Trains.com

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Has anyone ever modeled movie trains?

7461 views
63 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    November 2015
  • 1,345 posts
Posted by ATSFGuy on Tuesday, March 2, 2021 11:39 PM

I modeled the "New Amsterdam Limited" in HO Scale. It's from the movie Garfield.

 
Not a hard train to model really.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Bradford, Ontario
  • 15,797 posts
Posted by hon30critter on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 3:11 AM

I have Bachmann's Hogwarts Express. In fact, it was the first HO train that I owned. My wife bought it for me for Christmas. I had been playing with an old Marx O scale set and I told my wife that I wasn't particularly thrilled with either the appearance or operating qualities. I said that I would like to try HO but I had no real intentions of buying anything.

That didn't last long! I would hate to find out how much I have spent on HO stuff since then!

Dave

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

  • Member since
    March 2017
  • 8,173 posts
Posted by Track fiddler on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 6:01 AM

SeeYou190

Most movie anachronisms do not bother me. In fact, the most historically acccurate movies are usually terrible movies to watch.

However, I just cannot get over the knuckle couplers in Back To The Future Part III.

 
Interesting Kevin.  I have never noticed that before but I have the trilogy.  I searched and found it!  You're not supposed to notice things like that.  But then again I don't suppose the producers were anticipating a railroad buff to watch the movieIndifferent
 
Image from Back To The Future III 
 
 
So much for having knuckle couplers back in the old west daysLaugh
 
 
 
 
 
TF
  • Member since
    February 2015
  • From: Ludington, MI
  • 1,858 posts
Posted by Water Level Route on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 6:15 AM

NittanyLion
That ticket was to New York, not Vermont. 

Ah, you are right.  I forgot about that detail.  Was it earlier in that movie they also showed a Santa Fe passenger train, or was that a different movie?

SeeYou190
Honestly, the movie that did the best to recreate a time-gone-by for me is A Christmas Story.

I couldn't agree more.  

Mike

  • Member since
    May 2012
  • 1,855 posts
Posted by angelob6660 on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 3:04 PM

Track fiddler

 

 
SeeYou190

Most movie anachronisms do not bother me. In fact, the most historically acccurate movies are usually terrible movies to watch.

However, I just cannot get over the knuckle couplers in Back To The Future Part III.

 

 

 
Interesting Kevin.  I have never noticed that before but I have the trilogy.  I searched and found it!  You're not supposed to notice things like that.  But then again I don't suppose the producers were anticipating a railroad buff to watch the movieIndifferent
 
Image from Back To The Future III 
 
 
So much for having knuckle couplers back in the old west daysLaugh
 
 
 
 
 
TF
 

 

In reality the Central Pacific #131 was a American Type not a Ten Wheeler. 

Modeling the G.N.O. Railway, The Diamond Route.

Amtrak America, 1971-Present.

  • Member since
    February 2008
  • From: Potomac Yard
  • 2,767 posts
Posted by NittanyLion on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 4:43 PM

Water Level Route
 
NittanyLion
That ticket was to New York, not Vermont. 

 

Ah, you are right.  I forgot about that detail.  Was it earlier in that movie they also showed a Santa Fe passenger train, or was that a different movie?

Both, I believe. I think they show a Santa Fe train as a transition shot before the "Snow" song scene and a Southern Pacific mail train(!) as the transition from "Snow" to arriving at Pine Tree.

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 5:36 PM

Track fiddler
 
SeeYou190

Most movie anachronisms do not bother me. In fact, the most historically acccurate movies are usually terrible movies to watch.

However, I just cannot get over the knuckle couplers in Back To The Future Part III.

 
Image from Back To The Future III 
 

 

Intreresting screen shot. It is kind of obscurred, but it looks like the "balloon" stack is still intact. In a previous scene the balloon stack exploded when the red log was added to the firebox.

And with that... Enough nitpicking Back To The Future III.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 118 posts
Posted by Texas Zephyr on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 5:43 PM

I'm with rrinker.  While not a movie, I made a semblance of Wild Wild West "Wanderer" train with and AHM Geno on the point and some reworked "old time" passenger cars.

Likewise with the Petticoat Junction "Hooterville Canon Ball".   Tyco ten wheeler and a Roundhouse Overland (back when they had metal bodies) combine.

And of course I have a full Polar Express in O-gauge.  It includes a few fantasy cars like the hot chocolate car, a baggage, RPO, and combine.   It is pulled by a Pere Marquette 1223.   I could not stand the horrifically ugly and out of place "cow catcher" type from a prior century that they put on the "official" polar express loco.

Working on an HO scale one.   Bachmann Berkshire on the point of it.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 118 posts
Posted by Texas Zephyr on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 5:54 PM

SeeYou190
Most movie anachronisms do not bother me. In fact, the most historically acccurate movies are usually terrible movies to watch.

However, I just cannot get over the knuckle couplers in Back To The Future Part III.

?  Back to the Future III  set in 1885.   Knuckle couplers 1873.  Don't know how quickly they became mainstream and actually got fleets converted, but pure time wise it works.

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • 1,138 posts
Posted by MidlandPacific on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 6:17 PM

Not that quickly.

I have an old MDC boxcar full of hoboes, with three striped-suited chained convicts climbing in the open door.  Not quite how it happened in "O Brother, Where Art Thou," but as close as I could feasibly get.

A movie filming scene would make a great Trackside Photos scene.  Also, the old NWSL brass model of Sierra 18 includes the prototypical rail across the cab windows- I think it was used to mount cameras for action scenes.

John Ott's website has some photos from a layout he built years ago, inspired by the Colorado scenes from "Citizen Kane."

http://mprailway.blogspot.com

"The first transition era - wood to steel!"

  • Member since
    May 2012
  • 1,855 posts
Posted by angelob6660 on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 8:45 PM

I don't do movie railroad trains. I was always wanted to do Petticoat Junction Cannonball train but never managed to get the locomotive. So I basically stop chasing it. It would been fun placing Betty Jo in the driver seat while Charlie plays the harmonica.

I can't find a picture of ConAm or AmCon from Planes, Trains and Automobiles. It's interesting because it combines the two railroads I love in one railroad in a unique way.

Modeling the G.N.O. Railway, The Diamond Route.

Amtrak America, 1971-Present.

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 8:52 PM

Texas Zephyr
Back to the Future III  set in 1885.   Knuckle couplers 1873.

Janney couplers did not become "standard" until the 1890s and it was not until after the turn of the century they were fully implemented.

I am no expert... from what I have read the conversion to knuckle couplers in interchange cars took place fairly quickly, which makes sense to me. Can you imagine the confusion during a period when both Janney couplers and link and pin couplers were used at the same time?

That Western train in 1885 would have had link and pin couplers.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,367 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 9:10 PM

SeeYou190
Can you imagine the confusion during a period when both Janney couplers and link and pin couplers were used at the same time?

During the transition some coupler knuckles had a gap where a link and pin could be "rigged" to work.

 Syracuse-malleable_1899 by Edmund, on Flickr

Cheers, Ed

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
  • 30,002 posts
Posted by rrinker on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 9:27 PM

hon30critter

I have Bachmann's Hogwarts Express. In fact, it was the first HO train that I owned. My wife bought it for me for Christmas. I had been playing with an old Marx O scale set and I told my wife that I wasn't particularly thrilled with either the appearance or operating qualities. I said that I would like to try HO but I had no real intentions of buying anything.

That didn't last long! I would hate to find out how much I have spent on HO stuff since then!

Dave

 

 Forgot I have that as well. While far from the first HO train I ever had, it IS the one that got me back into the hobby. I kept seeing it in WalMart, marked down, and finally one week, since there were only a couple left, I said the heck with it and bought it.

                                           --Randy

 


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

  • Member since
    February 2018
  • From: Flyover Country
  • 5,557 posts
Posted by York1 on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 9:38 PM

At one time in the 1970s, I thought a model of the Orient Express would be neat.  Now I wouldn't consider it -- I really like a modern railroad more than a 1930s European train.  However, I could see some modelers who would like it.

 

York1 John       

  • Member since
    January 2011
  • From: Lancaster city
  • 682 posts
Posted by cats think well of me on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 9:48 PM

Preiser makes a figure set with movie cameras and lights. I have one and it will be put to use on a layout or dioramas in time. 

Alvie

  • Member since
    March 2017
  • 8,173 posts
Posted by Track fiddler on Thursday, March 4, 2021 8:29 PM

SeeYou190
 

 
Those are fun to find aren't they?  I would have to say I'd rather enjoy discovering the Hollywood movie screw-ups Kevin.  I wonder if sometimes they shoot the different takes and overlook the order they're putting them in.  Or they realize the screw up but just print the film that way anyway because the take took too long and think that nobody will notice?
 
I liked the old Arnold Schwarzenegger movies when they came out in the 80s.  He wasn't the best actor in the world so they gave him a short lines like "I'll be back".  But let's face it that Mr Universe Tough Guy was fun to watch in the action scenes, beating everyone upPirate
 
The movie Commando when he was chasing the bad guy in a Porsche, he flipped the car on it's side off the embankment as the car slid down the asphalt and totaled the side of the car.  He climbed out the passenger window, jumped down and flipped the car back on its wheels.  30 seconds later in the Chase he came around the corner and the damaged side of the car was mint.
 
 
 
I wish I could post the train scene in Schwarzenegger's movie Eraser.  There's a clip on YouTube but I still don't know how to do that.  After the train fatality, the actress in the movie asked him what happened to the two bad guys.  Again, Schwarzenegger with his short lines they gave him.  He said "They caught a train" Laugh
 
 
 
 
 
TF
  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
  • 30,002 posts
Posted by rrinker on Thursday, March 4, 2021 8:33 PM

 All you have to do is copy the URL when watching the YouTube video and then paste in your message here. 

                                             --Randy


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

  • Member since
    March 2017
  • 8,173 posts
Posted by Track fiddler on Thursday, March 4, 2021 8:41 PM

Thanks Randy.  I will have to try that but I'm not going to make any promises.  I'll try it right now and see what happens.

 

No luck

Maybe phones are different then computers.  I don't see any URL on the video.

 

 

TF

  • Member since
    May 2010
  • From: SE. WI.
  • 8,253 posts
Posted by mbinsewi on Thursday, March 4, 2021 9:12 PM

Try this TF:

Just like Randy said.

I didn't even catch the loco,  GP40? 

Mike.

  • Member since
    March 2017
  • 8,173 posts
Posted by Track fiddler on Thursday, March 4, 2021 9:13 PM

Thanks Mike. 

At least I finally know how to do links now but I do not know how to bring the video right up on the screen like you did? Crying

 

 

 

TF

  • Member since
    March 2017
  • 8,173 posts
Posted by Track fiddler on Friday, March 5, 2021 6:31 AM

Sure would be fun to model Sierra number 3.

Had some difficulties here, it's posted on the current post.

 

 

TF

 

 

 

  • Member since
    May 2010
  • From: SE. WI.
  • 8,253 posts
Posted by mbinsewi on Friday, March 5, 2021 7:12 AM

After you copy the video url, click on the movie/video icon,  paste in the video url.

Mike.

  • Member since
    March 2017
  • 8,173 posts
Posted by Track fiddler on Friday, March 5, 2021 10:55 AM

 

 

 

TF

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
  • 30,002 posts
Posted by rrinker on Friday, March 5, 2021 1:37 PM

 I don't even use the movie icon. I just copy and paste

(259) RCT&HS T-1 Caboose hop - YouTube

 Sure, no preview, but that just means it takes you to YouTube to watch. 

(and then with movie icon)

                              --Randy

 


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

  • Member since
    March 2017
  • 8,173 posts
Posted by Track fiddler on Friday, March 5, 2021 10:56 PM

I'd sure like to model the train scene from Joe Kidd.

 

Rack Time

 

 

 

TF

  • Member since
    March 2017
  • 8,173 posts
Posted by Track fiddler on Saturday, March 6, 2021 8:25 AM

Sierra number 3 as she was used in many films.

Thanks for the pointers Randy and Mike.  Finally got it figured out.  The Prairie Dog Central is three posts back.

 

 

 

TF

  • Member since
    May 2012
  • 1,855 posts
Posted by angelob6660 on Saturday, March 6, 2021 8:57 AM

You think a movie train would have lots of different models after her. It surprises me that Sierra#3 isn't represented more in model train manufacturing.

This locomotive had different paint, different body styles, same number and same wheel configuration. 

These models could sell more or little less compare to the famous F units.

Modeling the G.N.O. Railway, The Diamond Route.

Amtrak America, 1971-Present.

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
  • 30,002 posts
Posted by rrinker on Saturday, March 6, 2021 2:02 PM

 Joe Kidd, great flick. That's the V&T Reno crashing through the bar. Can definitely do that one with available models. Just need some breakway walls in some structures.

 The Tyco 10-wheeler is more or less Sierra #3, it's just oversized for HO. If you remember Harold Minky, he used it as one of his examples of adjusting the scale to better fit the model.

 Priarie Dog Central #3 is going to be a tough one, rather different since it was built in Glasgow Scotland for CP. Interesting bit - seems a few years ago they did a complete frame up rebuild including a new boiler - so if the steam loco has a new boiler, is it still the same loco? Like the farmer's old axe that has had 5 handles and 3 heads.

                                  --Randy

 


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 118 posts
Posted by Texas Zephyr on Saturday, March 6, 2021 3:10 PM

SeeYou190
Can you imagine the confusion during a period when both Janney couplers and link and pin couplers were used at the same time?

I was actually thinking about that very thing after I posted.  

Would have been as bad as trying to build an HO scale train where there were both horn-hook and Kadee equipped cars in the yard and only a few "conversion" cars.  Would have made blocking the trains for locals a nightmare too.   I would guess it was almost double the work for all the trainmen of the time.

The box cars being set out for the grain elevator includes one of the coupler conversion cars!  Oh no....

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Users Online

There are no community member online

Search the Community

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox!