova]

It's pretty cool how the "entry" into the tunnel is backwards, and the vaper runs back into the tunnel. I wish we could run down the 2.2 grade into Sky that fast even Amtrak has to do 20 up and down the west side of the hill! Looks like it's going 50!!

[merrittdepot]

Very touching. I spent many weeks at Scenic with my dad in the 1960's when he worked there for the GN. Thank you.

A few minor corrections. 1) Eastward ascending gradient in the tunnel is 1.57%. 2) Only one fan runs when a train is in tunnel. Both fans are used to flush smoke after train has left. 3) Eastbound freights entering west portal receive ventilation. Westbound trains do not require ventilation, but one fan comes on after westbound has entered east portal and gone a short distance.

[UKTrainMan]

A nice video to start with but you really ruined it since there isn't much featuring the actually tunnel shown. Nice music though and the Dave Carter song is really catchy!

[Herreviken]

very beautiful view

[slimeskull]

Shot from DPU's or light power?

[fairlybursting]

Love this use of Dave Carter's "Liza Jane"! Thank you!

[murphicus]

Thank YOU Tracy!

I hope to do more over Spring Break.

[Cooldit]

Dosent Mofat Tunnel also do the same thing with the fans

[loophole3]

beautiful video, thank you!