Gunsmoke

[mudchicken]

The only people reasonably close (50 miles) to Dodge City (ironically in Ford County) in the era:

(1) Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (The DC&CV going SW outta Dodge didn't get going unti 1913 and by then there were Model T's)

(2) Dodge City Montezuma & Trinidad Railway (1887-1893)

 

(3) Chicago Rock Island & Pacific RR (1887-Arkansas Kansas & Colorado RR/ Branch ....abandoned 2016 Bucklin to Dodge City).....The Cotton-Rock transcon appeared there at about the same time.

 

....Always amazed to see how Marshall Dillon could strap rockets, saddle and saddlebags on the old nag at the livery and wind up in the mountains in mere seconds. (geography challenged Hollyweird?)

 

DC and I both spent a fair amount of time there (aka- flyover country)

 

BN = Bucklin Nowhere? .... CB&Q got no closer than 175 miles or so to the north of Dodge City. (McCook NE)

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

wjstix

I haven't seen that episode (well, I probably did when it was first aired), but in the 19th century there was a fairly large midwestern railroad called the Chicago, Burlington & Northern. It eventually became part of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. I wonder if it maybe was lettered for the CB&N, and the "Chicago" part was obscured??

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0055/6253/1904/products/1117.png?v=1547846032

Chicago, Burlington & Northern was a majority owned subsidiary of CB&Q that was established to build the line to the Twin Cities.

[Paul of Covington]

Leo_Ames

Petticoat Junction for instance is stalled at season three on DVD and appears to be without any hope of seeing the last four seasons.

   If you need a "fix" and get the DECADES TV channel, it's being rerun at noon CST.  Nice combination of train watching and girl watching.

[BaltACD]

wjstix

I haven't seen that episode (well, I probably did when it was first aired), but in the 19th century there was a fairly large midwestern railroad called the Chicago, Burlington & Northern. It eventually became part of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. I wonder if it maybe was lettered for the CB&N, and the "Chicago" part was obscured??

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0055/6253/1904/products/1117.png?v=1547846032

No!  It was properly spaced for Burlington Northern.  No room for Chicago.

[wjstix]

I haven't seen that episode (well, I probably did when it was first aired), but in the 19th century there was a fairly large midwestern railroad called the Chicago, Burlington & Northern. It eventually became part of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. I wonder if it maybe was lettered for the CB&N, and the "Chicago" part was obscured??

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0055/6253/1904/products/1117.png?v=1547846032

[Flintlock76]

Yeah, I saw that "Gunsmoke" episode myself and did a bit of head-scratching over it.  Oh well, those folks were in the entertainment business and not the railroad history business, so what can you do?

On "Petticoat Junction," I'd guess if the first three seasons on DVD were poor sellers you won't see anymore seasons for sale.  

[Leo_Ames]

I don't know how well publicized the merger was, but my hunch is that it was unintended when the episode was written. Someone with a little familiarity with big historic railroad names tried to fictionalize one that would sound right and just happened to come up with the same combination that served the real Burlington Northern so well for a quarter century or so.

Amazingly, CBS is all set to wrap up this series on DVD in 2020. I'd sure of lost a bet that not only would all 20 seasons appear, but that all 20 would be remastered from the original 35 mm masters rather than utilizing poor Viacom videotape transfers from the early days of cable television.

If only some of my other favorite CBS programs would get such love. Petticoat Junction for instance is stalled at season three on DVD and appears to be without any hope of seeing the last four seasons. And if it does get unstalled, we'll likely see them cheapen out and use the poor looking 1980's era transfers that were cut to add several minutes of commercials. And all the music would surely also be cut to avoid licensing fees (The beautiful Meredith MacRae that joined the cast with season 4 did a lot of singing).

[Backshop]

Or the crew's "expert" having a bit of fun?

[Overmod]

BaltACD

One scene shows a wood pile being lit on fire in front of train locomotive's tender that has 'Burlington Northern' painted on its sides. 

An early example of media product placement? 

[BaltACD]

Watching a episode of Gunsmoke on ME TV.  Episode 'Bullet' from 1971.

One scene shows a wood pile being lit on fire in front of train locomotive's tender that has 'Burlington Northern' painted on its sides.  Interesting that the BN had only been authorized on March 2, 1970.  It never existed in the time period the Gunsmoke show portrays.