Good morning. Thank you for the wonderful content. My Father and Grandfather would've LOVED to see these videos. Being railroad buffs- and having me in tow for many train-related adventures, I too appreciate them. Happy Father's Day to all!
Happy Fathers' Day to you as well! Thanks very much for the kind words and for watching our videos! Very much appreciated! Very glad that you find them interesting and informative!
Thanks for the kind words and ongoing support - and thanks too for commenting! Yes, it is easy to forget how much manual labor went into these massive builds - usually by the latest wave of immigrants, who worked hard for low wages.
I've been eagerly awaiting this episode and it's my favorite so far. I've always been mesmerized by the Winston Tunnel area. It's almost haunting. I hope in the next episode you cover some of the building ruins on the path to the old railway---as well as what looks like bridge supports in an area that I didn't think had a bridge. thanks for all your work on this terrific series!
Thank you for watching and commenting! And very glad that you enjoyed this video. Yes, we'll be discussing the trestle bridge, the ruins to the north of the bridge, and a few other structures nearby. If the east portal was open, you could easily spend a few days walking over this forgotten landscape. The place certainly does evoke certain feelings, knowing that many people died in the vicinity - and that it was once a bustling thoroughfare of train traffic. Thank you again for supporting the channel!
These videos are very professionally done. They could easily be used in a curriculum. I bet there is much data collection. Great works. Kudos to the creators.
Thanks very much for the kind words! And thanks too for watching and commenting. We like to dig deep to reveal as much as we can, particularly in the latter part of the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries, when the railroads were in their heyday. Thanks again!
Truly Stickney's "hole in the pocket"! So much icing during winter, men atop boxcars with men on top chopped icy stalagmites down opening up a way for the crew & trains. Keep heading west! Many thanks for your ventures . . . Tom/Stockton
Thank you for this informative video on the history of the Chicago Great Western Railroad's Winston Tunnel! I liked the fact that you went back in history to tell us how the different land formations in Northwestern Illinois were created. That information laid the foundation for the problems that were encountered in the building and maintenance of the Winston Tunnel. The information that you presented on the people who built and died in the construction of the Winston Tunnel and the people who worked at the tunnel was fascinating. I look forward to the next video on what the tunnel and the area around the tunnel looks like today.
Thank you for watching and the continual support! Very much appreciated! Very glad that you enjoyed the background regarding the underlying geology of the tunnel - as that sets up what the miners encountered in the late 1880s. Also glad that you enjoyed hearing about the workers - what they went through, their injuries, their deaths. It was a very human endeavor - a huge amount of blood, sweat, and toil went into that tunnel. It's truly remarkable that they were able to complete it within ten months. Thanks again!
In a much anticipated episode I was NOT disappointed. Lots of information and new info as well, you dive deep into your research and pull out hidden gems, thanks for all your well documented series and I look forward to the next BeHistoric episode, where ever it may take me !
Thank you very much for watching the video and the series. And thanks very, very much for the kind words and the support. So glad that you are enjoying the series and that we didn't disappoint with the Winston Tunnel chapter. We were a bit concerned that the topic has been so much discussed that people might be disappointed in our research - but the more we dug, the more we found. And so very glad that you too found it of interest. Thanks again!
I am a visual learner. The use of AI and deep dive research by Brian and Joyce made this episode above and beyond other discussions on the Winston Tunnel. The script and graphics were very informative and entertaining. Can’t wait for part 2. Keep up the great work.
Your videos on the Chicago Great Western in Illinois are superb. They filled in much information I did not know of our favorite area, Jo Daviess County and Galena. Thank you for the great amount of time it took to produce the series.
Very glad that you are enjoying the series! And thanks too for the kind words as they are much appreciated! It has been a fun series; and as a result of it, we've met some wonderful people along the way. Thanks again!
This was truly another great video of a tunnel so near to my home town of Freeport. So much tragedy and hardship went with building this tunnel and subsequent and almost constant rebuilding. Can you imagine the amount of man hours blood sweat and tears that went into this tunnel for it to be almost forgotten about today....
Thanks for watching and commenting! Yes, agreed. It was a huge accomplishment for the time, with only manual labor and steam powered devices. Multiple deaths and injuries too. And now it is slowly being reclaimed by the Jo Daviess hillside.
Very glad that you enjoyed the Winston Tunnel videos. A very interesting place that will hopefully be around for another generation or two. Thanks again!
A bunch of friends decided to find the tunnel (having a loose idea of its location) and we were able to enter it on what I recall as the East end. We ran out of time, but wish we would have explored the Western side as it was much more improved, and now gone. That was 25 years ago (or more). It was quite the adventure. No rattlesnakes were seen (cool March weather), the center section was collapsed intentionally from what we understood at the time. A fun day forbus for sure.
Thanks for watching the video and commenting! And thanks too for sharing your own personal experiences with the Winston Tunnel! Very interesting how open it was even 25 years ago. We didn't explore the east end, except by drone, as we could not find the property owners - and did not want to trespass. Besides, the pictures we had seen indicated that the east portal had been pretty much blocked up by now. As our video indicated, the west end was open, at least around the gated entrance - but the water drainage made it difficult, as it was about a foot or more deep. We would advise anyone exploring there to bring along and wear waders, if they want to get up close to the gate. The tunnel tips to the west and water will always accumulate there, unless the IDNR installs suitable drainage. Thanks again! Very much enjoyed your observations!
Thanks for watching and commenting! We've used AI generated photos in previous videos - but this was the most extensive use by far - as a large portion of the story had few or no images associated with it. Getting the "right" images was somewhat tricky, however - and took quite a few iterations on each topic. The image generators are nice - but AI still has quite a ways to go - and has difficulty with even some basic concepts, including human body parts. But, at the same time, it does provide a very good way of illustrating events that otherwise would have little or no support materials. Thanks again!
I believe that the shale the tunnel is bored through is also called "blue clay." I had spots of it in my yard when I lived in Ogle County near Oregon, Ill, and can attest to how thoroughly awful it is. Another thing the tunnel location was/is notorious for is the abundance of rattlesnakes in the area. Everyone I know who has ventured to the tunnel west's portal during warmer months has seen at least one during their hike. When steam engines were running, crews used to hit snakes sunning themselves on wall on the south side of west portal with boiler water out of a hose, cooking them instantly. It's a site much better visited during hibernation season.
Thanks for watching and for the additional information. Yes, there were references to the shale being referred to as "blue clay" as well. And so thanks for that. Your comments regarding rattlesnakes are also very useful and true. Definitely something to watch out for if anyone is hiking around that area. We did not encounter any - but we went in the colder months. Viewers should also watch out for ticks - they are definitely out there as well - even in the colder months.
Thanks for watching and very glad that you are enjoying the series! Yes, the Winston Tunnel was a huge achievement for the young railroad - but it may have perhaps been far better to build a new bridge over the Mississippi further south of Dubuque. That would have had more predictable construction and maintenance costs. Would be interesting to compare the long term costs of both and see which might have been the better long term business decision.
The Chicago Northwestern historical society magazine Northwestern Lines covered " the hole in Stickney's pocket " aka the Winston Tunnel back in the late 80s or early 90s. Apparently in the late 50s/early 60s the increasing size of freight cars was beginning to be an issue for the CGW and the tunnel clearances. Daylighting the tunnel was not an option and it was proposed to realign the main leaving the existing ROW at Stockton Illinois and rejoining the line at Graf Iowa IIRC. The most impressive feature would have been the bluff to bluff bridge over the Mississippi that would have been potentially one of the largest if not the largest bridge over the river. As it is the CGW was approached by the jolly green and yellow giant some few years later and with the merger the hole in Stickney's pocket became the problem of the Cheap & Nothing Wasted and ñot so much of a problem. Supposedly the cave in of the tunnel was rumored to be adjacent farmers " misplacing " some dynamite in the middle of the tunnel one night to prevent any use of the ROW as a trail through their land though considering the tunnel's bent on it's own self destruction it would have caved in on it's own without constant maintenance and up keeping so take that story as railfan bull session scuttlebutt with maybe a voiced landowner concern about trails as a microscopic grain of truth to set the story in motion.
Thanks for commenting with the additional information. Yes, we had read that article - very helpful. Interesting thoughts regarding the accidental explosion. Based on the tunnel's history - needing serious renovation and restoration every few decades - and given that it's been sixty years since anything has been done to it, it wouldn't be surprising that multiple cave-ins have since occurred. From what we could see externally of the hill, it looks like there have been significant cave-ins all along both the west and east sides of the tunnel, based on how the hill has seemingly collapsed right along where the tunnel is located. But very possible it got some help in its collapse along the way as well.
I knew a gentleman that worked the late night shift at the fan house. He said one night, everything seemed too quiet! He woke up to find a dozing rattler beneath chair!!!
Wow! That would wake you up! We didn't see any rattlers on our visit - but that was in the March timeframe - still pretty cold out. We would be much more mindful from May through September. Would not want to get bitten - not an easy place to get out quickly. Thanks for commenting!
Welcome to my neck of the CGW woods. Excellent retelling of the Winston Tunnel story. There are always a couple of what ifs that cross my mind when I think of the tunnel. What if the CGW had chosen a diffeent route in the 1st place? Something I am sure many of those dealing with the tunnel over the years also wondered. The other is what if the CNW hadn't kept running to Dubuque? I suspect that something might have been done to reroute the tracks. But we will never know. I do have 1 question for you. Did you use any of CW Finch's writings in your research on the Winston Tunnel?
Hi, thanks for commenting! Finally made it! Thanks for the advice and encouragement. Yes, its an interesting question regarding reroutes. It would be very interesting, for example, to compare the cost of a new Mississippi bridge, along with long term maintenance, relative to what was spent on the Winston Tunnel, both initially and for its multiple renovations and improvements. Regarding Mr Finch, we have certainly heard of his writings - but we did not have access to them while doing this research. We primarily used period newspapers, period CGW records (financial statements, etc), period magazine articles (eg Engineering News, Railway Age, etc) , period maps, period books, grave records, census records, and vital records.
I'm a member of the hub city museum in oelwein. We have a lot of info on the Winston tunnel when cnw took over cgw there main line was close to this line and cnw didn't see any use of the line cuz of the area it went through
A direct line from central Iowa to Chicago, I live near the ROW in Villa Park. I still don't know why it was abandoned and tore up. Short sided RR execs and government bureaucrats. Could have been used for a passenger line if anything!
Thanks for watching the video and commenting! Yes, it is very unfortunate. When you examine the old railroad maps, there was a fair amount of overlap between the Chicago & Northwestern and Chicago Great Western routes, particularly from Chicago to central Iowa. It's a shame that they couldn't preserve at least portions of this line, however, as it cut off entire communities. Thanks again!
Wow, this is the first piece of media I've come across using AI generated images along side historical pictures to tell a story. I'm still not sure how I feel about this, but I guess its better then showing the same few historical pictures over and over again, and it does help portray parts of history that weren't well documented, but I'm still a little shaken by this. I guess the future is now.
Thanks for watching and commenting! And thanks for the remarks about the use of AI. Understandable that it might be a bit unsettling. In this particular case, there were very few images related to much of the story being discussed - and so we felt the need to provide viewers with at least a facsimile of the information they were being told. That why we've used 3D modeling - and more recently AI image generation - as a means of giving viewers an idea of what is being discussed. We always label each image with either the author or source in the lower right hand corner - and so we try to make it clear which images are from DALL-E, or Bing Image Creator, or Midjourney, so that viewers know what is an actual photo versus an AI generated image. As we mentioned to another viewer, our experience has been that it takes many iterations of images on each topic to arrive at something that is useable. We wish that there were more actual photographs of the Winston Tunnel, especially under construction in the late 1880s. We know that some were taken - based on contemporary newspaper accounts - but very few have survived. Thanks again for your thoughts!
@@robchit1 Yes, that is among the hazards of using this AI image generators. As we've mentioned, they are very useful tools - but they have a ways to go. They often generate images with details that are entirely out of the context of the description. And so you do sometimes end up with images that are essentially correct but have something not quite right about them.
Great production value -- and the content detail is amazing. Great research and presentation.
Thanks very much for watching and commenting, Jon! Very much appreciated! Thanks too for the kind words.
Good morning. Thank you for the wonderful content. My Father and Grandfather would've LOVED to see these videos. Being railroad buffs- and having me in tow for many train-related adventures, I too appreciate them. Happy Father's Day to all!
Happy Fathers' Day to you as well! Thanks very much for the kind words and for watching our videos! Very much appreciated! Very glad that you find them interesting and informative!
Well done. Amazing how much hard work it took to create and maintain our railroads.
Thanks for the kind words and ongoing support - and thanks too for commenting! Yes, it is easy to forget how much manual labor went into these massive builds - usually by the latest wave of immigrants, who worked hard for low wages.
I grew up in Jo Daviess County, but you are teaching me a lot about it. Thanks!
Thanks for watching and commenting! We are glad that we are able to shed some light on this tunnel's remarkable history. Glad that you enjoyed it!
I've been eagerly awaiting this episode and it's my favorite so far. I've always been mesmerized by the Winston Tunnel area. It's almost haunting. I hope in the next episode you cover some of the building ruins on the path to the old railway---as well as what looks like bridge supports in an area that I didn't think had a bridge. thanks for all your work on this terrific series!
Thank you for watching and commenting! And very glad that you enjoyed this video. Yes, we'll be discussing the trestle bridge, the ruins to the north of the bridge, and a few other structures nearby. If the east portal was open, you could easily spend a few days walking over this forgotten landscape. The place certainly does evoke certain feelings, knowing that many people died in the vicinity - and that it was once a bustling thoroughfare of train traffic. Thank you again for supporting the channel!
These videos are very professionally done. They could easily be used in a curriculum. I bet there is much data collection. Great works. Kudos to the creators.
Thanks very much for the kind words! And thanks too for watching and commenting. We like to dig deep to reveal as much as we can, particularly in the latter part of the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries, when the railroads were in their heyday. Thanks again!
Truly Stickney's "hole in the pocket"! So much icing during winter, men atop boxcars with men on top chopped icy stalagmites down opening up a way for the crew & trains. Keep heading west! Many thanks for your ventures . . . Tom/Stockton
Thanks for commenting and the support! We are on our way west - many adventures to go!
Very much enjoyed this episode and I'm looking forward to your visit to the Tunnel in Part 2! Can't wait!
Very glad that you enjoyed this episode and the series! Thank you for watching and commenting!
WOW !!! absolutely a GREAT informative and detailed video. I wont be able to sleep till part 2 comes out!!
Thanks for watching and commenting! Glad that you enjoyed it! Hopefully you can still get some sleep between now and then! :-)
Absolutely super video and well researched to boot. I've enjoyed all of them.
Very glad that you enjoyed the video! Thanks for watching and supporting our channel!
Thank you for this informative video on the history of the Chicago Great Western Railroad's Winston Tunnel! I liked the fact that you went back in history to tell us how the different land formations in Northwestern Illinois were created. That information laid the foundation for the problems that were encountered in the building and maintenance of the Winston Tunnel. The information that you presented on the people who built and died in the construction of the Winston Tunnel and the people who worked at the tunnel was fascinating. I look forward to the next video on what the tunnel and the area around the tunnel looks like today.
Thank you for watching and the continual support! Very much appreciated! Very glad that you enjoyed the background regarding the underlying geology of the tunnel - as that sets up what the miners encountered in the late 1880s. Also glad that you enjoyed hearing about the workers - what they went through, their injuries, their deaths. It was a very human endeavor - a huge amount of blood, sweat, and toil went into that tunnel. It's truly remarkable that they were able to complete it within ten months. Thanks again!
In a much anticipated episode I was NOT disappointed. Lots of information and new info as well, you dive deep into your research and pull out hidden gems, thanks for all your well documented series and I look forward to the next BeHistoric episode, where ever it may take me !
Thank you very much for watching the video and the series. And thanks very, very much for the kind words and the support. So glad that you are enjoying the series and that we didn't disappoint with the Winston Tunnel chapter. We were a bit concerned that the topic has been so much discussed that people might be disappointed in our research - but the more we dug, the more we found. And so very glad that you too found it of interest. Thanks again!
I am a visual learner. The use of AI and deep dive research by Brian and Joyce made this episode above and beyond other discussions on the Winston Tunnel. The script and graphics were very informative and entertaining. Can’t wait for part 2. Keep up the great work.
Thanks very much for commenting and for the kind words and support, Jerry! Very much appreciated!
Your videos on the Chicago Great Western in Illinois are superb. They filled in much information I did not know of our favorite area, Jo Daviess County and Galena. Thank you for the great amount of time it took to produce the series.
Very glad that you are enjoying the series! And thanks too for the kind words as they are much appreciated! It has been a fun series; and as a result of it, we've met some wonderful people along the way. Thanks again!
This was truly another great video of a tunnel so near to my home town of Freeport. So much tragedy and hardship went with building this tunnel and subsequent and almost constant rebuilding. Can you imagine the amount of man hours blood sweat and tears that went into this tunnel for it to be almost forgotten about today....
Thanks for watching and commenting! Yes, agreed. It was a huge accomplishment for the time, with only manual labor and steam powered devices. Multiple deaths and injuries too. And now it is slowly being reclaimed by the Jo Daviess hillside.
Absolutely well done thank you! 🚆
Thanks very much for the kind words and support! Thanks too for commenting!
Great video and research. Thanks for making.
Very glad that you enjoyed the Winston Tunnel videos. A very interesting place that will hopefully be around for another generation or two. Thanks again!
A bunch of friends decided to find the tunnel (having a loose idea of its location) and we were able to enter it on what I recall as the East end. We ran out of time, but wish we would have explored the Western side as it was much more improved, and now gone. That was 25 years ago (or more). It was quite the adventure. No rattlesnakes were seen (cool March weather), the center section was collapsed intentionally from what we understood at the time. A fun day forbus for sure.
Thanks for watching the video and commenting! And thanks too for sharing your own personal experiences with the Winston Tunnel! Very interesting how open it was even 25 years ago. We didn't explore the east end, except by drone, as we could not find the property owners - and did not want to trespass. Besides, the pictures we had seen indicated that the east portal had been pretty much blocked up by now. As our video indicated, the west end was open, at least around the gated entrance - but the water drainage made it difficult, as it was about a foot or more deep. We would advise anyone exploring there to bring along and wear waders, if they want to get up close to the gate. The tunnel tips to the west and water will always accumulate there, unless the IDNR installs suitable drainage. Thanks again! Very much enjoyed your observations!
Another Great Video your research and narration is fantastic.
Thanks for watching and the kind words - very much appreciated! Glad that you enjoyed the video!
Love this episode! I grew up in Galena, and my girlfriend at the time lived on Blackjack Rd. She took me to see this. Thanks for the memories.
Very glad that you enjoyed it and that it brought back some good memories! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Another great video on the history of the Chicago Great Western!
Thanks for watching and commenting! Thanks too for the support!
This is some of the best use of AI images ive seen, to fill in gaps in history that there are no images of.
Thanks for watching and commenting! We've used AI generated photos in previous videos - but this was the most extensive use by far - as a large portion of the story had few or no images associated with it. Getting the "right" images was somewhat tricky, however - and took quite a few iterations on each topic. The image generators are nice - but AI still has quite a ways to go - and has difficulty with even some basic concepts, including human body parts. But, at the same time, it does provide a very good way of illustrating events that otherwise would have little or no support materials. Thanks again!
Loved it, and it is well documented. I am looking forward to Part 2 when you go there.
Glad that you enjoyed it and found it informative! Thanks for watching and commenting!
another great vid .. cant wait for the part 2
Thanks for watching and the continued support! Glad that you enjoyed the video!
Great job. Keep it coming.
Thanks for watching and commenting! Thanks too for the support!
Amazing history. Thank you for your efforts 😊
Thanks very much for watching and for taking the time to comment!
I believe that the shale the tunnel is bored through is also called "blue clay." I had spots of it in my yard when I lived in Ogle County near Oregon, Ill, and can attest to how thoroughly awful it is. Another thing the tunnel location was/is notorious for is the abundance of rattlesnakes in the area. Everyone I know who has ventured to the tunnel west's portal during warmer months has seen at least one during their hike. When steam engines were running, crews used to hit snakes sunning themselves on wall on the south side of west portal with boiler water out of a hose, cooking them instantly. It's a site much better visited during hibernation season.
Thanks for watching and for the additional information. Yes, there were references to the shale being referred to as "blue clay" as well. And so thanks for that. Your comments regarding rattlesnakes are also very useful and true. Definitely something to watch out for if anyone is hiking around that area. We did not encounter any - but we went in the colder months. Viewers should also watch out for ticks - they are definitely out there as well - even in the colder months.
Would love to see a segment between Olewine Iowa and K.C. MO.
Thanks for the suggestion! Perhaps sometime we will cover that. We will have to see how the coming months and years play out.
Thanks I'm really enjoying the series. Sounds like the Winston tunnel was doomed from the beginning.
Thanks for watching and very glad that you are enjoying the series! Yes, the Winston Tunnel was a huge achievement for the young railroad - but it may have perhaps been far better to build a new bridge over the Mississippi further south of Dubuque. That would have had more predictable construction and maintenance costs. Would be interesting to compare the long term costs of both and see which might have been the better long term business decision.
The Chicago Northwestern historical society magazine Northwestern Lines covered " the hole in Stickney's pocket " aka the Winston Tunnel back in the late 80s or early 90s. Apparently in the late 50s/early 60s the increasing size of freight cars was beginning to be an issue for the CGW and the tunnel clearances. Daylighting the tunnel was not an option and it was proposed to realign the main leaving the existing ROW at Stockton Illinois and rejoining the line at Graf Iowa IIRC. The most impressive feature would have been the bluff to bluff bridge over the Mississippi that would have been potentially one of the largest if not the largest bridge over the river.
As it is the CGW was approached by the jolly green and yellow giant some few years later and with the merger the hole in Stickney's pocket became the problem of the Cheap & Nothing Wasted and ñot so much of a problem. Supposedly the cave in of the tunnel was rumored to be adjacent farmers " misplacing " some dynamite in the middle of the tunnel one night to prevent any use of the ROW as a trail through their land though considering the tunnel's bent on it's own self destruction it would have caved in on it's own without constant maintenance and up keeping so take that story as railfan bull session scuttlebutt with maybe a voiced landowner concern about trails as a microscopic grain of truth to set the story in motion.
Thanks for commenting with the additional information. Yes, we had read that article - very helpful. Interesting thoughts regarding the accidental explosion. Based on the tunnel's history - needing serious renovation and restoration every few decades - and given that it's been sixty years since anything has been done to it, it wouldn't be surprising that multiple cave-ins have since occurred. From what we could see externally of the hill, it looks like there have been significant cave-ins all along both the west and east sides of the tunnel, based on how the hill has seemingly collapsed right along where the tunnel is located. But very possible it got some help in its collapse along the way as well.
I knew a gentleman that worked the late night shift at the fan house. He said one night, everything seemed too quiet! He
woke up to find a dozing rattler beneath chair!!!
Wow! That would wake you up! We didn't see any rattlers on our visit - but that was in the March timeframe - still pretty cold out. We would be much more mindful from May through September. Would not want to get bitten - not an easy place to get out quickly. Thanks for commenting!
I’d love to see a video this detailed about the C&GW line built up the hills going west of the Mississippi from Winona to Rochester Mn.
Thanks for commenting! Anything is possible in the future. For right now, we have a ways to go to Oelwein :-)
Welcome to my neck of the CGW woods.
Excellent retelling of the Winston Tunnel story.
There are always a couple of what ifs that cross my mind when I think of the tunnel. What if the CGW had chosen a diffeent route in the 1st place? Something I am sure many of those dealing with the tunnel over the years also wondered. The other is what if the CNW hadn't kept running to Dubuque? I suspect that something might have been done to reroute the tracks. But we will never know.
I do have 1 question for you. Did you use any of CW Finch's writings in your research on the Winston Tunnel?
Hi, thanks for commenting! Finally made it! Thanks for the advice and encouragement. Yes, its an interesting question regarding reroutes. It would be very interesting, for example, to compare the cost of a new Mississippi bridge, along with long term maintenance, relative to what was spent on the Winston Tunnel, both initially and for its multiple renovations and improvements. Regarding Mr Finch, we have certainly heard of his writings - but we did not have access to them while doing this research. We primarily used period newspapers, period CGW records (financial statements, etc), period magazine articles (eg Engineering News, Railway Age, etc) , period maps, period books, grave records, census records, and vital records.
I'm a member of the hub city museum in oelwein. We have a lot of info on the Winston tunnel when cnw took over cgw there main line was close to this line and cnw didn't see any use of the line cuz of the area it went through
Hi, thanks for commenting! We plan to visit the Oelwein railroad museum soon, so hope to learn more.
A direct line from central Iowa to Chicago, I live near the ROW in Villa Park. I still don't know why it was abandoned and tore up. Short sided RR execs and government bureaucrats. Could have been used for a passenger line if anything!
Thanks for watching the video and commenting! Yes, it is very unfortunate. When you examine the old railroad maps, there was a fair amount of overlap between the Chicago & Northwestern and Chicago Great Western routes, particularly from Chicago to central Iowa. It's a shame that they couldn't preserve at least portions of this line, however, as it cut off entire communities. Thanks again!
Wow, this is the first piece of media I've come across using AI generated images along side historical pictures to tell a story. I'm still not sure how I feel about this, but I guess its better then showing the same few historical pictures over and over again, and it does help portray parts of history that weren't well documented, but I'm still a little shaken by this. I guess the future is now.
Thanks for watching and commenting! And thanks for the remarks about the use of AI. Understandable that it might be a bit unsettling. In this particular case, there were very few images related to much of the story being discussed - and so we felt the need to provide viewers with at least a facsimile of the information they were being told. That why we've used 3D modeling - and more recently AI image generation - as a means of giving viewers an idea of what is being discussed. We always label each image with either the author or source in the lower right hand corner - and so we try to make it clear which images are from DALL-E, or Bing Image Creator, or Midjourney, so that viewers know what is an actual photo versus an AI generated image. As we mentioned to another viewer, our experience has been that it takes many iterations of images on each topic to arrive at something that is useable. We wish that there were more actual photographs of the Winston Tunnel, especially under construction in the late 1880s. We know that some were taken - based on contemporary newspaper accounts - but very few have survived. Thanks again for your thoughts!
@@BeHistoric And since you had to use other tunnel photos to enhance the story, I noticed some trains appeared European or such haha
@@robchit1 Yes, that is among the hazards of using this AI image generators. As we've mentioned, they are very useful tools - but they have a ways to go. They often generate images with details that are entirely out of the context of the description. And so you do sometimes end up with images that are essentially correct but have something not quite right about them.