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Posted by Overmod on Friday, January 12, 2018 6:41 PM

tree68
And I know exactly where that ALCO locomotive from the movie is currently running...

What ALCO locomotive is that?  I only remember MLW units being used (and a pathetic waste of perfectly good locomotives, too!) and there ARE important  differences.

 

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Posted by tree68 on Friday, January 12, 2018 6:24 PM

Maine_Central_guy

Whistlingyall haven mentioned 'atomic train' yet

And I know exactly where that ALCO locomotive from the movie is currently running...

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Posted by Maine_Central_guy on Friday, January 12, 2018 5:47 PM

Whistlingyall haven mentioned 'atomic train' yet

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Posted by wanswheel on Friday, December 29, 2017 12:35 PM
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Posted by wanswheel on Friday, December 29, 2017 12:29 PM
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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Friday, December 29, 2017 6:44 AM

54light15
. . . And did General Mcauliffe really say, "Nuts!" I would think he said something a little more...you know. 

I thought that too, but here's this from Wikipedia: 

"The choice of "Nuts!" rather than something earthier was typical for McAuliffe. Vincent Vicari, his personal aide at the time, recalled that "General Mac was the only general I ever knew who did not use profane language. 'Nuts' was part of his normal vocabulary."[6]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_McAuliffe 

Also from that entry:

"A southern extension of Route 33 in eastern Northampton County, Pennsylvania, completed in 2002,[11] was named the Gen. Anthony Clement McAuliffe 101st Airborne Memorial Highway.[12]

That's about 20 miles from me, and I drive that limited access road a few times each year.  I have no idea why it's named after him - no local connection of which I'm aware - other than to honor a WWII hero, which at the time may not have been done anyplace else in the U.S. (looks like a few places have been named after him since then). 

- PDN. 

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Posted by seppburgh2 on Thursday, December 28, 2017 6:56 PM
"The Train" starring Burt Lancaster as an SNCF engineer was a great RR movie with SNCF steam last hooray.  The most amazing scene is the derailment where the spinning pilot wheel locomotive comes to rest above a camera.  That shot was pure happenstance.  In setting up the cameras, there was one extra so in a “why not moment” that camera was set up in a hole facing the rails.  Never figuring that camera would capture anything.
Well, after the noise of the derailment calm down, the director and crew were amazed to hear the camera still running in the hole.  Wow, of all the different angles filmed of the derailment, this was the most dynamic and made the cut..

Well worth a view and a bucket of popcorn!    

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Posted by Sunnyland on Thursday, December 28, 2017 3:19 PM

for sure, Hollywood takes liberties with all kinds of history.  A friend who saw Unstoppable and took physics said if train went around a curve like that at the end with wheels raising, they'd fall over.  I still enjoy the movie and seeing trains, so I just tune a lot of it out.  Two of Dad's fav movies was The Train and Von Ryan's Express, I have both on VHS tape, good stories and good shots of trains.  My parents and I all were disgusted at Jane Fonda's behavior in Hanoi. When I watched the PBS Ken Burns special on Vietnam, some of the guys interviewed  said that really hurt.  They all adored her and for her to be so disrespectful toward them was something they never forgot.  My Dad never saw another movie with her in it and to this day, I still don't like her.  Met a guy who was Nam vet and he said his VFW post has her picture in the urinal.  Dad would have loved it.  

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Posted by DSchmitt on Saturday, December 23, 2017 2:38 PM

A few years ago I saw a post (Don't remember if it was Trains or ww2 forum) about several German officers being transfered from one POW camp to another. It said they were given train tickets and traveled unescorted. During the trip, if asked, the claimed to be Dutch.

I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.

I don't have a leg to stand on.

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Posted by DSchmitt on Saturday, December 23, 2017 2:27 PM

jeffhergert
https://www.pacificwrecks.com/ships/ This website has a listing of lost ships of all combatants in the Pacific.  It has the I-52 sunk west of the Cape Verde islands. 

So it was sunk  off the coast of Africa in the North Atlantic not South Atlantic. 

I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.

I don't have a leg to stand on.

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Posted by 54light15 on Saturday, December 23, 2017 1:01 PM

Well, I did read about it in a book that I have called "The Colditz Myth" which has a map of the main British POW camps and it's called XIII13C. 

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Posted by Convicted One on Friday, December 22, 2017 10:11 PM

BaltACD

Just watched an episode of 'Big Valley' from 1966 'Last Train to the Fair'.

Departure from realities.

....

 

You really think that ranchers in the 19th century American west all  had perfectly placed hair, freshly pressed clothing, and flawless teeth?

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Posted by ORNHOO on Friday, December 22, 2017 6:20 PM

The real prison camp near Hammelburg I beleive was 13-B, but I don't have my books with me to confirm.  I don't think it was a Luft-Stalag, or at least not completely airmen.  It wasn't on Patton's Third Army direct drive, but he did send a mission to try to liberate the camp.  His son-in-law was a prisoner whom I recall was captured in North Africa. The mission didn't suceed.

Jeff 

 

[/quote]

I think he was referring to this camp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_XIII-C

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Posted by tree68 on Friday, December 22, 2017 3:26 PM

jeffhergert
Tree, are you sure he meant Stalag 13?  While I enjoy Hogan's Heroes, their conditions (nevermind their underground operations) were a lot better than accounts I have read.  I think he may have meant "Stalag 17"

Could be - I wasn't sure of the name of the movie and 13 stuck in my head for some reason.  I don't know that he was alive when "Hogan's Heros" was on the air.

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Posted by jeffhergert on Friday, December 22, 2017 3:23 PM

https://www.pacificwrecks.com/ships/

This website has a listing of lost ships of all combatants in the Pacific.  It has the I-52 sunk west of the Cape Verde islands.  According to this site, no fleet size Japanese subs are displayed anywhere, but midget submarines are displayed, including one in Texas.  The Texas boat was salvaged from Pearl Harbor.

The real prison camp near Hammelburg I beleive was 13-B, but I don't have my books with me to confirm.  I don't think it was a Luft-Stalag, or at least not completely airmen.  It wasn't on Patton's Third Army direct drive, but he did send a mission to try to liberate the camp.  His son-in-law was a prisoner whom I recall was captured in North Africa. The mission didn't suceed.

Tree, are you sure he meant Stalag 13?  While I enjoy Hogan's Heroes, their conditions (nevermind their underground operations) were a lot better than accounts I have read.  I think he may have meant "Stalag 17".  A play and later a movie (which Hogan's Heroes is loosely based on) about POWs in Germany.  One of my favorite movies.

Jeff 

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Posted by 54light15 on Friday, December 22, 2017 12:55 PM

German subs traveled up the St. Lawrence river almost as far they could. One sank the ferry boat to Newfoundland. The Caribou, I think it was called. In one of Lowell Thomas's books about German subs in the First World War, a sub came into New York Harbour in 1916. They surfaced and the crew came out on deck and the general feeling was, "Let's tie up the boat and go over there, the hell with the war. " But duty called and they went back out to sea.

In the Second World War, This may be B.S. but bodies of German submariners were found on Fire Island. In thier pockets were bar receipts and ticket stubs from various places in Manhattan. Maybe that's true, but it's a heck of a story. Don't recall where I read it. 

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Posted by DSchmitt on Friday, December 22, 2017 11:46 AM

tree68

 

 
BaltACD
My Father-in-Law (RIP) was in the Navy and served on a PBY observation/patro plane in the Carribean - he swore to his dying day that they saw and attacked a Japanese submarine on one of their patrols.

 

I would not be surprised if he was telling the truth.  I'm sure something like that was kept pretty quiet.  And recall that the Navy duty officer at Pearl didn't believe the skipper of the Ward, either...

A family friend (and I think he was related to my step-grandfather) spent time in a German POW camp.  I'm told he said that "Stalag 13" was fairly accurate, including the hilarity that occasionally occured.  They didn't assign the "best and the brightest" to the camps.

 

 

     

 

Some Japanese transport subs did sail between Japan and Germany. The US navy sunk I52 (Japanese sub) in the south Atlantic.

Also there is a Japanese sub on display in Seawolf park Galveston TX.    (I was not able to confirm this from other sources)      

 

According to    http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=103767

       

 

 

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Friday, December 22, 2017 10:04 AM

54light15

Yeah, and the army officer who was told that aircraft were approaching Oahu said, "Don't worry about it., It's probably B-17s froom the States."  Nope. 

 
And if what I've read is correct, some of those B-17's showed up at about the same time as the first wave of the Japanese attack.
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Posted by 54light15 on Friday, December 22, 2017 9:44 AM

I've read that Luft-Stalag 13 did exist in the German town of Hammelburg. A real place. Hammelburg is the site of a German army training base today. 

Yeah, and the army officer who was told that aircraft were approaching Oahu said, "Don't worry about it., It's probably B-17s froom the States."  Nope. 

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Posted by tree68 on Friday, December 22, 2017 7:04 AM

BaltACD
My Father-in-Law (RIP) was in the Navy and served on a PBY observation/patro plane in the Carribean - he swore to his dying day that they saw and attacked a Japanese submarine on one of their patrols.

I would not be surprised if he was telling the truth.  I'm sure something like that was kept pretty quiet.  And recall that the Navy duty officer at Pearl didn't believe the skipper of the Ward, either...

A family friend (and I think he was related to my step-grandfather) spent time in a German POW camp.  I'm told he said that "Stalag 13" was fairly accurate, including the hilarity that occasionally occured.  They didn't assign the "best and the brightest" to the camps.

 

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Posted by erikem on Thursday, December 21, 2017 11:20 PM

Cat Ballou was filmed several years before Jane's escapades with the NVA. Based on a couple of stories I've read about what happened during her visit, the emnity that armed forces personnel have towards her is understandable.

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Posted by samfp1943 on Thursday, December 21, 2017 10:17 PM

 

Paul_D_North_Jr wrote the following post [in part]

"...As recall it too wasn't very realistic, though DPM's closing line was a classic, something along the line of "But Jane Fonda in an upper is compensation of a sort".  Can't find an image of that on-line, but I believe this scene is from Sir Harry Percival's (railroad magnate?) private car:>>"

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/08/79/13/0879135154f9118a9eb9b5f1cc336023.jpg 

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Ballou  

- PDN.

Paul:   No disputing the words of David Morgan,  Ihe only image I have in my mind, is the photos of Jane Fonda. That just about every service member saw when she was in Vietnam, of her cavorting around Hanoi; in the gunner's seat of a NVA anti-aircraft gun... Myself, and thousands of other service personnel, to this date despise her, and wish her a slow ride to perdition... but I digress  Whistling

see  site links @ https://patriotpost.us/pages/80

 

 


 

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Thursday, December 21, 2017 7:59 PM

Here is the Wikipedia entry about general McAuliffe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_McAuliffe

 

Trust Wikipedia or not, the story is recounted all over the web in lots of various websites.

Semper Vaporo

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Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, December 21, 2017 7:54 PM

Whaever it was that General McAuliffe said, I understand that the German officer did not understand it.

Johnny

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Posted by 54light15 on Thursday, December 21, 2017 7:43 PM

I saw The Battle of the Bulge when it first came out. My brother had a paper route and each of the paper boys plus one friend (me) were taken on a bus to the Paris theatre in Manhattan. It was cinerama and the big tank battle near the end had to go on for 20 minutes. I saw it again in a theatre on Long Island and that battle was cut out. There was a scene with a tank sitting on a narrow-gauge railroad track. You could see the overhead wire. A train (You never really get a good view of the locomotive) with reinforcements for Bastogne came through a tunnel and the tank blasted its boiler and it blew up with a cloud of steam. I was nine years old and I knew that was nonsense. Also, they were called "The Blood Bashers of Bastogne" - we all know that's nonsense too. And did General Mcauliffe really say, "Nuts!" I would think he said something a little more...you know. 

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Posted by Firelock76 on Thursday, December 21, 2017 7:30 PM

BaltACD
 
Deggesty
Stukas at Midway? Doesn't everybody know that the Japanese were aware that they would lose many planes and pilots there so they persuaded Adolf to send the Stukas, with pilots?Smile

 

My Father-in-Law (RIP) was in the Navy and served on a PBY observation/patro plane in the Carribean - he swore to his dying day that they saw and attacked a Japanese submarine on one of their patrols.

 

Balt, I've had the priviledge over the years to meet quite a few combat veterans, and when I heard them say things about events that just didn't jibe with the official versions of same I just kept my mouth shut and my ears open out of pure respect.  They were there and I wasn't, they fought in World War Two whereas I only majored in it.

And besides, you just never know, do you?

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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, December 21, 2017 3:55 PM

Deggesty
Stukas at Midway? Doesn't everybody know that the Japanese were aware that they would lose many planes and pilots there so they persuaded Adolf to send the Stukas, with pilots?Smile

My Father-in-Law (RIP) was in the Navy and served on a PBY observation/patro plane in the Carribean - he swore to his dying day that they saw and attacked a Japanese submarine on one of their patrols.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Thursday, December 21, 2017 3:28 PM

Back in the mid-1960's there was a movie about the 1944-45 "Battle of the Bulge" by that name.  My Dad - who was there - was disappointed in the scenes of the climactic battle at the end, which looked like it was filmed in some desert-type terrain.  For those who don't know, the real battle occurred in the bitter cold of winter and snow in the Ardennes forest (mostly evergreens) and surrounding farm fields. 

Around the same time there was a movie about the D-Day invasion of Normandy called "The Longest Day".  Those who were there and saw it said it was pretty realistic, as they do about "Saving Private Ryan". 

Also at the same time (1965) Trains Editor David P. Morgan wrote a review of 3 movies: "Von Ryan's Express" starring Frank Sinatra as a USAF officer (not very accurate), "The Train" starring Burt Lancaster as an SNCF official (pretty good), and and "Cat Ballou".  I had thought some of it was filmed on the D&RGW narrow gauge, but a Wikipedia article* says "A former Great Western Railway of Colorado 2-8-0 Consolidation steam locomotive, number 51, owned by Boulder Scientific Company of Boulder, Colorado, was used in the film, with scenes shot at Canon City, Colorado, in September 1964."  As recall it too wasn't very realistic, though DPM's closing line was a classic, something along the line of "But Jane Fonda in an upper is compensation of a sort".  Can't find an image of that on-line, but I believe this scene is from Sir Harry Percival's (railroad magnate?) private car:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/08/79/13/0879135154f9118a9eb9b5f1cc336023.jpg 

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Ballou  

- PDN.

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Posted by 54light15 on Thursday, December 21, 2017 2:25 PM

Ever see the classic film, Hell's Angels? It used authentic aircraft from the First World War in every scene. Howard Hughes wanted it to be authentic as possible and filmed it in cloudy skies so the aircraft could be seen. It's funny how the battlefields of northern France in 1917 sure look like California farmland. 

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Thursday, December 21, 2017 1:05 PM

Firelock76

A few years back I read a magazine article about a big World War Two re-enactment, don't remember where it took place, but anyway the action was going hot and heavy, Americans versus Germans, and then a Japanese Zero (one of the "Tora-Tora-Tora" modified T-6's) showed up and began "strafing" the Americans!

No problem, a P-51 Mustang arrived just in time and took care of the Zero!

Not authentic of course, but played for laughs and the crowd of spectators just ate it up!

 

Reminds me of a classic John Belushi line from the movie Animal House: “Over? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!”

 

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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