I took the Mavic 2 Zoom out and caught some video of Union Pacific's "Big Boy" as it traveled between Tucson and New Mexico today. Since this was the first time I've ever tracked moving subjects, I'm not as smooth on the tracking as I'd like to be, but I'm still happy with how it turned out.

Other than it seems YouTube makes the video a bit jerky for some reason. The edited video played smooth on my computer before I uploaded it.

Beautiful subject.
Any idea why they send a diesel engine along?

You might be better off flying the bird by hand

Hello and good day Hoomi. Thank you for sharing this impressive aerial video you have captured. Great work and thank you for your support.

Montfrooij Posted at 10-20 05:54
Beautiful subject.
Any idea why they send a diesel engine along?

Actually, it was all done by hand.

My suspicion is the diesel provides the modern electronics and communications for the Centralized Traffic Control system on the line, and possibly electrical power for the passenger cars. At no point, when I saw it, did I see any visible exhaust from the diesel.

The Big Boy was designed to haul heavy freight trains across the Wasatch Range between Wyoming and Utah. It has a tractive force of something like 135,700 foot-pounds. That passenger train behind it was not much of a load for a locomotive of its type. It didn't need the diesel for any help.

Hoomi Posted at 10-20 18:16
Actually, it was all done by hand.

My suspicion is the diesel provides the modern electronics and communications for the Centralized Traffic Control system on the line, and possibly electrical power for the passenger cars. At no point, when I saw it, did I see any visible exhaust from the diesel.

Have ridden on a train, with diesel electric locomotive, pulling a box car with diesel powered generator to provide electricity to rest of train cars.  Easier to maintain frequency output, since diesel electric locomotives engine speed would change with power required going up and down grades.

In your video, there appears to be a box car behind diesel electric locomotive, with doors open.   Open doors being for cooling diesel powered generator?


As such, Diesel electric might be serving as a backup engine in case of mechanical problem with Big Boy, along with providing required electronics and communications.  

Nicely captured, thanks for sharing.

Hoomi Posted at 10-20 18:16
Actually, it was all done by hand.

My suspicion is the diesel provides the modern electronics and communications for the Centralized Traffic Control system on the line, and possibly electrical power for the passenger cars. At no point, when I saw it, did I see any visible exhaust from the diesel.

I guess you are right!

And you might need to try that again (and again) to get more experience with tracking trains
(as a small bonus I can see more of these video's here .....)
So it is a win-win situation

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 10-20 23:18
Have ridden on a train, with diesel electric locomotive, pulling a box car with diesel powered generator to provide electricity to rest of train cars.  Easier to maintain frequency output, since diesel electric locomotives engine speed would change with power required going up and down grades.

In your video, there appears to be a box car behind diesel electric locomotive, with doors open.   Open doors being for cooling diesel powered generator?

The car immediately behind the diesel locomotive is the baggage car. It would not surprise me if there are some of the tour crew, traveling with the train, inside there, and they have the doors open for ventilation. They set up a souvenir table at the "on display" stops, and based on the line waiting to visit it when it was on display here in Tucson on Friday, I'm guessing they are carrying a lot of merchandise on the train (likely with resupply shipments awaiting them at various stops along the route). I'd bet that crew members take the time between stops to check inventory, prep boxes, etc., before arriving at the next on-display location.

I'm seriously considering planning some more trips out to the San Simon rest area in the future, to practice getting more videos of trains. It's a great location for such, as it's safe parking, a fantastic view of the tracks, with the ability to see a train approaching well ahead of its passing by, no airports anywhere close, and convenient bathrooms. Since this is the Union Pacific's main Southwest route from California to Texas (and beyond), it tends to get plenty of traffic. It's a bit over a hundred miles from home, but easy freeway miles.

Montfrooij Posted at 10-21 00:39
I guess you are right!

And you might need to try that again (and again) to get more experience with tracking trains

I have some video of a couple of freight trains that went by on Saturday as well. I'll edit them together into a video and get them posted.

Hoomi Posted at 10-21 10:33
I have some video of a couple of freight trains that went by on Saturday as well. I'll edit them together into a video and get them posted.

Nice nice nice!

Of course, you can always reciprocate, and post railway videos from the Netherlands and/or other portions of Europe.

Should've used Activetrack while on the move.

Excellent footage

Hoomi , nice video thank you for sharing.  Was a first for me to see a locomotive that long.  It was also nice to see all those train watchers, good to know folks still get out to watch the trains.  I think your handling of the drone was good, rather smooth.

Thanks for posting this; I used to check the UP website periodically but for a while none of their steam was going anywhere, and I got out of the habit of looking. I just checked, though, and it turns out that 4014 will be coming fairly close to me in the near future, so I'm probably going to meet up with it. There's actually a "Big Boy" nearby, but it's parked in a museum and not likely to be going anywhere and I'd like to see one in action firsthand.

thanks for sharing

djiuser_IJ7oTXK2Xt8l Posted at 10-22 13:54
Thanks for posting this; I used to check the UP website periodically but for a while none of their steam was going anywhere, and I got out of the habit of looking. I just checked, though, and it turns out that 4014 will be coming fairly close to me in the near future, so I'm probably going to meet up with it. There's actually a "Big Boy" nearby, but it's parked in a museum and not likely to be going anywhere and I'd like to see one in action firsthand.

Seeing it in person is definitely worth it!

Looks good, thank you.

A bit jerky but REALLY cool train footage.  Especially at 4:55. Really nice smooth tracking there and nice shots of both trains side-by-side.

Bing Err Posted at 10-23 22:22
A bit jerky but REALLY cool train footage.  Especially at 4:55. Really nice smooth tracking there and nice shots of both trains side-by-side.

Yeah, I need to practice a bit more with tracking moving subjects. I could have tried the auto-track on the Zoom, but I wanted a varying view of the train, instead of having the drone focus on just the locomotive and from a single angle. Add to the issue that this was only the fourth and fifth time I've flown the Zoom.

I did notice that there was some jerkiness to the video that was induced by the upload to YouTube, but that's more in the smoothness of the video playback itself, rather than the tracking.

I also kept forgetting which way to push the knob for the up/down tilt on the camera.

Hoomi Posted at 10-26 18:01
Yeah, I need to practice a bit more with tracking moving subjects. I could have tried the auto-track on the Zoom, but I wanted a varying view of the train, instead of having the drone focus on just the locomotive and from a single angle. Add to the issue that this was only the fourth and fifth time I've flown the Zoom.

I did notice that there was some jerkiness to the video that was induced by the upload to YouTube, but that's more in the smoothness of the video playback itself, rather than the tracking.

Still looks great, and with some selective editing would make a very professional looking video.

djiuser_IJ7oTXK2Xt8l Posted at 10-22 13:54
Thanks for posting this; I used to check the UP website periodically but for a while none of their steam was going anywhere, and I got out of the habit of looking. I just checked, though, and it turns out that 4014 will be coming fairly close to me in the near future, so I'm probably going to meet up with it. There's actually a "Big Boy" nearby, but it's parked in a museum and not likely to be going anywhere and I'd like to see one in action firsthand.

Where do you look for the train schedule? I'd like to know when longer trains are going through my home town (Rochester, MN) so I can have a heads up and get a nice setup shot.

Bing Err Posted at 10-26 19:17
Where do you look for the train schedule? I'd like to know when longer trains are going through my home town (Rochester, MN) so I can have a heads up and get a nice setup shot.

https://www.up.com/heritage/steam/schedule/index.htm

Very nice video

Badass work.....I was mountain biking in Davidson Canyon the day it came through and met a fellow mavic pilot. I have not seen his footage, but yours is looking good. Well done