Train Drone Videos

Copper Canyon is one of the great natural treasures of Mexico. Situated in the northwestern state of Chihuahua, it's actually a system of six connected canyons formed by six different rivers which drain the nearby mountains into the Gulf of California.  The main canyon is traversed by a railroad, construction of which took over four decades due to the challenging conditions.  Award-winning contributor PostandFly created this incredible drone video of the magnificent canyon and its train line.

The Alaska Railroad is the sole operating railroad in this gigantic state of Alaska, the USA's 49th state.  It is a Class II railroad which runs about 740 km (470 mi) from the southern part of the state up to Fairbanks in the north.  Due to the difficulty of railroad construction in the Arctic and near-Arctic conditions, it is the only rail service in the USA to carry passenger and freight trains on the same system.  Contributor Alaska42 used a drone to get an aerial view of a train running through the winter landscape.  

Turkey's Eastern Express train is an overnight passenger route between the national capital Ankara and Kars, the northeasternmost Turkish city.  Operating since the 1930's, it's a popular way for tourists to see the beautiful scenery of Eastern Anatolia.  Its winding route takes it through the Ardahan Province, which lies a bit north of Kars near the borders with Georgia and Armenia.  In this drone video by Murat Turna, you'll see the train speeding past Lake Çıldır, one of the largest in the region.

Amtrak is the only large scale passenger railroad in the United States, and its route between Southern and Northern California is one of the busiest passenger routes in the country.  While it's not a high speed electric line, its trains streak up and down the West Coast at a respectable clip by American standards.  In this video, AirVuz contributor Steven Conroy used some great drone piloting skills combined with a great post-production edit to create this amazing aerial view of a 5 km (3 mi) chase of an Amtrak train down the California coast.  

Contributor Katie.j11 created this awesome bird's eye look at the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railway in New Mexico.  The narrow-gauge historic railroad runs just over 100 km (around 60 mi.) between  Antonito, Colorado and Chama, New Mexico in the Southwestern USA.  Famously, the railroad was the filming location for a chase scene in the 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the third installment of the Indiana Jones series which was a collaboration between Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.  

Former Drone Video of the Week Winner CINEMADRONE brings us this excellent drone video of Russia's only regularly-operated steam train.  The Ruskeala Express is a historic railway in Russia's Republic of Karelia, about 170 mi. (around 270 km) north of St. Petersburg.  The train runs a roughly one hour route between the town of Sortavala in southern Karelia on the northern shore of Lake Ladoga to the mountain park of Ruskeala, one of Karelia's top attractions and the site of some famous (now-disused) marble quarries.

The Tulip Viaduct is a train bridge which spans about 700 meters (2.3k ft) in the Midwestern state of Indiana.  Constructed in 1906 by the Indianapolis Southern Railway, the bridge was (for a time) the longest train trestle in the United States.  Contributor and pilot dru.43pro used a DJI Phantom 4 drone to make an aerial video of this landmark.  The magnificent video shows the lush Indiana landscape surrounding the bridge and concludes with a bird's eye view of a train speeding along its steel rails.  

Check out this video for a rare look at one of Japan's bullet trains.  Known as the Shinkansen, the high-speed rail system here encompasses a network of rail lines which collectively cover almost 2.8k km (1.7k mi.).  Top speeds of these trains reach 240-320 km/h (150-200 mi/h), and can in the right circumstances be faster than jet travel between certain cities.  Watch the video and you'll get a sense for how fast these trains move; you will also realize how impressive Japan's safety record is given the very high speeds involved.  

New AirVuz contributor and pilot Above Summit brings us this fantastic drone video of an iconic historical railway in the USA's New England region.  It's the Conway Scenic Railway, and it runs two routes from the New Hampshire town of North Conway.  With its main station listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the railway is located in the Mount Washington Valley, which is surrounded by some of the highest mountains in the eastern United States.  The video was filmed during the brilliant New England Fall colors season.  

Drone Hunter brings this amazing drone video of an event most people don't know exists - a train race!  The Puffing Billy Railway, a heritage steam line north of Melbourne in Australia's Victoria state, puts on an event every year where two of its steam-driven trains go head to head on the narrow gauge track.  The event is a reminder of the importance of railroads to the development of Victoria, which exploded in a gold mining rush in the 1850s and for a time was Britain's wealthiest colony.

Even though the Age of Steam has passed, there remains a profound fascination with the idea that giant trains could be propelled with steam generated by burning coal.  Near Lake Bled, Slovenia, an old bridge carries steam trains across the Vintgar Gorge.  It's just a few km/mi from Lake Bled, probably the most well known spot in this beautiful Central European country.  Contributor and pilot Kohlman Aerials made this short but impressive drone video of this scene, which appears to be something out of the 19th century.  

The 400 meter (1.3k ft) Ribblehead Viaduct was opened in 1875 to carry trains across a valley in North Yorkshire, England.  The bridge was one of the key pieces of infrastructure to allow frequent and smooth north-south train passage between the UK regions of England and Scotland.  Contributor and pilot Stratus Imagery used a drone to film the Flying Scotsman Edinburgh-London train making its way over the famous viaduct, which has made appearances in numerous movies and TV shows.

Lakelside & Haverthwaite Railway is a historical (narrow gauge) railroad which runs a course of about 5 km (3 mi.) through the Lake District of County Cumbria in the North West England region.  Sections of the road were once used to film footage for the Thomas the Tank Engine TV series.  In this drone video by Joshua Paul Gardner, you'll get an amazing bird's eye view of this historic railroad, which runs through an area of some of the most beautiful natural scenery in the entire United Kingdom.

Contributor and drone pilot Floating-Pixel created this aerial video of an amazing annual train-related event in South Africa.  The Sandstone Estate Steam Festival celebrates the heritage of railroads and powered farm equipment in the development of South Africa.  It's held at the Sandstone Estates, a giant farming enterprise in the Free State.  The estate is home to a heritage narrow gauge railway as well as a large collection of farm equipment from a museum that collapsed in the 1990's.  

Contributor Alexeykalinin created this beautiful drone video of a steam train running through the forests of western Russia.  The video was filmed around Kuzhenkino, a town in the Bologovsky District.  The district is part of the Tver Oblast (province), which lies to the northwest of Moscow.  Tver is one of the 18 provinces which make up Russia's official Central Region.  Apart from the great city of Moscow, much of the region is covered in forests like the landscape you'll see in this video.  

Contributor and pilot Murat Turna created this highly cinematic drone video of an express train rolling through the countryside of eastern Turkey in the depths of winter.  It was shot in the Kars province, which lies in the far northeastern corner of the country, bordering Armenia.  The lands here bear the imprint of a number of different cultures; in ancient times Kars was part of the Kingdom of Armenia, which ruled over much of what is now modern-day Armenia and eastern Turkey in for about six centuries.

Ecuador's Devil's Nose railroad route is considered one of the most treacherous in the world.  The restored train runs from the town of Alausí in the Chimborazo Province (near the geographic center of this South American country) into the spot in the Andes Mountains known as the La Nariz del Diablo (Devil's Nose).  While the ride is not for the feint of heart (imagine what it took to build it!) it's become a popular tourist destination in Ecuador.  Check it out from above in this drone video by etrax.  

TampaRandy created this marvelous drone video involving the Durango & Silverton Railroad, a historical (narrow-gauge) line in southwestern Colorado.   Opened in 1882, the railroad once used to hauling gold and silver ore out of the San Juan Mountains is now a major tourist attraction.  And filming location: it was used to film the famous train heist sequence in the 1969 classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and years later to film another famous train heist scene in the TV show Breaking Bad. 

Top AirVuz contributor Joshua Paul Gardner brings us this fantastic drone video of a historical railway in eastern England.  It's variously called the North Norfolk Line or the Poppy Line railroad, and it runs a course of about 8 km (5 mi) between the towns of Sheringham and Holt in County Norfolk.   Located about a two hour drive north of London, the route is part of a larger rail system which once served the region.  The preserved stretch dates to the late 1800's, and it includes maintenance sheds and other relics of the original line.

California's Donner Pass is one of the key passageways through the Sierra Nevada Mountains; it was the route for the famous Central Pacific railroad and later for the cross-country Interstate Highway 80.  It's one of the snowiest places in the USA, with an average of over 10 meters (over 400 inches) of snowfall every year. Without snow removal, much of Northern California would be "snowed in".  In this drone video from AerialKelly, you'll see the snowfighters of the Union Pacific as they battle to clear the rails after a big snow. 

Check out this fantastic drone video of a train making its way through the Southwestern USA, compliments of AirVuz contributor Vwkaufman.  He was able to film the Southwest Chief passenger train heading west towards Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Operated by Amtrak on tracks owned by BNSF, the route runs between Chicago and Los Angeles.  The line is the successor to the Super Chief line on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, one of the predecessors of BNSF, which was known as the "Train of the Stars". 

Despite ongoing declines due to the closures of coal-fired power plants, the transportation of coal remains one of the most vital functions of the USA's freight rail system.   As recently as 2022, the black (or sometimes brown) mineral accounted for nearly 30% of the USA's rail car loadings, far more than any other commodity.  In this drone video by ReconFiveMedia, you'll get an aerial view of an empty coal train operated by rail giant CSX Transportation making its way through the city of Richmond, Virginia.    

Check out this drone video of one of the world's most well known (and unusual) rail passes, compliments of canyonrunvideos.  It's called the Tehachipi Loop, and it's what's known as a helix.  Owned by the Union Pacific, the loop connects the San Joaquin Valley in south-central California with the Mojave Desert.  The loop was completed in 1876, and was considered a significant engineering feat at the time.  Trains over about 1.2k meters (around 4k) will cross themselves as they run through the helix.  

In this amazing drone video by borje_xy, you'll get a marvelous drone's eye view of a spot in Northeastern China which shows the contrast between the "Old" and "New" China.  It's shot along a portion of the Great Wall, most of which was built during the Ming Dynasty which lasted from the mid-14th to the mid-17th centuries.  In the shadow of this magnificent structure, you'll see the Beijing S2 train line, which whisks passengers in and out of nearby Beijing at speeds of up to 160 km per hour (about 100 mph).  

The Semmering Train runs a route through the mountains of eastern Austria, connecting the towns of Gloggnitz and Mürzzuschlag through the Semmering Pass.  It has the distinction of being the world's first true mountain railway in that it was the first to run on standard gauge track.  During the peak of its construction in the mid-19th century, about 20k workers labored on the road. Still operational, you can see a section of this famous railroad from above in this drone video by etrax.  

Top contributor jesus_tr aerially captured an express train crossing a bridge amidst some of the most spectacular natural scenery to be found in Turkey.  Van Gölü Ekspresi (Lake Van Express) is a new twice-weekly rail service between the capital city of Ankara and Tatvan, a city on the western shore of Lake Van.  The route provides another way to see the beauty of eastern Turkey by rail; it follows the success of the Eastern Express route which runs between Ankara and the northeastern city of Kars.  

As one of the world's largest cities, Mexico city depends upon its Metro train system to move people about the giant metropolis.  With its first lines completed in 1969, it now runs about 225 km in total (around 135 mi.) and serves nearly 200 stations.  Based on track length and ridership, it's the second-largest system in the Western Hemisphere after New York City and one of the ten largest in the world.  In this drone video by jcreynoso, you'll get a glimpse of the Metro, which carried 1.6 billion passengers in 2018.

Check out this excellent drone video of a narrow-gauge railway line in northeastern Romania, compliments of AirVuz contributor and pilot danmir12.  The railway is called the Mocăniță, and it uses steam-powered locomotives.  The area filmed is called Bucovina, a historical region which covers parts of modern-day Romania and Ukraine (Romania's northern neighbor).  The Romanian portion of Bucovina is primarily located within Suceava County, on the northern slopes of the Eastern Carpathian mountains.  

AirVuz contributor and pilot Tempostudio brings us this fantastic drone video of the Metro Bridge in Kiev, Ukraine.  The bridge over the Dneiper River was built in the 1960's as part of the expansion of the Kiev Metro, the city's rapid transit system.  It actually consists of two spans, one on either side of Venetsiansky Island.  The part shown in the video is the longer of the two spans.  It connects the island with the river's right (western) bank and includes road traffic lanes on either side of the train tracks.

AirVuz contributor FallRisk was able to aerially film the aftermath of a train crash which occurred outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  In the early morning hours of July 17, 2023, a freight train operated by rail giant CSX Transportation partially ran off the tracks in Whitemarsh Township in Montgomery County, northwest of the city.  Of the 40 cars on the train, 15 were derailed in the accident.  Fortunately, there were no injuries, and the only spilled cargo was some relatively harmless silicone pellets.