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Favorite movie with a train or model train

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Posted by softail86mark on Monday, April 13, 2015 12:51 AM

DSchmitt

 

 
softail86mark

Do TV shows count?

Lots of TV shows with trains. Wild, Wild West did a lot. Including their own train from Railtown 1897 (modern name). Might have just been Jamestown back then. But they had at least three that I remember that used model trains. There could be more, I haven't finished the full DVD set yet. 

MC

 

 

 

Railtown 1897 is a California State Historic Park located in Jamestown.  It includes  the Sierra Railway roundhouse and shops substantially unchanged from when they were built and  preserved railway equipment. 

 

Oh no, I know 1897 well. I was just lamenting the NAME by which they called themselves in the mid-60s. Was it a state park back then with the likes of Petticoat Junction and Wild Wild West? Or did they just go by Sierra Railway?

Just a side note, some friends and I toured Jamestown 1897 back before Back to the Future II came out and the tour lady told us that Back to the Future III had just finished filming the exploding locomotive scene. We questioned her on telling us "Three" but she assured us she knew what she was talking about. As we all now know, she was right. 

Mark 

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Posted by DSchmitt on Friday, April 10, 2015 1:25 PM

softail86mark

Do TV shows count?

Lots of TV shows with trains. Wild, Wild West did a lot. Including their own train from Railtown 1897 (modern name). Might have just been Jamestown back then. But they had at least three that I remember that used model trains. There could be more, I haven't finished the full DVD set yet. 

MC

 

Railtown 1897 is a California State Historic Park located in Jamestown.  It includes  the Sierra Railway roundhouse and shops substantially unchanged from when they were built and  preserved railway equipment. 

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Posted by jecorbett on Friday, April 10, 2015 10:55 AM

Does anyone remember the short lived TV series called Supertrain.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078697/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

It premiered on NBC in 1979 and was quickly canceled. Since it was on so briefly I don't remember much about it except the model they used looked like it ran on 6 ft gauge. I think they intended it to be a land version of the Love Boat. It didn't work.   

I think there was also a series about a train that was a time machine but I remember even less about that. The model they used for the stock footage looked like it was headed by E or F units in Monon livery. I think it ran sometime in the 1980s but I'm not even sure about that.

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Posted by softail86mark on Friday, April 10, 2015 4:27 AM

Do TV shows count?

Lots of TV shows with trains. Wild, Wild West did a lot. Including their own train from Railtown 1897 (modern name). Might have just been Jamestown back then. But they had at least three that I remember that used model trains. There could be more, I haven't finished the full DVD set yet. 

MC

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Posted by DSchmitt on Friday, April 10, 2015 3:05 AM

viperj

yes that is my number one favorite and then, what's the one with Kirk douglas and the southern pacific daylight , where they hold it up and slide into Mexico? And then runaway. 

 

Tough Guys  1986    Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Charles Durning, Eli Wallach

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1021765-tough_guys/

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Posted by zstripe on Friday, April 10, 2015 3:03 AM

viperj

yes that is my number one favorite and then, what's the one with Kirk douglas and the southern pacific daylight , where they hold it up and slide into Mexico? And then runaway. 

 

''Tough Guy's'' 1986. Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas.

Take Care! Big Smile

Frank

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Posted by viperj on Friday, April 10, 2015 2:39 AM

yes that is my number one favorite and then, what's the one with Kirk douglas and the southern pacific daylight , where they hold it up and slide into Mexico? And then runaway. 

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Posted by vsmith on Thursday, April 9, 2015 7:49 PM
Train movies? Lots...The General with Buster Keaton and The Train with Burt Lancaster being favorites.

Model train movies, now that is a tougher one. The Addams Family, but Toccota for Toy Trains by the Eames perhaps my favorite.

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by ACY Tom on Monday, April 6, 2015 7:57 AM

Here's one:

In The Emperor Jones (1933), Paul Robeson plays a Pullman porter.  I seem to recall some scenes with a PRR E6s 4-4-2 and some passenger cars at a major terminal.

Tom

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Posted by twhite on Saturday, April 4, 2015 4:38 PM

OT Dean

If you can find it (I did, on a disk with several other older Westerns), modelers of the late 19th-early 20th centuries will find "Whispering Smith," with Alan Ladd, of interest---as long as you don't expect the plot to follow the excellent novel Frank Spearman.

Deano

 

Deano: 

I've got "Whispering Smith" on DVD, and agree with you, it's a good western, but not the Frank Spearman novel (at least not very close).  I found out that the 1948 Alan Ladd movie is instead based upon a 1926 silent film.  I was surprised to find that the novel has been filmed almost eight times, mainly silents.  But Paramount really used their train collection (mainly old Virginia and Truckee locomotives and cars that had been purchased for the 1939 film "Union Pacific") well.   The V&T collection was rented out to other studios during the 'forties and 'fifties and appeared in quite a few westerns.  Most of the locomotives and rolling stock now reside at either the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, or the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. 

Tom

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Posted by OT Dean on Saturday, April 4, 2015 11:21 AM

If you can find it (I did, on a disk with several other older Westerns), modelers of the late 19th-early 20th centuries will find "Whispering Smith," with Alan Ladd, of interest---as long as you don't expect the plot to follow the excellent novel by Frank Spearman.

Deano

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Posted by ACY Tom on Saturday, April 4, 2015 7:31 AM

For a comedy with the best train wreck scene, consider The Wrong Box (British, 1966)

Tom

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Posted by cjcrescent on Saturday, April 4, 2015 1:08 AM

Likes

#1 Emperor of the North. Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, and Keith Carradine.

#2 The Train. Burt Lancaster

#3 The General. Buster Keaton

Non likes

Runaway Train

Silver Streak either version

Unstopable

Under Seige 2- Special effects of the train wreck, terrible. Whoever heard of a long bridge like that having a solid undercore. Looked like some girders were glued to a 2x2.

Carey

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Posted by FRRYKid on Friday, April 3, 2015 9:45 PM

Another movie that isn't primarily train related but still has some good train action in it is Broken Arrow (1996). All of the train scences were filmed on the CMR (Central Montana Railway) in central Montana.

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Posted by Cederstrand on Tuesday, March 31, 2015 2:21 PM

The Giant Gila Monster (1959)

OK, so not exactly my favorite train movie of all time, not even remotely close. But I like the old SciFi movies and there was a train crash in it (a model) and nobody has mentioned it (no surprise).LaughLaughLaugh

Cheers! Cowboy Rob

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Posted by keystonecrossings on Sunday, March 29, 2015 9:16 AM
In no particular order... Emperor of the North (a must see!) Silver Streak Unstoppable

Jerry Britton

Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad's Middle Division in the early 1950s

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Posted by Medina1128 on Sunday, March 29, 2015 4:20 AM

zstripe

 

 
Medina1128
The Great Train Chase, Fess Parker

 

Just a slight correction to the title.....It was ''The Great Locomotive Chase'' by Walt Disney 1956.....two Loco's General & Texas, during the civil war. Saw it downtown Chgo in the same year. Nothing like seeing it on a gigantic screen.

Take Care! Big Smile

Frank

 

Thanks for the correction, Frank. I guess I should have Googled it before adding it. I was just using that cobweb ridden memory of mine. Smile, Wink & Grin

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Posted by DSchmitt on Sunday, March 29, 2015 12:33 AM

Duplicate post

I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.

I don't have a leg to stand on.

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Posted by DSchmitt on Sunday, March 29, 2015 12:31 AM

tin can
James Garner played a conductor/brakeman on a TV movie with a railroad theme; movie was shot on the Texas State Railroad

The Long Summer of George Adams 1982  From New York Times:

Review Summary

"James Garner's longtime Rockford Files colleague directed this Saroyanesque 1982 TV movie. George Adams (Garner) is a railroad steam-engine handyman in Cushing, Oklahoma, circa 1952. Increasing reliance upon the diesel engine has rendered George's job obsolete; the only employment he can find is as a night watchman, which subjects him to ridicule from the community. George struggles to hold his home and family together, despite such roadblocks as a tattered relationship with his wife (JOAN HACKETT), a brief affair with the town temptress (Anjanette Comer), a fistic bout with the local business bigwig, and a nocturnal tussle with a gang of bank robbers. The Long Summer of George Adams was based on a novel by Weldon Hill. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi "

The railroad also appeared  in Streets of Larado Mini-series where Garner played Captain Woodrow Call in 3 episodes, 1999

Texas State Railroad film site:

https://www.texasstaterr.com/film.php

 

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Posted by tin can on Saturday, March 28, 2015 10:37 PM

Richard Dryfuss's character has a model railroad in "Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind," until he becomes obsessed with making scenery. 
"The Station Agent" begins with the protagonist working in a hobby shop; which closes after the owner's demise.  He inherits an old train station, but not much train action. "Polar Express" has a train as part of its story arc.  James Garner played a conductor/brakeman on a TV movie with a railroad theme; movie was shot on the Texas State Railroad, but I can't remember the name of it.

Remember the tin can; the MKT's central Texas branch...
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Posted by tin can on Saturday, March 28, 2015 10:31 PM

JWhite
 
ACY

One I haven't seen is "It Happened To Jane", from the mid 1950's.  I don't think trains are the central focus, but the film includes footage of the last New Haven steam loco, a Mikado that was scrapped shortly after her movie role.

Tom

 

 

 

It's been a long time since I've seen it but actually the train is the central focus of the movie.  Doris Day runs a lobster business and the local railroad causes her to lose a shipment and the railroad run by Ernie Kovacs doesn't compensate her. She sues and Kovacs refuses to pay and she seizes the train, I don't remember if the sheriff seized it for her or the court awarded it, and Doris and her lawyer/boyfriend Tony Randall end up running the train to ship her lobsters. The New Haven Mike is one of the uncreditied co-stars.

 

Boyfriend is Jack Lemmon.  Movie used to show on AMC every now and then.  In one of the info sessions after the movie, Robert Osborn stated that Lemmon actually learned to fire the locomotive; and insisted on firing for the movie, as he enjoyed it.  

Remember the tin can; the MKT's central Texas branch...
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Posted by PM Railfan on Saturday, March 28, 2015 1:24 PM

So no one has heard or seen of the movie i mentioned in my first post? I figured since of all the movies and shows listed here, that a movie with BOTH models and 1:1 scale would be well known. Especially since the movie is all about trains, not actors.

Come on folks, scratch them noggins one more time. Someone has to know about this movie. Saw it as a kid, but would like to see it now as an adult.

 

PM Railfan

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Posted by jecorbett on Saturday, March 28, 2015 12:30 PM

ACY

I didn't know the Mike had such a central role in It Happened to Jane.  Doris Day --- 'nuff said!  I didn't know about Ernie Kovacs in the movie.  He was a natural to play a curmudgeon businessman.  He had a rare talent that modern folks can't possibly know.  This is probably one we should seek out.

 

I've seen parts of this movie but never the whole thing. It runs occasionally on the cable movie channels. I'll have to keep an eye out for it and DVR it next time.

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, March 28, 2015 12:08 PM

The film "Timberjack" is also available on Youtube - for free!

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Posted by Geared Steam on Saturday, March 28, 2015 10:28 AM

Sir Madog

How about Timberjack?

Co-starring is a three-truck Shay. The film includes some interesting footage on logging operation.

 

Thank you Madog Thumbs Up A classic that by the way can now be watched on Amazon.

Emperor of the North is #2 for me 

"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein

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Posted by ACY Tom on Saturday, March 28, 2015 10:13 AM

I didn't know the Mike had such a central role in It Happened to Jane.  Doris Day --- 'nuff said!  I didn't know about Ernie Kovacs in the movie.  He was a natural to play a curmudgeon businessman.  He had a rare talent that modern folks can't possibly know.  This is probably one we should seek out.

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, March 28, 2015 2:09 AM

How about Timberjack?

Co-starring is a three-truck Shay. The film includes some interesting footage on logging operation.

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Posted by JWhite on Saturday, March 28, 2015 1:53 AM

ACY

One I haven't seen is "It Happened To Jane", from the mid 1950's.  I don't think trains are the central focus, but the film includes footage of the last New Haven steam loco, a Mikado that was scrapped shortly after her movie role.

Tom

 

It's been a long time since I've seen it but actually the train is the central focus of the movie.  Doris Day runs a lobster business and the local railroad causes her to lose a shipment and the railroad run by Ernie Kovacs doesn't compensate her. She sues and Kovacs refuses to pay and she seizes the train, I don't remember if the sheriff seized it for her or the court awarded it, and Doris and her lawyer/boyfriend Tony Randall end up running the train to ship her lobsters. The New Haven Mike is one of the uncreditied co-stars.

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Posted by DSchmitt on Saturday, March 28, 2015 12:26 AM

Bad Day at Black Rock

Tough Guys

Bound For Glory

Chartroose Caboose

Chatanogga Choo Choo

Von Rayn's Express

Beetlejuse

I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.

I don't have a leg to stand on.

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