Those drones produce some magnificent footage

[True Dough]

This is breathtaking, and some pretty nifty flying too!

[FrankfurtCat]

1. So mesmerizing-and fierce!

It really got my heart going-great way to wake up this morning!

[yuiyoshida]

2. I could see them using footage like that for some

major motion picture movie, it would be spectacular... if done right.

[TexasBushwhacker]

3. I like this one of whales and dolphins

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. I now know what footage I want to see.

The old, long-gone rail route over the Rollins Pass between Rollinsville, Colorado, and Fraser, Colorado, was bypassed by the opening of the Moffat Tunnel in 1928. Until a few years ago, you could drive over it in a Jeep or similar vehicle.



There's a simulated video of making the trip on YouTube. Let's see if I can find it....

Here it is:

It's made from stitched-together images from Google Earth. I was astonished the first time I saw it, and I am astonished now.

The video starts out with the viewer "flying" west from Rollinsville toward the east portal of the Moffat Tunnel. I've driven that road in a rental car. The road and railroad are in daily use.

At 0:37, the viewer makes a sharp turn to the north. At this point, you leave the old Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad right of way and head off for the Rollins Pass. From that point on, you're following the route of the Denver and Salt Lake Railway.

I wanted to go up and over, but it was December 1993, and even rental cars have their limits.

I see that some of it has now been covered by drone footage; probably all of it.