The Last of NYC Steam In Chicago and on the Big Four. A Multi-Media slide show on DVD By JOHN SZWAJKART with 232 colored and black and White slides, 23 min of 8mm movies, plus recorded audio.  Running time is 1 hr 4 min.  This DVD covers NYC steam's last stand in the Chicago area and on the Big Four mainly around Kankakee, using a mix of black and white photos, colored slides, and 8mm movies all taken between ‘52 to ‘56.
    
Presented to the NYCSHS in 2016, the show starts at LaSalle Street Station.  Then stop's are made at well known railfan locations, Roosevelt Road Bridge, 16th Street, and Englewood.   At each location steam is captured with and without trains.  From 16th Street and beyond, 8mm movies show steam powered trains in action, all the way east across the state line into Indiana.  Producer John Szwajkart did an excellent job transcribing from tripod supported 8mm movies to digital video.
    
By early ‘56 steam was gone from Chicago, but for a short time, it  continued on the Big Four out of Cincinnati to nearby Kankakee.  Kankakee was easy to reach by train or by car.  Two trips, one in ‘55 and other in ‘56 are combined in a mix of slides and movies to illustrate a typical day.
    
The DVD ends with a mix of movies and slides covering the departures and arrivals of the morning passenger trains, one of which was the James Whitcomb Riley.  Both are Hudson powered and a bonus is the addition of sound.  A tape recorder was taken, on the last trip, and the trains were recorded with a plan to add the sound to the movies.  Originally this did not work, but now you can enjoy the results.
     

This DVD is a 2016 production first publicly offered at that year's NYCSHS convention.   The price is  $25.50 MSRP and $19.50 for members with shipping included.  Ohio residents must pay 8% Ohio sales tax.