| Real Trains |
| Year |
Title |
Description |
| 1990 |
Alberto
Express | (03/11/2007) |
1951
-
1953 |
Adventures of Superman,
The | According to Jim Nolt's website (www.jimnolt.com/train-intro.htm)
, the locomotive in the opening sequence is SP DAYLIGHT GS-3 No. 4418,
also featured in two movies: The Beginning or the End (1947) and City
for Conquest (1940). It appears that the sequence was filmed not only
south of the tunnels at the Santa Susana Pass in western San Fernando
Valley, but south of the Chatsworth railroad depot. The area in and
about the Chatsworth area was quite popular for filming, as it was a
stone's throw from the Iverson Ranch. Of course, the west San Fernando
Valley was still quite rural at the time. Freezing a frame
during the close-up of whirling drivers reveals that they are spoked.
They belong to a different locomotive. Beginning with streamlined
GS-2's, SP DAYLIGHT 4-8-4's had Box Pox drivers, as sole survivor No.
4449 does today. When The Adventures of Superman was filmed in color,
the GS-3 was replaced by EMD A-B-B diesels in a DAYLIGHT paint scheme.
(TV) (09/19/2007) |
| 1954 |
Apache |
Steam locomotive |
| 1975 |
Apple Dumpling Gang |
Steam locomotive |
| 1956 |
Around the World in Eighty Days |
D&RGW narrow-gauge locomotives still running in 1955 were too
big and modern for the era of Phineas Fogg, but the producers came across
C-18 2-8-0 No. 315 (Baldwin, 1896) on display in Durango since February,
1950. Rather than restore her, they supplied smoke and steam as special
effects, and a K-28 2-8-2 and an Army diesel moved the train from the
rear. Locations included Rockwood Cut on the Silverton Branch and Ignacio
depot on the main line. Afterward, No. 315 was returned to her display
site. The movie has a galaxy of stars, including David Niven, Shirley
MacLaine, Cantiflas and Robert Newton. (01/18/2005) |
| 1999 |
Atomic
Train |
Hijacked
nuclear bombs on the way to Denver. Good train wreck with Rob Lowe and
Kristen Davis (TV)
(04/05/2005) |
| 1979 |
Avalanche
Express | |
| 1990 |
Back to the Future III |
Sierra Railroad 4-6-0 No. 3 (Rogers, 1891; ex-Prescott &
Arizona Central) pushes time-traveling DeLorean to 88 mph and reappears as a
steam-powered time machine. First time No. 3 is wrecked and later flies
around, thanks to detailed models and special effects. (11/20/2004) |
| 1943 |
Background
to Danger | |
| 1955 |
Bad Day At
Blackrock | Southern Pacific Daylight
diesel passenger |
| 1946 |
Bataille du
Rail, La | |
| 1945 |
Berlin |
Steam locomotive |
| 1946 |
Berlin Express |
Trapped on a steam train in post-World War II |
| 1938 |
Bete
humaine, La | Murder mystery on a train |
| 1956 |
Bhowani
Junction | |
| 1985 |
Biggels Adventures in Time |
German Train |
| 1957 |
Big Land,
The |
Steam locomotive, stock car |
| 1975 |
Bite the Bullet |
Steam locomotive |
| 1926 |
Block
Signal, The | |
| 1972 |
Boxcar
Bertha | |
| 1950 |
Brave Engineer, The |
Set to the song, "Casey Jones." Good ol' Casey delivers the
mail but does appalling damage to his locomotive. The narrator is Jerry
Colona, who co-starred with Bob Hope. Casey roars out of a yard, apparently
using every track. After moving big hand levers to open switches for Casey, an
exhausted towerman slumps into a chair and notes that departure on his form.
Above Casey's name is "W. Kimball," a reference to the late Ward Kimball, one
of the "nine old men" of Disney animators and proprietor of the Grizzly Flats
Railroad, "Scenic Wonder of the West," in his back yard. (12/03/2004) |
| 1975 |
Breakheart Pass |
Most of the film is set on the train! The train is the star. It
includes the stream locomotive, some heavy weight passenger cars and some
troop transport cars. There are scenes in the locomotive and tender, a fight
on the roof walks, and a disastrous derailment. Internet Movie Database
mistakenly states that this story takes place in the Rocky Mountains of
Colorado but it is actually set in the Sierra Nevada mountains and other
northern California mountain ranges and ends in Eureka California. (JoK) (12/31/2007) |
| 1941 |
Broadway
Limited | This "screwball comedy" was
filmed with the cooperation of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The star is K4
Pacific No. 3768, the first streamlined PRR steam locomotive, and a
matching consist, all new in 1938. The movie begins with the train
speeding along "the broad way" - not the famous street but the PRR
right-of-way between New York City and Chicago, 4 tracks and 6 tracks wide
for 960 miles. Hilarious plot twists unfold aboard the train. When No.
3768 is pressed into emergency service, D-16sb 4-4-0 No. 1223, still
hand-fired, steps in. She brings the train into Harrisburg, PA, where a
GG-1 takes over. In 1969, No. 1223 in a fake stack and gaudy colors
starred in Hello Dolly. She now rests in The Railroad Museum of
Pennsylvania at Strasburg, heading a period passenger train. (05/17/2005) |
| 1975 |
Brother Can You Spare a Dime |
Steam locomotive |
| 1980 |
Cafe
Express | |
| 1937 |
California
Straight Ahead | |
| 1949 |
Canadian
Pacific |
Steam trains |
| 1954 |
Carmen Jones |
Escorting Carmen (Dorothy Dandridge) to jail, Joe (Harry
Belafonte) drives an Army Jeep along a dirt road. A chime whistle signals
train scenes. Joe and Carmen pass a local freight headed by a Southern Pacific
2-8-0 with a Vanderbilt tender and a SP caboose at each end. They stop at a
rural grade crossing. As the train passes, Carmen hops out, climbs the front
steps of the rear caboose, and runs on a flatcar, with Joe in hot pursuit. SP
lettering is blacked out. Lionel Postwar models and variations of that caboose
(Nos. 6457 et al.) are still in production. NOTE: For some reason, husbands'
comparisons of Carmen's black blouse and orange skirt to SP DAYLIGHT colors
seem farfetched to wives. Go figure. (01/17/2006) |
| 1976 |
Cassandra
Crossing, The | |
| 1954 |
Carnival Story |
Steam locomotive, trolley |
| 1965 |
Cat Ballou |
Train robbery on the D&RGW Royal Gorge Route features Lee
Marvin, Jane Fonda, Engineer Everett Rohrer with friends as the crew, and
ex-Great Western Railway 2-8-0 No. 51. Hardly any scenery included. Can't hold
a candle to A Ticket to Tomahawk. Columbia wanted to use No. 51 again for The
Professionals in late 1965, but No. 51 had developed mechanical problems. Mr.
Rorher notified the studio of Great Western 2-8-0 No. 75. That locomotive
doubled as "J. W. Grant No. 75" and "N de M No. 903." No. 75 starred in
Breakhart Pass, filmed on the Camas Prairie, a UP subsidiary, in 1975, taking
advantage of unspoiled scenery, 4% grades, tunnels and large wooden trestles. (11/19/2004) |
| 1980 |
Caught On A
Train | |
| 1969 |
Cerveau, Le | |
| 1960 |
Chartroose
Caboose | |
| 1984 |
Chattanooga
Choo Choo | |
| 1967 |
Closely Watched
Trains | |
| 1997 |
Coca Cola Kid |
Steam locomotive, early cola bottling plant |
| 1996 |
Color of a
Brisk and Leaping Day |
The attempt to save the Yosemite Valley RR after World
War II. It was filmed on the Sierra RR and includes archival footage. (GD) (02/14/2008) |
| 1945 |
Dakota |
|
| 1930 |
Danger Lights |
A tough yardmaster (Louis Wolheim) befriends a young hobo
(Robert Armstrong, who would star in KING KONG in 1933) and gets him started
on the Milwaukee Road. Scenes show how railroaders lived on the job and at
home. The movie gets better and better. A Pacific and a Mikado push each other
back and forth during an Old Timers' Picnic with thundering exhausts, blasting
whistles, spinning drivers, and billowing steam. The sequence with a
dynamometer is reportedly the only one ever filmed. A poignant scene portrays
the yardmaster rescuing an old friend from alcohol by appealing to the higher
calling of the railroad: "It's our life." The hobo runs a special train at 100
mph to Chicago to save the yardmaster's life. Overlooked because of
black-and-white film and disregard for Hollywood trappings, this nitty-gritty
slice of life on the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific is among the best
railroad films ever made - perhaps THE best. Look for it on tape or DVD. (01/17/2005) |
| 1968 |
Mercenaries,
The aka: Dark of the Sun |
Steam engine , wreck |
| 1970 |
Darling Lili | |
| 1978 |
Death on the Nile |
Steam locomotive |
| 1993 |
Death
Train |
|
| 1997 |
Deathline |
|
| 1952 |
Denver and Rio Grande |
The success of A Ticket to Tomahawk inspired producer Nat Holt
to film the battle for a route through Colorado's Royal Gorge. He used the
Silverton Branch and C-16 2-8-0 No. 268 (Baldwin, 1882). Good guy Jim Vesser
(Edmond O'Brien) and bad guy McCabe square off as representatives of the
Denver & Rio Grande and the Santa Fe, respectively. The most (in)famous scenes
record a head-on collision with Nos. 319 and 345 at Milepost 475, some 23
miles north of Durango. They met at a combined speed of 60 mph. Enhanced with
300 sticks of dynamite and 30 lbs.of black powder, the ensuing explosion
rocked the valley. Although both 2-8-0's emerged mostly intact and still on
the rails, they had been consigned to scrap. They were cut up and sent to
Colorado Fuel & Iron in Pueblo, where they were melted down for steel rails.
Ornamental cast-iron rings on No. 345's steam dome and sand dome were saved
and placed on No. 346 in the Colorado Railroad Museum at Golden, by Coors
Brewery. Traces of the hotly contested right-of-way along the west bank of the
Arkansas River are evident as passengers ride the Royal Gorge Route Railroad
for 24 miles from Canon City, including the "Hanging Bridge" by the river at
the base of sheer cliffs 1,000 feet high (WEB SITE:
www.royalgorgeroute.com). (09/04/2006) |
| 1979 |
Disaster on the Coastliner |
Amtrak, F diesel |
| 1939 |
Dodge City |
AT&SF steam engine, transcontinental railroad |
| 1965 |
Dr. Zhivago |
City railroad scenes were filmed in Spain, where the gauge
is 5' 6". Rural railroad scenes were filmed in Canada, including the log
station at Lake Louise on the Canadian Pacific, where the gauge is 4' 8
1/2" (standard gauge). The rails move farther apart and closer together as
the location changes. (11/01/2005) |
| 1941 |
Dumbo |
Walt Disney animator Ward Kimball based the little locomotive
heading a circus train on his own Emma Nevada, an 1881 Baldwin 2-6-0 operated
as the Sidney Dillon on the Nevada Central Railroad. In 1938, Ward purchased
her for the Grizzly Flats Railroad, "Scenic Wonder of the West," in his back
yard and renamed her for a opera singer born in an obscure California mining
town who rose to international prominence. Ward also animated the crows who
help Dumbo fly. Look for a small crow with black glasses. That's Ward. (12/03/2004) |
| 1966 |
Dutchman |
|
| 1957 |
Escapade in Japan |
Japanese steam locomotive |
| 1959 |
Earth Is Mine, The |
Rock Hudson, Jean Simmons, and Claude Rains share screen
time with Southern Pacific 2-6-0 No. 1744 (Baldwin, 1901)
on the Napa Valley Branch. No. 1744 and her 44 class M-6
sisters hustled PFE reefers through the San Joaquin Valley
for years. On May 4, 1958, she relieved SP No. 4460 on a
"Farewell to Southern Pacific Steam" excursion on the
Knight's Landing Branch. After retirement, No. 1744 was
displayed with UP 2-8-0 No. 6264 at a Golden Spike Railroad
Museum at Corinne, Utah, near Promontory. Then she ran on
the "Heeber Creeper" and on the "Big Easy Steam Train"
in New Orleans. On May 26, 2007, Engineer Earl Knoob and
Fireman Steve Butler made their first round trip with No. 1744
from Alamosa over La Veta Pass in Colorado on the Rio
Grande Scenic Railroad (www.alamosatrain.com). (09/06/2007) |
| 1982 |
Emperor of
Peru, The aka: Treasure Train |
Pacific Steam locomotive, cab view, kids restore train |
| 1973 |
Emperor of
The North |
Hobo's riding steam trains during the depression |
| 1988 |
End Of The
Line |
Traveling across America aboard a stolen train |
| 1991 |
Europa |
|
| 1948 |
Every Girl Should Be Married |
Trolley system |
| 2006 |
Everyone's
Hero |
This CG (computer-generated) movie brings fond railfan memories
to life. A boy named Yankee Irving travels from New York City to Chicago to
track down and return Babe Ruth's custom-made bat ("Darlin'," voiced by Whoopi
Goldberg), stolen from Yankee Stadium by a crooked pitcher so the Cubs will
win the World Series. The journey begins with the magnificent facade of Penn
Station. Then the boy enters the vast waiting room, walls soaring to the
skies. A chase sequence takes place on three heavyweight trains pacing each
other out of Penn Station, with exterior and interior views of coaches,
baggage cars and a diner. Subsequent scenes feature New York Central Hudsons,
apparently on the "Water Level Route" instead of the Pennsy's "Broad Way" ( 4
to 6 tracks wide) from NYC to Broad Street Station, Philadelphia, and west to
Pittsburgh and Chicago. It's good to see NYC Hudsons roaring along, but Pennsy
fans probably would prefer scenes on the huge bridge at Newark, the Horse Shoe
Curve west of Altoona, and the "speedway" through Crestline on the Fort Wayne
Division. Christopher Reeve was directing this movie at the time of his death.
His wife, Dana, is the voice of Emily Irving, the boy's mother. (10/08/2006) |
| 1939 |
Exile Express | |
| 1979 |
Express To Terror |
|
| 1971 |
Fiddler on the
Roof |
Steam train |
| 1984 |
Finders
Keepers |
|
| 1979 |
First Great
Train Robbery, The | |
| 1969 |
Five Man Army |
Steam engine (POV, cab shoots, excellent) |
| 1967 |
Flim Flam Man |
Car on track, steam locomotive, |
| 1936 |
Florida
Special |
|
| 1929 |
Flying
Scotsman, The |
|
| 1942 |
For Me and My Gal |
Primitive steam locomotive race |
| 1971 |
French Connection |
Steam locomotive |
| 1963 |
From Russia
With Love | James Bond |
| 1993 |
Fugitive,
The | In the title sequence of the ABC TV series (1963-1967), Dr. Richard
Kimble emerges from an overturned coach, freed by a derailment
en route to death row. In the movie, his prison van crashes through
a guard rail, overturns, and comes to rest on a railroad track. A
distant horn alerts guards and prisoners to the headlight of a
rapidly approaching freight train. A cowardly guard flees. Dr. Kimble,
his arms and ankles shackled, pushes guards and prisoners out
a window and jumps out just as a "GEEP" hits the van broadside.
Pursued by a second "GEEP" plowing through the ground, he
jumps beneath a small bridge and barely escapes with his life.
Quick scenes and ominous background music portray the wreck
in vivid detail. (09/06/2007) |
| 1960 |
From The
Terrace | After the opening credits, the
camera focuses on a skylight and pans down to a platform in Jersey City
Terminal, where a bell heralds the arrival of Reading T-1 4-8-4 No. 2124,
fresh from the first three Iron Horse Rambles. Sharp eyes notice
destination signs with John O'Hara's fictional towns, such as Gibbsville
(actually Pottsville). Actors board a 2000-series semi-streamlined
("Blimp") coach. Leaving, they walk past No. 2124 as a company official
barks orders to a subordinate. A caption states "PHILADELPHIA 1946," but
No. 2124 was too big for Reading Terminal at 12th & Market, so 20th
Century Fox filmed these scenes in Jersey City Terminal on December 2,
1959. About 10 minutes later, actor Paul Newman gets off a train at "Port
Johnson" at night. Filmed from the platform, the locomotive is a vague
black silhouette. After the train stops, fake-looking steam (probably
Hollywood "smoke") billows from stage right. Evidently a diesel is
standing in, because the Reading had scrapped most of its steam
locomotives by 1956. Fortunately, Jersey City Terminal has been restored
as part of Liberty State Park, and Reading Terminal is part of
Pennsylvania Convention Center. Reading Terminal Market at street level is
doing fine, too. (11/20/2004) |
| 2004 |
Garfield |
There are brief shots of a Lionel "O" Gauge 2-level corner layout powered
by a ZW transformer in Jon Arbuckle's home. Garfield discovers that real
trains work the same way. Rescuing Odie from a callous TV star who has
boarded an Amtrak Superliner train bound for New York City, Garfield gains
entry to a high-tech interlocking room conveniently located in the "Train
Station" and unmanned during rush hour. Moving big silver levers and
pushing buttons, he sets a yard full of modern Amtrak trains on collision
courses and stops them in the nick of time. Then he backs the train
carrying Odie to Platform 12. He goes up to that platform, enters the
baggage car, and frees Odie from a cage. Fortunately, a host of dogs and
cats and an heroic Jon Arbuckle arrive in time to mop up the villain. (01/18/2005) |
| 1931 |
Ghost Train,
The | |
| 1941 |
Ghost Train,
The | |
| 1953 |
Glen Miller Story,
The |
Inclined railway |
| 1940 |
Go West |
The Marx Brothers, Diana Lewis, and John Carroll run Sierra
2-8-0 No. 18 (Baldwin, 1906; renumbered 32) on a wild train chase. Location
scenes filmed on the Sierra feature stunt doubles for the brothers. A studio
mock-up of No. 18 is used for close-ups. A Heisler geared locomotive careens
around curves too tight for No. 18. A close look reveals an inclined cylinder
in front of the cab on each side. Both cylinders turn a shaft underneath the
locomotive, geared to each truck. This Heisler and Willamette No. 7 in
Timberjack (see below) are the only geared locomotives in Hollywood movies.
The movie concludes with a Marx Brothers version of the Golden Spike ceremony
in Cecil B. DeMille's Union Pacific (1939). (06/17/2006) |
| 1942 |
Grand
Central Murder | TV semi-documentary |
| 1966 |
Great
British Train Robbery, The | TV
semi-documentary |
| 1926 |
Great K & A
Train Robbery, The | Tom Mix Western |
| 1956 |
Great
Locomotive Chase, The | Filmed on Tallulah
Falls Railway, Georgia, by Walt Disney Productions in 1955. Released in
1956. William Mason and Lafayette from B&O Museum, Baltimore, as the
General and the Yonah, respectively. Paramount's Virginia & Truckee 4-4-0
No. 22 as the Texas, the locomotive that caught up to the General. Most
extensive use of B&O Museum locomotives and cars in a film. They ran about
1,000 miles during filming. (09/19/2004) |
| 1952 |
Greatest Show on Earth, The |
Cecil B. DeMille's melodrama features a circus that travels by train. Near the end,
robbers use a flare to stop the first section on a "dark" stretch of track (not protected by automatic
signals). One robber knocks out the rear brakeman as he leaves the caboose. A few minutes later, the
second section plows into the first. Although filmed with models, the wreck is unnervingly
realistic. (05/09/2005) |
| 1982 |
Grey Fox, The |
|
| 1987 |
Gunfighters, The |
Close up of 4 6 0 steam engine, caboose interior |
| 2004 |
Happy Endings | |
| 1946 |
Harvey Girls, The |
AT&SF Steam engine, wreck |
| 1985 |
Heavenly Kid,
The | Steam locomotive |
| 1969 |
Hello Dolly |
Pennsylvania Railroad D-16sb No. 1223 and wooden passenger
cars ran from the Strasburg Rail Road to Garrison, New York, for filming.
Watch for a quick scene of a conductor unfolding steps on an open
observation car built by the Strasburg shops so dancers could hop on
board. Scenes irritate Pennsy fans who know that a meticulously restored
D-16sb is hidden under a fake stack and gaudy colors. Her PRR whistle and
Belpaire firebox are heard and seen. (11/01/2005). |
| 1999 |
Hijaak | |
| 1992 |
Home Alone 2 -
Lost In New York | |
| 1972 |
Horror
Express | |
| 1978 |
Hot Lead and Cold Feet |
Primitive steam locomotive race |
| 1958 |
Houseboat | |
| 1962 |
How the West Was Won |
Steam engine, wreck |
| 1954 |
Human
Desire | |
| 1932 |
Hurricane
Express | |
| 1986 |
I-Man |
Alco RS Diesel |
| 1967 |
Incident,
The | |
| 1924 |
Iron Horse,
The | |
| 1966 |
Iron Horse,
The | Ben Calhoun (Dale Robertson) wins
the "Buffalo Pass, Scalplock & Defiance Railroad" in a poker game. Then he
discovers that it is bankrupt and still under construction. Sierra 4-6-0
No. 3, combine No. 5, and coach No. 6 (elegantly outfitted as a private
car, La Bonne Chance) provide railroad action, especially on Draper
Trestle. In one revealing scene, No. 3 takes on water, but the spout is
lowered into a small fuel oil tank beneath the woodpile in front of her
tender. No. 3 burns oil, not wood or coal. To cut costs of location
filming, Columbia Pictures built full-size mock-ups of Nos. 3, 5 and 6 on
rubber tires. Prefab rails, truck frames and drivers concealed the tires
when scenes were filmed on Columbia's ranch near Burbank. Steam generators
provided visual effects. The steam chest is higher than the running board
on the mockup, but lower on No. 3. Flat tops of slide valve steam chests
usually serve as steps between the pilot and the running board on each
side. An elaborate full-size replica of Rio Grande Southern No. 20 was
built by 20th Century Fox in 1949 for A Ticket to Tomahawk, listed below.
In 1963, this replica was moved to a Hollywood sound stage, joined to a
replica of combine No. 5, and filmed in scenes involving the cast of the
TV show Petticoat Junction, also listed below (TV) (07/30/2005) |
| 1990 |
It |
Charles St. Trolley |
| 1959 |
It Happened To
Jane | |
| 1979 |
Jerk, The |
Miniature steam train |
| 2000 |
John Henry |
The animated tale features a new cartoon about John Henry, "a
steel-drivin' man," who beat a steam drill boring Big Bend Tunnel as the
Chesapeake & Ohio was laying rails westward toward the Ohio Valley. A mile and
a quarter long, that tunnel took 1,000 men 3 years to finish. (12/03/2004) |
| 1985 |
Journey of
Natty Gamm, The |
Steam locomotive |
| 1959 |
Journey to the Moon |
Steam locomotive |
| 1953 |
Kansas
Pacific | |
| 1938 |
Lady Vanishes,
The |
European steam locomotive, cab view |
| 1979 |
Lady Vanishes,
The |
European steam locomotive, cab view |
| 1936 |
Last
Journey, The | |
| 1952 |
Last Train
From Bombay | |
| 1937 |
Last Train
From
Madrid, The |
|
| 1984 |
Lassiter |
European locomotive |
| 2005 |
Legend of Zorro, The |
Filmed in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, the movie builds to exciting
action scenes on and around a train loaded with nitroglycerin in wine bottles
headed by a trim little 2-6-0. Zorro (Antonio Banderas), his magnificent wife,
Elena (Catherine Zeta-Jones), their son, Joaquin (Adrian Alonso), and Zorro's
black horse, Tornado, keep the nitro from falling into the wrong hands. At the
last moment, Joaquin and Tornado save a crowd of people by diverting the train
onto a siding. It crashes through a bumper made of rails and blows up, but the
end credits attribute the wreck to miniatures made in New Zealand. Good thing,
because that Mogul has star potential. "Playing with Trains" on the Special
Edition DVD goes into detail about train scenes. (03/07/2006) |
| 1987 |
Living Daylights,
The |
Trolley system |
| 1954 |
Living It Up |
Santa Fe F diesel, Hudson Steam locomotive |
| 1926 |
Lost
Express, The | |
| 1932 |
Lost Special,
The | |
| 2005 |
Magic of
Ordinary Days, The |
Hallmark Hall of Fame: Filmed near Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. Opening scenes
feature Alberta Prairie Railway 2-8-0 No. 41 (Baldwin, 1920), a consist of
immaculate Canadian National coaches, and even the 1912 station at Big
Valley. Two magnificent chords from No. 41's melodious CN Prairie Whistle
cue the camera to pan along the housetops of "La Junta, Colorado," framing
the train's arrival with the train order signal on the station roof. Built
for the Jonesboro, Lake City & Eastern, No. 41 ran on the Frisco and
gained fame as No. 77 with sister Frisco 2-8-0 No. 76 on the Mississippian Railway
between Fulton and Amory. For photographs, see Steam in the Sixties, by
Ron Ziel and George H. Foster, pp. 112-113. The Alberta Prairie Railway (www.absteamtrain.com)
runs excursions and dinner trains on a former CN branch and on a former
Canadian Pacific branch past Stettler to Coronation. Well worth a visit.
(TV) (02/04/2005) |
| 1935 |
Man of Iron |
|
| 1984 |
Maria's
Lovers | Brief appearance by Reading T-1
No. 2102, the third of 30 4-8-4's rebuilt from ponderous I-10sa 2-8-0's
from the fall of 1945 through the spring of 1947 in the Reading Locomotive
Shops along North Sixth Street in Reading, PA, near George Field. (07/18/2005) |
| 1987 |
Matewan |
Starring James Earl Jones. The train featured in the film
is our steam locomotive, NKP Berkshire No. 765. It is the true story of
coal field violence in the 1930's, in the little town of Matewan, West
Virginia. When the coal company attempted to surreptitiously bring in
black miners to work during a strike, nasty violence erupted and several
people were killed. There are numerous scenes of the 765 and train in
this film. I had the honor of running the 765 during the filming. Rich
Melvin, NKP 765 Engineer
www.765.org. (05/04/2007) |
| 1996 |
Mission
Impossible | Tom Cruise on the nose of
high-speed Paris to London commuter train dueling with Jean Reno in a
helicopter inside of the Chunnel. (06/17/2006) |
| 1970 |
Molly
Maguires, The | A secret society of Irish
miners oppose low wages and cruel treatment with threats, violence, and
murder at Pennsylvania anthracite mines in the late 1870's. The movie
portrays a true story of the "coal regions." Most exterior scenes were
filmed at Eckley, PA, using equipment from the Carroll Park & Western
("America's Only Four-Foot Gauge Passenger Railway") at Bloomsburg. The
two-truck Climax in an overhead shot of the station was the last one built
at Corry, PA. She is now at Roaring Camp Railroads, Felton, CA. Restored
to a 19th century appearance, the town and a replica "coal breaker"
looming in the background were donated to The Pennsylvania Historical &
Museum Commission, renamed "Eckley Miners' Village," and preserved as a
living history museum. Sadly, floods caused by Hurricane Agnes in 1972
wiped out the Carroll Park & Western. Scratchbuilt as a tourist line, it
followed a "dog-bone" route with the station in the movie at the center.
(10/03/2005) |
| 1995 |
Money
Train | Subway heist in New York City with Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson
(04/05/2005) |
| 1994 |
Mouvements
du desir | |
| 1974 |
Murder On
The Orient Express | Murder mystery aboard
a steam train |
| 1961 |
Murder She Said |
British steam train |
| 1940 |
My Little Chickadee |
This comedy classic stars Mae West and W. C. Fields as a pair
of fortune hunters who meet on a train. They hustle each other and everyone
else. The locomotive is Sierra Railroad 2-8-0 No. 18 (Baldwin, 1906),
renumbered 8. No. 18 was the Sierra's "star" locomotive from the 1930's until
her retirement in 1951. Then 4-6-0 No. 3 (Rogers, 1891) came on stage. (06/17/2006) |
| 1990 |
Narrow
Margin | Remake of classic,
Oscar-nominated film noir (1952). The location moves north to Canada,
where Gene Hackman protects a murder witness on a "VIA Rail" streamliner
filmed on the British Columbia Railway. A lot of railroad scenes for
movies and TV have been filmed on that line. (08/15/2005) |
| 1952 |
Narrow
Margin, The | This Oscar-nominated film
noir (French, "dark film") features genre icons Charles McGraw as a
hard-boiled cop and Marie Windsor as a gangster's moll traveling by train
from Chicago to Los Angeles to testify before a grand jury. Watch for
shots of orders "hooped" to and from the train and a mailbag snatched "on
the fly" from a trackside mail crane. Nitpickers notice that the Central
Pacific has reached Chicago, and that a newly streamlined PRR K-4 (1938)
is heading the BROADWAY LIMITED west to Los Angeles. The rest of the film
features SP DAYLIGHT consists and GS-2 (single headlight) 4-8-4's. All
scenes on the train are filmed in realistic sets with a hand-held camera,
a new technique. Tight spaces confine action and suspense as McGraw
struggles to conceal Windsor from hired killers who search the train but
don't know what she looks like. The film conveys an increasing feeling of
claustrophobia, even for railfans. Director Richard Fleischer is the son
of Max Fleischer, who (with brother Dave), brought Betty Boop, Popeye and
Superman to the big screen in animated cartoons. (08/15/2005) |
| 1941 |
Nevada City |
Steam locomotive |
| 1957 |
Night
Passage | Features the D&RG railroad,
narrow gauge, between Durango and Silverton. Director James Nelson filmed around Silverton in September and October, 1956. He
portrayed the beauty of Fall in the high country so effectively that audiences
can almost feel a chill in the air. As a mixed train pulled by K-28 2-8-2 No.
476 (with a fake diamond stack) heads toward Silverton, James Stewart
(Grant McLaine) and child star Brandon De Wilde (duh-WIL-duh; Joey
Adams) are riding a flatcar. Joey discovers Grant's accordion in a sack,
pulls on it, and awakens Grant with a resounding chord. Grant plays and
sings the title song, "Follow the River," as the spectacular sheer drop
from the High Line hundreds of feet down to the Rio de Los Animas
unfolds below them. The train passes this location a second time as an
orchestra plays the song. Then a camera records the Walschaert valve
gear reverse yoke rocking back and forth as the train turns to the left.
A similar shot builds suspense as the train approaches a wooden water
tank that outlaws have toppled onto the tracks. Cab scenes portray the
Irish engineer shouting to his queasy fireman, "Quit yer moanin' and
hang onto yer hat!" After they smash through the tank, he brags, "They
won't stop Tommy O'Shannon with a tankful of water!" James Stewart's
costar, Audie Murphy, was the most decorated combat soldier of World War
II. During one battle he leaped atop a burning tank, loaded with fuel
and ammunition that could have exploded at any second, and used its
machine gun to hold off waves of German soldiers, saving his unit and
the entire American line from being overrun. His valor was
easily overlooked because he stood only 5' 5" and looked like a young
adult throughout his career. Sadly, he died in a plane crash near
Roanoke, Virginia, in 1971. This was to be the sixth Western starring
James Stewart and directed by Anthony Mann. But Mann left because he
thought that audiences would not believe a key plot point: that youthful Audie Murphy (The Utica Kid) and James Stewart (Grant McLaine), were
brothers on opposite sides of the law. Born in 1908, Stewart was 16
years older and 10 inches taller than Murphy. This film received poor
reviews and box office. Stewart and Mann never made another movie
together. In one memorable scene, James Stewart rides
down Blair Street in Silverton while K-28 2-8-2 No. 476 (with a fake diamond
stack) passes in the background. In another, No. 476 smashes through a wooden
water tank that outlaws had pushed in front of a train
(05/05/2008) |
| 1988 |
Night Train to
Kathmandu, The | |
| 1946 |
Night Train to Memphis |
Pacific Steam locomotive |
| 1940 |
Night Train to Munich |
|
| 1985 |
North and South |
Steam 4-4-0 |
| 1959 |
North By
Northwest |
20th Century Limited |
| 1959 |
North West
Frontier |
|
| 1999 |
October Sky |
Steam locomotive |
| 1937 |
Oh, Mr.
Porter! | |
| 1981 |
On The
Right Track | |
| 1958 |
Once Upon a Horse |
Steam locomotive, cab view, drive train through town |
| 1946 |
One Way To
Love | |
| 1934 |
Orient
Express | |
| 1979 |
Orphan
Train | (TV) |
| 1923 |
Our
Hospitality | This silent film starring
Buster Keaton is based on the infamous feud between the Hatfields and
the McCoys, Their names are changed to the Canfields and the McKays.
After John McKay is killed, his widow sends their one-year old baby,
Willie, to New York to be raised by her sister. Twenty years later,
Willie (portrayed by Buster Keaton) returns to Kentucky to claim his
family estate. He boards a train of "stagecoach" passenger cars like
those in the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore (www.borail.org). Pulling
the train is an accurate replica of Stephenson's ROCKET, winner of the
Rainhill Trials in England. This was the first locomotive built with a
horizontal firetube boiler, forced draft for the firebox caused by
directing exhaust steam up through the smokebox and the stack, and main
rods connecting the pistons and crossheads to the driving wheels. These
features became standards of locomotive construction. In contrast to the
sophisticated locomotive, the track and right-of-way are notably
innocent in regards to ballast, grading, bridges, smoothness of ride,
and most other practices of modern railway construction. On the train,
Willie meets a young lady (portrayed by Natalie Talmadge, Keaton's wife)
and they fall in love. However, she turns out to be Virginia Canfield.
Although bound to treat her beau with Southern hospitality while he is a
guest, her family seethes with hostility toward him. It soon finds
expression. (05/04/2008) |
| 1925 |
Overland
Limited, The | |
| 1954 |
Overland
Pacific | |
| 1936 |
Pain In The
Pullman, A |
Train travel with the Three Stooges |
| 1974 |
Panic On
The 5:22 | (TV) |
| 1963 |
Papa's Delicate Condition |
steam locomotive |
| 1973 |
Paris
Express, The | |
| 1997 |
The Peacemaker
|
A hijacked Soviet train with nuclear warheads - one goes off - with George Clooney and Nichole Kidman
(04/05/2005) |
| 1951 |
Peking
Express | |
| 1963 |
Petticoat Junction |
Movie and TV stars No. 3, an 1891 Rogers 4-6-0, and wooden "Shorty"
Combine No. 5, built for the Sierra's Angels Branch in 1902 by Holman Car Company of San Francisco,
are seen "rollin' down the track" during opening and closing credits and during most episodes.
Bringing cast and crew 350 miles from a sound stage at General Service Studio in Hollywood to the Sierra at
Jamestown was too expensive, so producers leased a replica of Rio Grande Southern 4-6-0 No. 20
(1899, Schenectady) from Hoyt Hotel in Portland, Oregon. Constructed of wood, fiberglass and
steel from original erection drawings at a cost of $30,000 in 1949, that replica enabled director
Richard Sale to film scenes of No. 20 being hauled in pieces through the mountains to reach
"end of track" at Tomahawk and fulfill the terms of the railroad's charter in A Ticket
to Tomahawk. A mule team couldn't budge the real No. 20, now preserved in Colorado Railroad Museum
at Golden, by Coors Brewery.
To further reduce expenses, in 1966 Filmways replaced Nos. 3 and 5 with 7/16" scale models built
by Richard C. Datin, who also made models for the original STAR TREK series. He modified a brass model
of Colorado Midland No. 25, imported by Dick Wheeler's Model Engineering Works (MEW) of Monrovia, California.
TRIVIA: Bea Benaderet, who portrayed Kate Bradley, owner of the Shady Rest Hotel, also was the voice of
women characters in Warner Brothers cartoons and of Betty Rubble in The Flintstones.
The dog in Petticoat Junction was called "Dog." He was a stray rescued from an animal
shelter by trainer Frank Inn and named Higgins. After the show was canceled, he played Benji.
Photos and descriptions of all three trains are posted at www.petticoat-junction.com
(05/09/2005) |
| 1925 |
Phantom
Express, The | |
| 1932 |
Phantom
Express, The | |
| 1959 |
Plan 9 From
Outer Space |
General Roberts' office is located in the Pentagon, but a map
on the wall bears a large herald of the Santa Fe Railroad at the lower left
corner. Later, when the General locates a spot on the map for Col. Edwards,
the words "Santa Fe" have been taped over. (09/26/2005) |
| 1936 |
Play Safe |
This Fleischer Studios (Max and brother Dave) color cartoon
begins with a young boy playing with a large electric 2-rail train in his
yard. He sees a real train stop nearby and sets out toward it. His St. Bernard
intervenes, but the boy latches the dog's collar to a leash tied around a tree
and runs over to the train. He climbs a boxcar and sits on the edge of its
roof. When the car begins to move he falls off and lands on the track.
Unconscious, he dreams of trains. That sequence incorporates the Fleischers'
technique of photographing cels in front of small models and scenery to
project realistic 3-D effects. As the dream ends the dog hears a whistle in
the distance. Frantically he struggles to get loose as a fast freight roars
toward the boy. In a graphic sequence the dog barely outruns the train and
moves the boy to safety just in time. Fleischer cartoons reveal an
appreciation for machinery, and these trains move and sound like the real
thing. (12/02/2005) |
| 2004 |
Polar
Express, The |
Pere Marquette N-1 2-8-4 No. 1225, owned by the Steam
Railroading Institute, Owosso (Oh-WAH-so), Michigan, was digitally recorded by
Sony Pictures ImageWorks and Skywalker Sound on the Tuscola & Saginaw Bay's
St. Charles Branch, once a part of the New York Central's Lansing-Saginaw
route. To match illustrations in Chris Van Allsburg's children's book, No.
1225 was given an oversize "cowcatcher" pilot and a Delaware & Hudson-style
recessed headlight. Her tender is lettered THE POLAR EXPRESS. Passenger cars
have maroon window bands and gray sides, like the Delaware, Lackawanna &
Western. THE POLAR EXPRESS is painted below the windows, like THE IVES LINES
on the rare Lionel-Ives 1694, 1695, 1696 and 1697 set made in 1932 and
reproduced by Williams in the 1970's. Two oddities: (1) No. 1225 was built by
Lima in 1941, but a know-it-all boy in the movie calls her a Baldwin S-3 2-8-4
built in 1931. A KEEPSAKE MEMORY BOOK that complements the movie by providing
facts about snow, caribou/reindeer, and the aurora borealis offers a brief
history of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, but not a word about Lima. (2) The
interior of the last car resembles a Budd streamlined observation car, but the
exterior matches the heavyweight consist. The observation platform and railing
are rounded outward. For further details, see "Hollywood's Steam Locomotive"
by David Lustig in the January, 2005, issue of TRAINS, pp. 42-49. Buildings at
North Pole City resemble those of Pullman, Illinois, a company town
constructed for Pullman employees. The most prominent is the clock tower
above the doorway where Santa appears.A big vertical lever in the cab is
pulled back to open the throttle. A brake handle is moved toward the
engineer to apply brakes. Shots inside the cab portray both working in
opposite ways. When the boy blows the whistle, he says, "I've wanted to do
that my whole life!". In Back to The Future III, also directed by Robert
Zemeckis, Doc Brown says the same thing when he blows the whistle of Sierra
Railroad 4-6-0 No. 3. (11/02/2007) |
| 1975 |
Posse |
Steam locomotive, cab view |
| 1971 |
Powder Keg |
|
| 1938 |
Prison
Train | |
| 1966 |
Professionals,
The | Has several scenes with a steam
locomotive (ex-Great Western Railway 2-8-0 No. 51-see Cat Ballou for additional info)
including a train/horse chase. (10/09/2006) |
| 1954 |
Rai | |
