A whole new angle: drone video of Amtrak #359 in Jackson, MI

[jamesontheroad]

Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but the video is just a few days old.

A drone camera operator was in Jackson, MI recently with a remote controlled Phantom 2 Vision+ Drone, and made this impressive arrival and departure video...



Notwithstanding the dangers of operator a drone in close proximity to railroad operations, it's a cool video.

 

[MikefromCrete]

While I have reservations about a drone circling a passenger train, it was a really cool, dramatic video.

 

[jamesontheroad]

While I have reservations about a drone circling a passenger train, it was a really cool, dramatic video.

+1.

Especially around tracks with overhead power lines... can a railroad ban overflights of their trackage?

 

[gaspeamtrak]

Different! Very neat! I wonder what the Amtrak engineer thought??? :blink: :huh:

 

[fairviewroad]

Different! Very neat! I wonder what the Amtrak engineer thought??? :blink: :huh:

Well, the same drone operator captured a video at the same station back in April and the engineer seemed pretty happy about it, as evidenced by the interaction at 0:23 in this video.



Of course...what is the engineer doing while he's making love to the camera? Not watching the grade crossing in front of him, of course. And I don't mean that as a knock against the engineer...anyone would be distracted by a small aircraft hovering at eye level not too far away. Engineers have enough to worry about on the ground...I don't think we should encourage more distractions in the air.

That said, the angles are undeniably cool. I think these could be reasonably done with a minimum level of separation between drone and train, and if the angles are from above (so as not to distract the on-board crew). Also, I'd worry about a drone operator getting caught up in operating his toy that he inadvertently wanders onto a live track...which could end badly. And, I would also think that a ban on operating these things over station platforms would also be in order. You'd think this would be common sense but sometimes you just need to spell it out in rule of law.

 

[MrFSS]

Freight in Tennessee that is rather nice.

 

[Alice]

In the first video you can see the drone shadow on the engine at about 1:10. Is the kid stepping back at the same place the operator? You can sure see the difference a few months of practice has made in flying the drone smoothly, between the two videos.

 

[Ziv]

Sean Heavey moved to my old home town in Montana and has done some incredible work with shots of thunder cells. You probably have seen the one on National Geographic, but he also has done a video of a little dam 10 miles west of my town and it is pretty spectacular with a drones view of the dam and then a BNSF freight train rolling by with a panorama of the Milk River valley.

http://vimeo.com/95395400

This is his photo of a thunder cell, also near Glasgow, Montana.

http://pronaturephotographer.com/2010/12/sean-heavey-captures-a-once-in-a-lifetime-photo/

These drones are opening up a new look at the world.

 

[MrFSS]

Some of the scenes look like a model railroad!

 

[noob]

It doesn't have to be an expensive hobby

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EXBDWZC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[kneemeister]

Drayton is a very talented young videographer. Check out some of the rest of his videos on his YouTube channel, Delay in Block Productions. I had the pleasure of spending the Afternoon with him at the Deshler rail park a few weeks ago.

www.youtube.com/user/DelayInBlock

 

[kneemeister]

In the first video you can see the drone shadow on the engine at about 1:10. Is the kid stepping back at the same place the operator? You can sure see the difference a few months of practice has made in flying the drone smoothly, between the two videos

That was him in the shot. Its amazing to watch the copter hover over the tracks, I was with him a few weekends ago as he filmed a couple trains on CSX between Deshler and Defiance