Good morning
Hit the rack early and slept like a rock last night but then I was wide awake at 2 in the morning. I frequently get up at 4 and sometimes even 3, but 2 is a little bit early to vacate the rack
Heartbreak Pass with Charles Bronson had just started which is a movie I've never seen before, Civil War era. The whole movie was filled with footage of the Steamer (The Star of the movie) and great scenery through the wilderness with tons of timber trestles I even seen the one that's my favorite bridge design. That sort of train footage is definitely my cup of tea and the exact modeling theme for my layout.
I'll have to re-watch that movie when I'm a bit more coherent instead of half asleep. It looked like a good flick but I was mainly just watching the train and all the beautiful scenery. Kind of like when you get your new Model Railroader magazine and look at all the pictures before you read it
It did make me cringe and grit my teeth a bit when the guy bounced off the solid timber of the trestle. It seemed like the only time someone was thrown off the train they were up on a high bridge. One guy rattled down the center members and off the purlins like a tinker toy all the way to the bottom, ...Yikes!
Amongst the shoot-em ups and the violence, that sure was a cool train. The old time luxury and beautiful woodwork in the cars was something to see.
What about you guys? Do you have a favorite Train Movie or recommend any good ones you've seen?
TF
The only train themed movie I have seen recently was Snowpiercer, and I did not like it.
For great train scenes in movies, my favorite of recent releases was the train scene in Solo: A Star Wars Story. I thought that was a very well made scene.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Snow piercer was a major piece of $%^. Then there was Unstoppable where the engines get up on one set of wheels at an angle. I had to really shut my brain off for that one. A good train movie is Silver Streak - lots of train scenes and a great crash scene at the end.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Not a train movie but there is a great train scene in my opinion -
The Sting when they are on the 20th Century Limited and Paul Newman is playing poker to hook Doyle Lonnegan into the con.
And of course the classic- The General with Buster Keaton Love re-watching this movie.
Highly recommend....Emperor of the North with Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine. Takes place during the Depression and hobo travels....steam and fantastic scenery. Also...WW2 in Europe featuring Burt Lancaster...."The Train". A story about stopping a massive art theft going to Germany. If all else fails go to You Tube. Type in Norfolk Southern Pittsburgh line.....Highly recommend two selections put on their by "retired railfan". He shot two videos of NS in the fall with beautiful scenery traversing the Allegheny Mountains and includes Horseshoe Curve and other railfan locations. So much on You Tube, you won't be bored.
EMDSD40 Highly recommend....Emperor of the North with Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine. Takes place during the Depression and hobo travels....steam and fantastic scenery. Also...WW2 in Europe featuring Burt Lancaster...."The Train". A story about stopping a massive art theft going to Germany. If all else fails go to You Tube. Type in Norfolk Southern Pittsburgh line.....Highly recommend two selections put on their by "retired railfan". He shot two videos of NS in the fall with beautiful scenery traversing the Allegheny Mountains and includes Horseshoe Curve and other railfan locations. So much on You Tube, you won't be bored.
Your first two choices were the same as mine. I also liked Silver Streak, the Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor version.
Although not really a train movie, North by Northwest had some nice scenes with the 20th Century Limited. They got a lot of details correct which is unusual for Hollywood. They had the red carpet rolled out at Grand Central Terminal. They had Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint eat in the dining car rolling north along the Hudson at the appropriate time of day. One mistake they made was when Cary Grant was told the first class accomodations were sold out the ticket clerk asked if he wanted to buy a coach seat instead. The 20th Century Limited of course had no coaches. It was all first class accomodations.
The Sting also had scenes aboard the 20th Century Limited although they just called it the Century Limited. The story board showed the Dreyfus Hudson which would not have been correct since the movie was set in the early 1930s before the 20th Century Limited was streamlined and equipped with lightweight cars. I don't think they had any exterior shots of the train.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention the Disney Civil War film The Great Locomotive Chase starring Fess Parker. I saw it when I was very young and a few years ago saw it on DVD. Often movies you saw when you were young are not as good when you view them as an adult but this one has held up very well.
My favorites in my DVD collection:
Silver Streak
The Train
Runaway Train
Disaster on the Coastliner
Runaway!
Unstoppable
Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html
Hey, how come nobody mentioned the train scenes in Disney's "The Lone Ranger" with Johnny Depp?
Just kidding already!! Don't vote me off the island! Dan
Thanks for the replies. A lot of movies I haven't seen here.
I'll have to check out Solo Kevin. My daughter set me up with some free TV and all the Star Wars stuff is on the Disney channel. I've been meaning to check that one out as I didn't like when his evil son killed him.
I have a copy of Silver Streak Rio, one of my favorites I guarantee you I've seen that one more than once. Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were always hilarious together. I don't care how many movie re-make's they do, they will never top the classics. I haven't seen Unstoppable though, sounds a bit far-fetched. I suppose if a train was tipped at an angle only on one side of the wheels, the flange would pretty much be a goner
I guess I don't remember the train scene in The Sting Charlie. I have a copy of that around here somewhere as well, I'll have to check that out. The general sounds like a good one.
I always liked Ernest Borgnine in McHale's Navy when I was young SD40. I'll be looking for The Emperor of the North on Amazon or Hulu.
Never seen The Great Locomotive Chase either John. Hopefully they'll have that on the Disney Channel. I always liked Fess Parker in Daniel Boone when I was a kid.
I've only seen Silver Streak on your list Kevin. It's probably a bit apparent I don't watch TV too often but I do enjoy a good movie once in awhile.
Looks like I got a good list to chip away at this winter. Thanks for the tips
I just saw Runaway Train few weeks ago with Eric Roberts & Jon Voight I have it on on VHS.
SWITCHBACK very good. check it out
Do not forget Flashback with Dennis Hopper & Kiefer Sutherland.
MetrolinkFan I just saw Runaway Train few weeks ago with Eric Roberts & Jon Voight I have it on on VHS.
VHS? Isn't that from the Stone Age? I have a closet full of VHS tapes and a VHS player but I can't remember how long it has been since I watched anything on it. It's been at least ten years. Probably longer. I don't know if it even works or the tapes are any good. I had the Time/Life series about WWII on tapes but the last time I tried to look at one the tape reel seemed to be fused together and wouldn't play. One of these days I'm going to throw them all out and the tape player and free up some closet space.
John-NYBW VHS? Isn't that from the Stone Age? I have a closet full of VHS tapes and a VHS player but I can't remember how long it has been since I watched anything on it. It's been at least ten years. Probably longer. I don't know if it even works or the tapes are any good. I had the Time/Life series about WWII on tapes but the last time I tried to look at one the tape reel seemed to be fused together and wouldn't play. One of these days I'm going to throw them all out and the tape player and free up some closet space.
Rich
Alton Junction
My three favorite train movies are The General starring Buster Keaton, The Train starring Burt Lancaster and Unstoppable starring Denzel Washington.
richhotrain
No, unfortunately, ...I didn't even remember those things until just now. Those things were kinda cool. My favorite was the dinosaur disc. That grumpy old T-Rex chowing on his bronto burger looked pretty 3D and scary man
Track fiddler Never seen The Great Locomotive Chase either John. Hopefully they'll have that on the Disney Channel. I always liked Fess Parker in Daniel Boone when I was a kid.
There's an interesting back story to the Daniel Boone series. Originally NBC wanted Fess Parker to reprise his role as Davy Crockett for the series. Parker had a messy divorce from the Disney studios and Disney still held the rights to his Davy Crockett character and wouldn't allow him to play Crockett in the series. NBC just changed the character to Daniel Boone and dressed him in the same coonskin cap and buckskin he wore as Crockett.
Daniel Boone (1964 TV series) - Wikipedia
Fess Parker lived an amazing life. After leaving acting at age 49, he became a very successful real estate developer. He then turned to winemaking and his wines have won many awards and can still be ordered online.
He briefly flirted with running for the US Senate in the 1980s but decided against it. Too bad. He would have been a good one.
PS Surely you've seen Ed Ames (Mingo) demonstrate to Johnny Carson how to throw a tomahawk.
Ed Ames Teaches Johnny Carson to Throw a Tomahawk - Bing video
Interesting information I never knew John. The episode I remember the most is when he carved a heart with his and Becky's initials in the tree far from home, he slipped with the axe and cut his leg bad. Infections in the wilderness are not a good thing and he barely made it home okay.
I never did see Mingo teach Johnny Carson how to throw a tomahawk but gonna watch it.
Ed Ames is either a very bad aim or a very good one, ...I haven't decided yet
Track fiddler Ed Ames is either a very bad aim or a very good one, ...I haven't decided yet TF
I think it was very bad. Did you notice the way he jumped back after he saw where the tomahawk struck?
FYI, Breakheart Pass was filmed on the Camas Prairie RR, Lewiston ID.
Emperor of the North was filmed on the Oregon, Pacific & Eastern, Cottage Grove OR.
Another movie for your consideration is "The Great Train Robbery" (1978) starring Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland & Lesley-Anne Down.
Dan
I second The Train (1964) and runaway train.
You cant go wrong with train crash scenes that use REAL steam locos!
Charles
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Modeling the Santa Fe & Pennsylvania in HO
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLb3FRqukolAtnD1khrb6lQ
Instagram (where I share projects!): https://www.instagram.com/trainman440
The only two I've seen that impressed me were The General, and The Train.
Fast & Furious: Fast Five wasn't bad either.
Runaway Train was, at least to me, the hokeyest....reminded me of a kid playing with 3-rail O scale.
Wayne
richhotrain Does anyone still have their old View Master? Rich
Does anyone still have their old View Master?
I wish I still did.
They are still available or making a come back, like vinyl and turn tables (the record playing variety). My wife and I were in a store recently when we saw classic View Masters for sale.
Jeff
As to railroad movies, my favorite is Emperor of the North. The engineer (only credited as "Hogger") was the son of a Pennsylvania RR president. The Train with Burl Lancaster is a very close second.
After that, I'll watch most railroad movies, or those were railroads are prominent in the background. Only a few I have trouble bringing myself to watch. Those are Silver Streak, Runaway Train (Not the early 1970s Runaway! I like that one.).
Unstoppable is also hard to watch, but not for the obvious reasons. I actually can stomach the "enhanced for drama" effects. It's the "routine" operating aspects depicted. Hint, no one blows off FRA inspectors. In real life the field level inspectors know their stuff. They can (and have) impose fines and/or shutdown operations until defects are remedied.
The GF and I watch Hallmark movies with minimal expectations. We saw one, set in current day, about a group of randomized passengers going home for Christmas on a train through the Rockies. Of course, it was pulled by what looked like a single F7, and it got stuck in the snow, which persisted for hours. They made do, and even the pseudo-Santa figure, an old fat guy with a beard who may have been Santa, seemed happy. A couple of passengers cross-country skied, and brought back a horse-drawn wagon of supplies. Then a helper engine arrived and everyone got home.
Not much about trains, really, but with some suspension of disbelief it's OK..
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
La bete humaine (France, 1938; US titles "The Human Beast" or "Judas Was A Woman"). A rather depressing love/murder story. However, the villain (played by Jean Gabin) is a steam locomotive engineer, and his profession is important in the context of the movie. Thus, there are beautiful segments showing him operating his steam locomotive, including a scene where the locomotive takes up water from a trough between the rails.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGGOKmYGBwM
Interestingly, in France the engineer is on the left-hand side, as are the signals.
A year before North by Northwest came out, the Century DID start having coaches. Lucius Beebe switched to the Broadway in protest...
Here's one:
"Night Freight", with Forrest Tucker, 1955.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Freight
It's so obscure, you can't even find it in the torrents...
Again thanks for the replies.
It wasn't too long ago I still had VHS tapes MetrolinkFan. I'm one of those guys that doesn't like to throw anything away that still works I guess. I had a DVD player that played VHS tapes as well, when that quit working I finally chucked them.
Never heard of Switchback either tomytuna, I'll have to add that to my list for this winter.
The General and The Train seem to be of the popular vote here caldreamer.
I did see how Ed Ames jumped back when he saw how bad he missed after I watched it again John. Johnny had to grab his arm as he looked like he was leaving
Interesting information on Heartbreak Pass and the others Dan. I was wondering where that beautiful footage was filmed. I did see The Great Train Robbery years ago. Sean Connery is one of my favorite actors. If you look up Scotsman in the dictionary I'm sure his picture will be there Donald Sutherland sure was funny in Kelly's Heroes.
Another confirmation for The Train and Runaway Train Charles. It's like Siskel and Ebert here with two up
It looks like your two favorite movies are among the favorites here Wayne. If you rate [Unstoppable (edit Runaway Train)] like watching a kid play with his three rail O gauge train set, it doesn't look like I'll be wasting my time with that one.
I didn't know the View-Master was making a comeback Jeff. I may have to get a couple of those as stocking stuffers for my daughters. Never heard of The Engineer either but added to the list.
Sounds like an interesting movie you and the girlfriend stumbled on of the train marooned in the snow Mister B. Reminds me of a lighter version of that true story, the plane that crashed in the Andes Mountains. It's amazing the people that survived that one after the search teams gave up.
I knew about cars (of-course) being the opposite of here in Europe DrW. But I never knew the trains were too.
Who is Lucius Beebe Overmod?
Is so it seems, most of these movies I have not seen, Night Fright is one as well Old Engineman.
Well, I have a detailed do's and don'ts watch list for the long winter ahead. Never knew there was so many train movies. Thanks for posting.
Have a great day gentlemen