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TV train snafu

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Posted by chutton01 on Friday, April 13, 2012 2:01 PM

AntonioFP45
In Spiderman -2, the elevated train is not a New York City MTA train, it's actually a Chicago RTA train as is the line the train is running on.  The double-windowed, twin door, square ended cars are easy to identify as Chicago's equipment.


Not only that, but actually there are no modern era elevated subway lines like that in Manhattan anywhere south of Harlem (e.g. #1, the Valley around 125th St & North of Dyckman). IIRC, that elevated line just sort of stopped (as Spiderman shot out his webs to adjacent buildings in an effort to brake the runaway train) - I can't imagine even CTA lines just ending in (rather high) mid-air like that - I don't recall, were there bumpers or (as would be found on NY Els) billboards at the end of the el structure?

I wonder how many of the goofs mentioned so far in this thread have been listed in the relevant imdb.com "Goofs" page for each Movie/Show?

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Posted by rrinker on Thursday, April 12, 2012 7:49 PM

 Between the Sierra and the V&T you have nearly any TV and movie Western with a train in it from the 40's to the 60's covered. And plenty of newer shows and movies have used equipment from those railroads as well.

 One of my favorites gorwing up was WIld Wild West - the original show with Robert Conrad, not the horrid Will Smith movie that changed EVERYTHING. I have 3 of the 4 V&T locos made by AHM (missing the Inyo), and I used to runa  train around the layotu that was West's train - mostly accurate excpet that as their special car I used the Lincoln Funeral Car. I did have a horse car and an odl time box car to compelte the train. Usually pulled it with Genoa, since the loco most often seen on the show was NOT an oil burner with a straight stack like the Reno (whichw as a later modification, as can be seen in Beebe & Clegg's book on the V&T, the original Reno looked nearly identical to the Genoa and was later modified to be an oil burner.). I'd DCC the locos and run it again but the pizza cutter flanges on the loco and tender don;t workon code 83 track, and I do not have the facicilties to turn them down. The cars are an easy fix, with some Reboxx metal wheels. Also, I no longer have the Lincoln car, I sold that at the height of some sort of mass demand for them - for $79 for a plastic car that still had the sale sticker on from when we bought it at Two Guys department store for a whopping $1.99 (marked down from $2.99!).

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Posted by twhite on Thursday, April 12, 2012 12:25 PM

Eriediamond

Hmmm   What train did they ride from Mayberry, SC to Mayberry, NC  LOL

 

IIRC, that would be the Sierra Railroad, which runs from Oakdale to Sonora in the foothills of Northern California, LOL!  A veritable Mecca for TV and Hollywood film producers back in the day.

Tom

 

 

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Posted by Eriediamond on Thursday, April 12, 2012 8:22 AM

Hmmm   What train did they ride from Mayberry, SC to Mayberry, NC  LOL

 

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Posted by xdford on Thursday, April 12, 2012 7:40 AM

I remember watching a Hogans Heroes episode where a "German Engine" looked remarkably like CB&Q's 5632.

Also the move "The Dam Busters showed an aftermath with a flooded New York Central Boxcar as I recall. I have not seen these shows for a long time as I don't watch much television and I am an Aussie so we don't see the reruns you guys may see!

Regards

Trevor

 

 

 

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Posted by twhite on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 7:34 PM

Medina1128

I know it's in Nevada. That's why I typed west in all caps. As a fan of western U.S. railroads, I'm quite familiar with the V&TRR. Since most directors use equipment that's in the area where the movies/shows are filmed, it's not unusual to see NYC or Penn RR in movies that are supposed to be set out west.

Marlon:

Didn't mean to come off sounding 'picky'--actually I was enjoying the heck out of your joke.  Big Smile   Actually, I remember the V&T's "Inyo" in what might have been her film debut--1937's HIGH, WIDE AND HANDSOME, and she was lettered for a railroad in Pennsylvania, where the film purportedly took place.    Now she's back home in Carson City and looking just as beautiful as ever.   She's going to be steamed up for their 4th of July celebration at the Nevada State Railroad Museum this year.  I'm planning on going up to watch that (and ride the restored V&T to Virginia City).

One V&T loco, the "J.W. Bowker" is among some of the V&T rolling stock displayed at the California Railroad Museum here in Sacramento, and had a screen career portraying locomotives from the Union Pacific, Santa Fe and several other railroads during her time in front of Hollywood cameras.  Quite the railroad, the old V&T.  Glad they've at least partially re-built it. 

Tom  

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Posted by gabeusmc on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 3:42 PM

vsmith

 IRONROOSTER:

I think my favorite is in Gods and Generals where the train in Virginia is the Virginia and Truckee Railroad.

Enjoy

Paul

 

Thats not in Virginia??? LOL

Iain Rice made the same mistake. Read his book about shelf layouts (Blue Hills and Yondor Chapter) and he admits so.

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Posted by Medina1128 on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 3:30 PM

I know it's in Nevada. That's why I typed west in all caps. As a fan of western U.S. railroads, I'm quite familiar with the V&TRR. Since most directors use equipment that's in the area where the movies/shows are filmed, it's not unusual to see NYC or Penn RR in movies that are supposed to be set out west.

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Posted by twhite on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 11:38 AM

Medina1128

 vsmith:

 

 IRONROOSTER:

 

I think my favorite is in Gods and Generals where the train in Virginia is the Virginia and Truckee Railroad.

Enjoy

Paul

 

 

Thats not in Virginia??? LOL

 

No, that's in WEST Virginia...

Marlon:

Yah, WAY West Virginia, LOL!  Like NEVADA!   Actually, those beautifully preserved V&T locomotives have been all over the map on screen, at least.  The first time one of them appeared on screen was in 1937's HIGH, WIDE AND HANDSOME, and then 1939's UNION PACIFIC.  After that, those beautiful V&T steamers were bonafide Hollywood 'stars' for several decades.   We can actually thank Paramount and MGM for 'preserving' them for movies, when they might have otherwise gone to the scrapper's torch. 

Tom

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Posted by Medina1128 on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 5:06 AM

vsmith

 

 IRONROOSTER:

 

I think my favorite is in Gods and Generals where the train in Virginia is the Virginia and Truckee Railroad.

Enjoy

Paul

 

 

Thats not in Virginia??? LOL

No, that's in WEST Virginia...

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Posted by vsmith on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 11:44 PM

IRONROOSTER

I think my favorite is in Gods and Generals where the train in Virginia is the Virginia and Truckee Railroad.

Enjoy

Paul

Thats not in Virginia??? LOL

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by IRONROOSTER on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 11:20 PM

I think my favorite is in Gods and Generals where the train in Virginia is the Virginia and Truckee Railroad.

Enjoy

Paul

If you're having fun, you're doing it the right way.
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Posted by vsmith on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 10:45 PM

In the movie "Flyboys" about the WW1 Lafayette Escadrille, one of the future pilots is seen leaving "Lincoln, Nebraska" on a "UP" train that is obviously English or European, having a coach with an exterior door to each compartment.

I hated that, it was so enormously obvious, of course it wasnt an accident, it was a deliberate move to save money by only needing one day to shoot all the train scenes. Another gaf that bugs me:

"Flags of Our Fathers" used vintage F units in train scenes which would be correct for mid 40's but in the bar car theirs a big photo of a PA-1, which wasnt designed until after the war was over.

I always find it funny to see where these gafs are clearly intentional, like in "Airplane" where its a jet airliner but they used the noise from a piston engined plane. In "Wrongfully Accused" they spoof "The Fugitive" train wreck scene where the train jumps off the rails and *literally* chases Lesley Nielson thru the woods.

 

 

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by twhite on Monday, April 9, 2012 7:45 PM

last mountain & eastern hogger

 twhite:

Even the great Alfred Hitchcock could goof with trains.  In NORTH BY NORTHWEST, Cary Grant leaves New York for Chicago on New York Central's "20th Century Limited", yet at the end of the movie, he's returning to New York on Southern Pacific's "San Joaquin Daylight", LOL!   

 

 

Whistling

That's right Tom,

We just watched that again after many years (50) and I pointed that out to my Wife.

I couldn't believe it when they showed that Bloody Nose.     Just didn't fit at all.

Johnboy out.............................and still wondering what they were thinking.

John: 


At the risk of being racy on a 'family' forum, I read that Hitch wanted a shot of a train going into a tunnel at the very end, to signify the 'cementing' of Grant's relationship to Miss Saint.  And the only clip he could find was that of the "San Joaquin Daylight" going into the San Fernando tunnel. 

I love NORTH BY NORTHWEST, it's one of my very favorite Hitchock movies (among many), so that little inaccuracy is definitely outweighed by the chuckle I have everytime I see it, LOL!

Tom

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Posted by last mountain & eastern hogger on Monday, April 9, 2012 12:02 PM

twhite

Even the great Alfred Hitchcock could goof with trains.  In NORTH BY NORTHWEST, Cary Grant leaves New York for Chicago on New York Central's "20th Century Limited", yet at the end of the movie, he's returning to New York on Southern Pacific's "San Joaquin Daylight", LOL!   

 

Whistling

That's right Tom,

We just watched that again after many years (50) and I pointed that out to my Wife.

I couldn't believe it when they showed that Bloody Nose.     Just didn't fit at all.

Johnboy out.............................and still wondering what they were thinking.

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Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Sunday, April 8, 2012 6:05 PM

DSchmitt

How about a auto or truck crashing at high speed into the side of a moving train at a grade crossing.  The motor vehicle explodes, but the train continues to roll as if nothing happened.

Ditto for the end of 'Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry' (1974 car chase film).

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Posted by DSchmitt on Sunday, April 8, 2012 6:01 PM

How about a auto or truck crashing at high speed into the side of a moving train at a grade crossing.  The motor vehicle explodes, but the train continues to roll as if nothing happened.

A movie set in the 1930's.  Nice shot of the top of a train crossing under a roadway bridge.  No roofwalks on any of the cars.

Movie made in 1950's set in small midwestwern town.  Hobos jump off of a freight train pulled by a SP cabforward.

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Posted by AntonioFP45 on Saturday, April 7, 2012 11:34 PM

In Spiderman -2, the elevated train is not a New York City MTA train, it's actually a Chicago RTA train as is the line the train is running on.  The double-windowed, twin door, square ended cars are easy to identify as Chicago's equipment. 

 


 











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Posted by stebbycentral on Saturday, April 7, 2012 11:32 AM

dehusman

In the movie "Flyboys" about the WW1 Lafayette Escadrille, one of the future pilots is seen leaving "Lincoln, Nebraska" on a "UP" train that is obviously English or European, having a coach with an exterior door to each compartment.

Same issue with the recent production JOHN CARTER of MARS.  The Edgar Rice Burroughs character is seen arriving in Manhattan, NY on the same kind of English First Class Coach pulled by a locomotive with buffers instead of a cowcatcher. 

I have figured out what is wrong with my brain!  On the left side nothing works right, and on the right side there is nothing left!

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Posted by maxman on Saturday, April 7, 2012 10:59 AM

jerryl

One thing I've seen too many times to count is when you see people driving filmed thru the front window with a film playing in the background the shift lever is almost always visible in the top position which is "PARK".

Well, this is getting off topic, but since you brought it up.  The driving scenes that irk me the most are those where the car is travelling at some highway speed and the driver looks at the passenger for an extended period of time without looking where he/she's going.  The new Hawaii-50 series is especially bad for this.

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Posted by R. T. POTEET on Saturday, April 7, 2012 10:59 AM

Let's all shout "BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK"!

From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet

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Posted by Medina1128 on Saturday, April 7, 2012 9:56 AM

And no rear view mirror.

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Posted by jerryl on Saturday, April 7, 2012 9:23 AM

One thing I've seen too many times to count is when you see people driving filmed thru the front window with a film playing in the background the shift lever is almost always visible in the top position which is "PARK".

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Posted by gabeusmc on Friday, April 6, 2012 1:30 PM

I just thought of a few more hollywood errors. In the latest Mission Impposible Chicago metra trains are seen in the backround while an assain does her job at a train station.

The problem is that they are in europe.

Also (though not train related) the movie about to come out in theaters "Battleship", is very inaccurate.

All of our Battleships are mothballed at this time! 

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Posted by steemtrayn on Friday, April 6, 2012 12:43 PM

In the movie "Butterfield 8", a trip out to Long Island is on a New Haven train under triangular catenary. Interior shots are aboard a southbound with the Hudson River outside the window.

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Posted by twhite on Friday, April 6, 2012 11:24 AM

Even the great Alfred Hitchcock could goof with trains.  In NORTH BY NORTHWEST, Cary Grant leaves New York for Chicago on New York Central's "20th Century Limited", yet at the end of the movie, he's returning to New York on Southern Pacific's "San Joaquin Daylight", LOL!   

And in STRANGERS ON A TRAIN,  we somehow have Southern Pacific's "Coast Daylight" pulling into Washington DC's Union Station.  

My favorite, however, is Paramount's zingy western DENVER AND RIO GRANDE, where the famous Rio Grande/Santa Fe "Royal Gorge War" ends up taking place several hundred miles WEST of the Royal Gorge on the Silverton Branch.   Hey, fellas, there really IS a difference, LOL!

Tom

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Posted by tomikawaTT on Friday, April 6, 2012 11:15 AM

It's not just trains, folks.

In the Guns of Navarone, supposedly set in the Greek Isles in 1940, when the Allied destroyers are running the gauntlet and the guns are firing, the British destroyers (White Ensigns clearly visible) suddenly become US Fletcher class cans between salvoes - then switch back!

To add insult to injury, the first Fletchers were still on the building ways at the time the action was supposed to have taken place...

Back on topic, a lot of New York - produced movies had people boarding or arriving on trains pulled by CNJ camelbacks - no matter where they were supposed to be.

Hollywood moguls have always assumed a level of stupidity far lower than reality for their audiences.  Even the mundanes remark on how often things just change in the middle of a story.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with rolling stock either appropriate for the place and era or wild feats of imagineering)

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Posted by Medina1128 on Friday, April 6, 2012 10:15 AM

betamax

I saw one glaring error on the "A Team" once.

Only ONE glaring error??

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Posted by Eric97123 on Friday, April 6, 2012 8:53 AM

A couple weeks ago on this Showtime show, Shameless which is set in Chicago, William H Macy's character is having a fight with his wife in the car, they get out at crossing as train is going by and from one angle you see a bunch of box cars and from the other angle it looks like a unit train of tank cars, then back to the box cars from the other angle and back to the tank cars from the other angle.  It looks like they the director wanted to use the train for effect but do to several takes they had to use what ever trains were rolling by.

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