The above movie was left out of the new book The 100 greatest Train Movies. It starred Edgar Buchanan, who also played Joe Carson on the TV series Petticoat Junction . I saw it on TV back in the early 70's. I thought it was at least as good as some of the ones that did make it. It was filmed on an SP Branch near Eugene, Oregon. It was called the "D&M", even though the real D&M ( Detroit & Mackinac ) was in Michigan. Oh well.
George
This web site has a lot of info about it - and yes, the spelling of "Chartroose" is correct:
http://mysite.verizon.net/korst/id9.html
From the Internet Movie DataBase website for it, at - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053705/
"Though the original Panavision negative and prints were believed lost in a Universal vault fire, there exists a black and white copy of the film which is in the hands of a collector. It was taken from a worn 16mm film print."
There are appear to be a couple restaurants by that name in various places around the country.
Who knew ? Thanks for posting that !
- Paul North.
Paul,
It really saddens me that this movie is gone because of the fire. It was a little on the corny side, but it was still a lot of fun.Mr. Buchanan brought a lot of authenticity to his role as Woody. It made me think that he might have worked on the railroad as a young man before going into movies. That explains why it is not available on DVD. That is also probably why Mr Farr did not write about it in his book. He would have been reviewing something that didn't exist anymore.
I stumbled onto one of the two caboose's that were used in the film. SP #159. It is currently on display in the little town of Lowell, Oregon.It was a Trains Magazine article from the 1980's about the last day of operation on the Wendling-Mohawk Branch of the SP outside of Springfield Oregon that clued me in to the link between the caboose and the movie. The caboose was the last item to move on the logging line in a caboose hop. The author found remnants of the "chartroose" paint in SP #159 while riding along researching the article. I also had the pleasure of knowing the brakeman who worked on the train with the movie crew during filming. He had told me of the movie but I hadn't made the connection until I read the Trains article.
I was researching for a write up, and an online page for it that I was listing on waymarking.com. It has some additional information and photos of the caboose itself in its current location and condition.
This caboose is well preserved and can sometimes be toured during special events in Lowell. I contacted the California Railroad Museum to verify the caboose history and found that this was the second caboose with the number 159. Its predecessor was destroyed in an accident so most of this particular vintage caboose are part of a different number block.
Might this be the article that you referenced ?
Backward along the Bailey Branch Trains, February 1989 page 53 track configuration requires operation in reverse ( BRANCH, "BURKHARDT, D. C. JESSE", OREGON, SP, TRN )
But, what I remember of this article is not the same as a 'last run' article - so it could well be another one, which is not indexed under ''SP'' at all.
No this isn't it. It would be a last run for Weyerhaeuser. They leased the line from SP in 1962 and ran it until it closed Sept. 3rd, 1987.
The film was made in 1959 or thereabouts and was released in 1960 so filming was on an SP logging branch that was transfered shortly after.
OK - looked again - then this is probably the article:
The last rocket Trains, January 1990 page 56 Weyerhaeuser's Springfield Woods Railroad ( LOGGING, OREGON, "SAVIO, THOMAS R.", TRN )
Yes, that is it but I would never have found it under that title. Couldn't remember it for the life.....
Anyhow the author identified the caboose as the Chartroose Caboose by the green paint showing through at the entryways or window sills.
Since it showed on TV and overseas I can't help but think that somewhere in some dark room there is still a copy of this film.
From one of the websites that I linked above -
'' . . . I have one of the last existing copies of the film having rented it for home use back in the late 70s... fortunately making a digital video tape transfer of it. . . . Cordially,Dale D. MikolaczykSatellite Systems Engineering DirectorNBC Television NetworkOne MSNBC PlazaSecaucus, New Jersey 07094''
However, I don't see anything on that webpage with any date for this letter, or the webpage itself, etc., so who knows how valid that information still is.
I have had some correspondence with Mr. Mikolaczyk and he is now working as a professor. His copy of the film has deteriorated to a point so that it "had massive oxide sheds and was unplayable".
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