I was thinking back to all of the places I have been to and one particular trip got to me. It was in the summer of 2001, and I was on a trip to Florida with my parents and grandparents. We stopped at a hotel/casino resort in Tunica MS. I remember the name of the casino was the Hollywood. They had a bunch of memoribilia from various movies. I have pictures of some of the artifacts stored away somewhere.
I remember one particular display that caught my eye. It was models of trains that were used as backups for the movie Under Siege 2 starring Steven Seagal. It is a great movie. The models of the passenger cars were about 5 long and were extremely detailed. The tank cars were a little shorter and carried a small tank that held butane for the explosions.
Any other movies that employed the same kind of technique with model railroading?
Will
The Fugitive. In a scene where Han Solo is running and a train crashes off the tracks behind him, that's a model. I don't know the scale, but the guage looks like its about 10", and the engine looks like it was 30" high. I know those numbers aren't right, but I've only got a small picture to look at, and there's a guy kneeling down with an engine that goes up to his chest.
In Titanic, there's a scene with the boat at the dock, and a train and some buildings in front of it. The buildings are models, but the train is made from photo cutouts because it was too expensive to buy a lot of large models, so they bought a few, took photographs and could then duplicate as many cars as they needed.
I thought the Fugitive used a real train. I would like to learn more though. That is interesting about the Titanic movie.
Now that I think of it. The movie Speed used a model to film the part of the subway crash.
lisicanThe Fugitive. In a scene where Han Solo is running and a train crashes off the tracks behind him, that's a model.
The Fugitive. In a scene where Han Solo is running and a train crashes off the tracks behind him, that's a model.
Seriously, Han Solo??
That would be Harrison Ford as Deputy Marshall Sam Gerard.
The scene was inter-cut between models and 1:1. In fact, I recently saw some posted pictures of the rusting loco shell and the bus (in Dillsboro, North Carolina) where the live action from this scene was filmed. They just left them there after staging the crash.
I read that the landscapes overflown in "Flight of the Intruder" were all done in N-scale.
He was obviously channeling Han Solo. According to a book I've got on Special Effects, they shot the wreck with miniatures, and played it back with Ford acting the scene out in front of the projection. I'm sure the shots before and after the wreck were 1:1. I'm sure it's way more complicated than that. It's a process called "introvision". They'd probably do it differently now, but that was a few years back.
MAbruce Seriously, Han Solo?? That would be Harrison Ford as Deputy Marshall Sam Gerard.
No, Harrison Ford was Dr. Richard Kimble (the fugitive) and Tommy Lee Jones was Deputy Marshall Sam Gerard.
Mark
There was the climactic scene as I recall in one of the Zorro movies where a train crashes off the end of a dead-end spur. The special effects were as convincing as pushing an LGB engine into a sandbox.
"I am lapidary but not eristic when I use big words." - William F. Buckley
I haven't been sleeping. I'm afraid I'll dream I'm in a coma and then wake up unconscious. -Stephen Wright
I wonder if the crash scene in the movie Tough Guys starring Kirk Douglas used a model. Surely they didn't crash the real SP 4449.
I also wonder if the scene in Back to the Future III where the loco went over the cliff was a model.
wholeman I remember one particular display that caught my eye. It was models of trains that were used as backups for the movie Under Siege 2 starring Steven Seagal. It is a great movie. The models of the passenger cars were about 5 long and were extremely detailed. The tank cars were a little shorter and carried a small tank that held butane for the explosions.
In regard to the above, shortly after the movie appeared TLC, or some such, had a one-hour TV show on how these railroad models were constructed and how the wreck scene in the movie was staged (the bridge in the wreck was 20' or so tall and perhaps 40' long!). The size and degree of detail in which the models were rendered was equally impressive.
As to other movies in which RR models were employed, who can forget the spectacular wreck of the Ringling Bros. circus train in the 1952 film "The Greatest Show on Earth."
CNJ831
The scene in Tough Guys was a 1" scale live steam model of a Daylight crashed into a pan of graham cracker crumbs to resemble dirt. The post-crash scene was a plywood mockup of #4449. It was one of many model crashes done by the late Jack Sessums. There is a great feature on the DVD "The Magic of Grand Scale Railroading" available from Grand Scales Quarterly about Jack, his 15" gauge railroad and his special effects company. It also has a list of all the movies that they did special effects for, including that subway car crash that lasted forever in "Speed".
If you have the DVD for "Shanghai Noon", it has a nice special feature on the making train crash scene, looks like they used 1.5" scale, 7.5" gauge for that.
- James
Bruce Petty (user Steamage here) has a section of his website about a scene from a movie that was filmed on his layout.
http://lariverrailroads.com/movie_railroad.html
We have a western town scene on our HO scale club layout that consists of buildings given to us by a former Hollywood stunt man who said they were used as props in many western movies in which he appeared.
We call the area Grimy Gulch and you can see the buildings here: http://members.cox.net/cacole2
markpierce ...and Tommy Lee Jones was Deputy Marshall Sam Gerard.
You mean Agent K?
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
wholeman I also wonder if the scene in Back to the Future III where the loco went over the cliff was a model.
Will:
Yes, the model in Back to the Future III was either a 1" or 1.75" live steam model of the Sierra Railroad #3, which was the full-scale locomotive used elsewhere in the film.
A similarly scaled model of a Denver and Rio Grande K-27 was 'wrecked' for a scene in a very funny 1970's western called THE GOOD GUYS AND THE BAD GUYS.
One terrific railroad film that didn't use scale models for the wreck scenes was THE TRAIN. Director John Frankenheimer wrecked full-scale French locomotives for that one.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
cacoleWe call the area Grimy Gulch and you can see the buildings here: http://members.cox.net/cacole2
Nice work on both the club's and yours? How long have each been in existence?
Bob
Photobucket Albums:NPBL - 2008 The BeginningNPBL - 2009 Phase INPBL - 2010 Downtown
Cant believe no one mentioned that movie, what was it called? with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. The one where the F unit smashes through Grand Central Station.
Santa Fe all the way! Cant believe no one mentioned that movie, what was it called? with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. The one where the F unit smashes through Grand Central Station.
Silver Streak.
Back in the Monochromatic (1940s) the Saturday Morning Serials used a lot of (cheap) model work for all kinds of alleged disasters. There were so many giveaways that even grammar school students could catch them.
The most obvious sign that it was faked was the models rolling or flipped end-for-end, then coming to rest undamaged. Also, the fake explosions (half an ounce of black powder in a flash pan - long drawn-out BO-o-oom over the audio system.)
Hollywood can do better now - I hope.
Chuck
I was at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota Florida in June and shot these pic's of the train used in the film "Large and Small"
Hi!
As a youngster in the '50s, and a Lionel nut as well, the train scenes (both real and model) in "the Greatest Show on Earth" were fantastic. I recently picked up the DVD, and it really made me smile. I read an article on the model train they used (can't recall where - but probably in Trains or MR), and I believe it was a modified Lionel loco and custom cars - but I am not sure of that.
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Don't forget the crash scene in The Swarm where a swarm of killer bees causes a train to go out of control and derail. Gotta love the interior of the locomotive cab.
Kevin
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html
lisicanThe Fugitive. In a scene where Han Solo is running and a train crashes off the tracks behind him, that's a model. I don't know the scale, but the guage looks like its about 10", and the engine looks like it was 30" high. I know those numbers aren't right, but I've only got a small picture to look at, and there's a guy kneeling down with an engine that goes up to his chest. In Titanic, there's a scene with the boat at the dock, and a train and some buildings in front of it. The buildings are models, but the train is made from photo cutouts because it was too expensive to buy a lot of large models, so they bought a few, took photographs and could then duplicate as many cars as they needed.
~G4
19 Years old, modeling the Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Cascade Railroad of Western Washington in 1927 in 6X6 feet.
chatanuga Don't forget the crash scene in The Swarm where a swarm of killer bees causes a train to go out of control and derail. Gotta love the interior of the locomotive cab. Kevin
That is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever watched. How do a swarm of bees derail a train and why do passenger cars suddenly explode? Weird
Wow! Richard Widmark, Fred McMurray, Henry Fonda! And Michael Caine! And when did Amtrak start running high speed service on the Durango and Silverton?!?!
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
Really there have been many many instances of fairly large models being used for train shots in movies, going back to silent days when Buster Keaton had a movie using a live steam engine with a train using forced perspective to make it look like you were up the side of a mountain watching a train down in the valley. Of course, the crash in his "The General" was a real locomotive and collapsing bridge - the most expensive single shot in silent movie history.
willjayna chatanuga Don't forget the crash scene in The Swarm where a swarm of killer bees causes a train to go out of control and derail. Gotta love the interior of the locomotive cab. Kevin That is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever watched. How do a swarm of bees derail a train and why do passenger cars suddenly explode? Weird
Also notice how the cars tumbling are obviously models. The undersides look flat with black blocks added (no brake pipes or anything). Also, when the one car hits the bottom of the ravine, it lands on the roof of another car. And when the locomotive flips to the right off the track, the interior shot tilts left.
MILW-RODRJames Bond also used a model in Die Another Day when the russian train, that seems to resemble PRR 4-4-4-4 to me, crashes into the tank and goes kaboom.
I think you may be referring to the scene in 'Goldeneye' when the old Russian missile train hits the tank - can't seem to remember any trains in 'Die Another Day'. This would be the only instance of a model train being used in a Bond movie - 'From Russia With Love' and 'Octopussy' used 1:1 scale trains.
The Location: Forests of the Pacific Northwest, OregonThe Year: 1948The Scale: On30The Blog: http://bvlcorr.tumblr.com
chatanuga willjayna chatanuga Don't forget the crash scene in The Swarm where a swarm of killer bees causes a train to go out of control and derail. Gotta love the interior of the locomotive cab. Kevin That is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever watched. How do a swarm of bees derail a train and why do passenger cars suddenly explode? Weird Also notice how the cars tumbling are obviously models. The undersides look flat with black blocks added (no brake pipes or anything). Also, when the one car hits the bottom of the ravine, it lands on the roof of another car. And when the locomotive flips to the right off the track, the interior shot tilts left. Kevin
And of course, we can't forget the fact that the train derails as it is going UP a grade. All those pretty AMTRAK models bouncing down that little miniature cliffside. In TEXAS, yet! Where are there any cliffs that size in Texas with railroad tracks, I ask you, LOL!
Good miniature crash--the head-on train collision in a 1945 movie with Gary Cooper called SARATOGA TRUNK. Obvious models, but they 'hit' like the real thing. Pretty spectacular--almost as good as the model train wreck in deMille's GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH.
And speaking of deMille, the two train wrecks in his 1939 UNION PACIFIC aren't half-bad, either. One caused by indians tipping a water tower over on a racing train, the other in a snowy mountain pass. Not bad miniatures at all.
Director John Frankenheimer found out how much more 'controllable' model trains were in wreck scenes, when he was directing a full-scale wreck in his great WWII movie THE TRAIN. One of the trains derailed right into a Panavision camera and took out about $100,000 worth of camera equipment. The film was saved, however, and the crash is in the movie. When you see it--duck!, LOL!
twhite Director John Frankenheimer found out how much more 'controllable' model trains were in wreck scenes, when he was directing a full-scale wreck in his great WWII movie THE TRAIN. One of the trains derailed right into a Panavision camera and took out about $100,000 worth of camera equipment. The film was saved, however, and the crash is in the movie. When you see it--duck!, LOL!
That was an amazing scene. If you look closely, before the one freight crashes across the tracks in front of the art train, there's a false switch made to route it across the tracks for the scene.