Train Drone Videos

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.

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.  

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 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.  

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.  

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.  

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.  

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 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.

The vast but loosely defined area known as West Texas has only one city (El Paso) and that is at its extreme western end.  Apart from that, the most recognizable landmarks of this region are the railroads that cross it and the giant wind turbines built to capture the strong winds which sweep it.  Tampa Randy created this amazing drone video, capturing a stretch of the BNSF railway line and a backdrop of gigantic windmills.  Texas has one of the world's largest fleets of wind turbines, most of which are concentrated in the western part of the state.  

Check out this this epic drone video of the Poppy Line railroad, a historical steam railway line in Norfolk, England.  The 8 km (5 mi) track connects the towns of Sheringham and Holt, through a beautiful stretch of the countryside of the East Anglia region.  The railway is accessible via a roughly two hour drive from London.  Content creator and pilot Joshua Paul Gardner does an excellent job of aerially filming the locomotive and six cars along the length of the track, once part of a larger railroad system that served the region.

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 1850's and for a time was Britain's wealthiest colony.

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.  

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.  

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.

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. 

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. 

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.  

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).  

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.