Train Movies

[Trainnut484]

Hard to get hold of, but it shows up on TCM occasionally is a 1930 film called DANGER LIGHTS about railroad workers.  Filmed on the old Milwaukee 'Pacific Extension' near Deer Lodge, Montana, and featuring a lot of nifty Milwaukee steam (sorry, not an electric motor in sight, though).  Silly plot that's been used time and time again, but absolutely GREAT photography both on the line and around the shops and roundhouse.  In fact, it has some of the best train scenes I've ever seen in a Hollywood film.  And not a 'special effects' model in sight.  

Tom   

Danger Lights is, IMHO, one of the best railroad movies in terms of train photography and sound.  NO studio recorded train sounds there.  The opening shot of the steam engine was done by coupling a flat car with a camera mounted on it to the front.  The same camera-mounted-on-flat-car shots were done for the 5 hr hospital run to Chicago.  Another great scene is of the "push-of-war" (opposite of tug-of-war) between two steamers with bells and whistles screaming, drivers spinning, and all that was done with the crowd no further than 5 to 6 feet away!  Another "close" scene is with Robert Armstrong and Jean Arthur on the trestle as a freight runs by.

Oh yes, Dan Thorn (Louis Wolheim).  Now, there is a District Super who I would not want to mess around with

Take care,

Russell
 

[chatanuga]

Can't forget Runaway! (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070615/) from 1973, Disaster on the Coastliner (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079056/) from 1979, and Runaway Train (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089941/) from 1985.

Here are some clips from Disaster on the Coastliner:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hhnh6jr3l04

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lbdczXeZv9c

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pS8uBeq3kMM

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fx17niW0CmA

http://youtube.com/watch?v=k14Tgh_LZPY

Kevin

http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html

http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html

[Dallas Model Works]

Who could forget Thomas and The Magic Spike or whatever the heck it was?

[twhite]

Hard to get hold of, but it shows up on TCM occasionally is a 1930 film called DANGER LIGHTS about railroad workers.  Filmed on the old Milwaukee 'Pacific Extension' near Deer Lodge, Montana, and featuring a lot of nifty Milwaukee steam (sorry, not an electric motor in sight, though).  Silly plot that's been used time and time again, but absolutely GREAT photography both on the line and around the shops and roundhouse.  In fact, it has some of the best train scenes I've ever seen in a Hollywood film.  And not a 'special effects' model in sight. 

 Another favorite:  A TICKET TO TOMAHAWK, a nifty little western comedy starring Rio Grand Southern 4-6-0 #20, all back-dated and gussied up in one of the most attractive paint schemes I've ever seen for a 19th-century loco.  Neat plot, too.  And great photography around Durango and Silverton. 

And for a 'Big' train movie, it's hard to beat John Ford's 1925 epic THE IRON HORSE about the building of the first transcontinental railroad.  Lots of authentic 1860's rolling stock and locomotives and a pretty exciting plot to boot. 

Tom   

 

[lvanhen]

I'll second Breakheart Pass, but my favorite is The Emporer of the North, with Lee Marvin & Ernest Borgnine!  Union Pacific runs a close second - you won't believe Angela Landsbury, Judy Garland (looking like in their 20's!) and many more in the flic!

[loathar]

 "Terror Train" (1980) starring Jamie Lee Curtis.

Throw Mama from the Train.(I can sympathise with Owen...)

[JWhite]

Encore has been running Breakheart Pass with Charles Bronson, Ben Johnson, Jill Ireland and Richard Crenna this month.  The movie is set on a train that's purportedly taking troops and supplies to an Army outpost that's been hit with an epidemic. 

Jeff 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Super Train ran on NBC from February 7, 1979, to May 5, 1979. Only nine episodes were made, including the  2-hour pilot. Stars were Edward Andrews and Nita Talbot. Supertrain was the most expensive series ever aired in the United States. The production had many problems, including a model train that crashed, and despite heavy advertising during the 1978-79 season, it suffered from bad reviews and low viewership, despite attempts to salvage the show by reworking the cast. It never took off and left the air after only three months. NBC was never able to make up the production losses and combined with the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics the next season it nearly bankrupted the network. For these reasons, Supertrain is usually cited as the worst television flop ever.

 

[jecorbett]

Back in the late 1970s, there was a very short lived series called Super Train which seemd to be an exceptionally wide train that ran on a gauge similar to the the Erie's 6 foot gauge or possibly even wider. I don't remember much about this show because it was gone in the blink of an eye but I think singer Steve Lawrence starred in the pilot.

It seems to me at about the same time there was another short lived series about a time traveling train and the canned shots were of a train that looked a lot like the gold and black F-units of the Monon. Does anyone else remember this series and what the name pf it was?

[LD357]

There was an extensive thread on favorite train flicks a while back.

  I have a few favorites that I either have in tape\dvd or I watch when they're on, Emperor of the North is an excellent flick, Von Ryans Express, Runaway Train [which isn't a train just some locos MU'ed and outta control],The Train and Atomic Train [if you like cheezy Hollywood writing and improbable plot lines], theres a whole lot more and if you search that old thread you'll see a lot of movies you've probably never heard of.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Don't remember seeing the 1934 version of Silver Streak. Who was in it and was it a similar plot line as the 1970s version?

Directed by     Thomas Atkins
Produced by     Glendon Alvine
Written by     H.W. Hanemann
Jack O'Donnell
Roger Whately
Starring     Charles Starrett
Editing by     Fred Kundtson
Release date(s)     1934

The movie titles in my previous post are clickable. Click 'The Silver Streak' for more info. 

[jecorbett]

There's a movie called 'The Silver Streak'  that was made in 1934 that stars the Burlington Zephyr. I also like 'The Train' from 1966 starring Burt Lancaster.

Just saw The Train last year. Wasn't Burt Lancaster a dispatcher sympathetic to the French Resistance. Black and white movie but very well done. I wish I had recorded it. It was worth seeing again.

Don't remember seeing the 1934 version of Silver Streak. Who was in it and was it a similar plot line as the 1970s version?

[jeffrey-wimberly]

There's a movie called 'The Silver Streak'  that was made in 1934 that stars the Burlington Zephyr. I also like 'The Train' from 1964 starring Burt Lancaster.

[jecorbett]

The thread about The General being shown on TCM got me thinking about other train themed movies so I'm starting this thread so others can post their own favorites, knowing full well this has probably been done before.

In the above mentioned thread, I mentioned The Great Locomotive Chase, a Disney Civil War movie starring Fess Parker.

Another of my favorites is Silver Streak starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. This movie has significance for me because it came out at about the time I was first reentering this hobby as a young adult, something I haven't been for a long time now. I remember it taking place aboard a fictitious Amroad train which was a very thinly disguised version of Amtrak. It was set on the old Santa Fe route between LA and Chicago.

I invite others to post some of their favorite train movies.