I just wrote a movie containing two Civil War train scenes and two Lionel scenes. It is a coming of age action adventure film, where a boy of 16 overcomes his demons of fear. I’m polishing it up now.
I’m in the process of novelizing the screenplay. The novelization has enabled me to look at the characters from a more introspective viewpoint and has helped enrich the screenplay.
I copyrighted the screenplay with Library of Congress and hope to have the novel done by next month and both out to agents at beginning of the year.
If any writers or professionals interested, shoot me an email.
Not really a train movie but has some nice shots of trains - “Bound for Glory” - David Carridine plays Woody Guthrie. Great depression era scenes and migration west.
I think it won an Oscar for best cinematography. If you need ideas for a depression era layout rent this movie.
It suddenly dawned on me of a movie I haven’t seen in 10+ years called “The Great Locomotive Chase.” As I recalled it was released by Walt Disney in the 1950’s and starred Fess Parker and Jeff Chandler(?).
It depicted a Civil War chase between the General(?) and Texas(?) locomotives which depicts Fess as a Northerner out to destroy a southern RR and Jeff out to stop him. The Northerners, as I recall, were among the first to get a Medal of Honor from the U.S.
Has anyone seen this recently on DVD or TV? It appears to have disappeared from view.
I thought of the 1990’s movie “The Fugitive” with Harrison Ford for some reason. It is not really a train movie but there is a great wreak scene that was filmed with real trains and effect actors on the Great Smokey RR in NC. It is probably the last movie to really do something like this.
Now that I am thinking of Harrison Ford movies the last Indiana Jones movie had a great circus RR chase filmed on the Cumbes and Toltec. The young Indiana Jones was played by River Phoenix. RMC ran an article on it and plans for a model I remember.
The 1960’s film of Ray Bradbury’s “Farenheit 451” has great scenes with a test prototype monorail in France.
Otherwise I think I have to second the very early vote for Charles and Ray Eames’ Toccatta for Toy Trains.
A movie never mentioned, but has some great train action is “Flame Over India”. It is about a journey of passengers on a tea kettle steamer through rebel territory in Colonial India. It was made about 1960 and starred Sir Kenneth More and Lauren Bacall. As the movie progressed, the train began to have a personality like a lot of steam engines. I doubt that it is on DVD, but it might be at a video store. I saw it first when I was stationed over in Germany and the GI’s really liked the action.
Directed by the great John Ford in 1924 - and reputed to be his personal favorite of his movies. (This from the man who directed Stagecoach and The Searchers.) It’s about how the west was really won - with railroads - the transcontinental railroad, specifically.
In addition to 10,000 cattle and 1600 buffalo, you can see someting in this movie that you can’t see in Promentory, UT - the real Jupiter and 116 locomotives, and some of the men who actually built the TCRR, renacting the construction. It’s incredible. Formally dedicated to railroad pioneer George Stephenson, his attention to detail and realism in railroad construction is amazing. Action, romance, comedy, patriotism - it has it all.
Greatest ever railroad movie (as opposed to a “train” movie), IMHO.
Speaking of alan hale. Alan hale jr. was casey,the engineer in a weekly t.v show in the 60’s. It was called “Casey Jones” and feature the famous “cannonball express” It featured about the same scenes each week,the regurlar run bys and all. nothing spectacular about the plots,but it was fun. there was at least one scene each week of him slaming on the cannonball’s breaks with the wheels starting to spin in reverse. anybody know if this is on tape anywhere?
How about the circus train wreck in The Greatest Show On Earth?
A personal favorite is Pacific 231, a 10 minute 1948 French art film by Jean Mitry. This film is set to a short symphonic piece of the same title by Arthur Honegger in 1931. Great shots of European steam in action.
We watched Garfield the Movie yesterday with our nieces. In it, Garfield’s owner had a great tin plate tube track layout. It even had a couple quick shots of the trains running.
I saw a movie years ago and can’t remember the name. Ben Johnson was the engineer, of a diesel powered passenger train that ran away in a snowy scene and he was caught by a friend and another diesel, which coupled onto the last car. They stopped in time. Anyone have any idea?
Old 2037, are you saying that John Ford managed to get some kind of historical footage of Jupiter and #119 and weave it into his 1924 film? The reason I’m asking is because the original Jupiter was cut up for scrap in 1907…I don’t know the details for the scrapping of #119.
There is a note flashed on the screen stating that the real Jupiter and 119 were used for the film. I also have a copy of C. B. DeMill’s Union Pacific shot in the late 1930s on the Virginia & Truckee. The romance story superimposed on the building of the railroad was a little gamey, but the shots of that old wooden original V&T equipment makes me sweat. There is one scene that probanly would cause some raised eyebrows among the “politically correct” crowd. The two heros and the heroine are trapped in a derailed passenger car and are holding off the marauding Indians and run out of ammunition. They have one shot left so they decide to save the heroine from a fate worse than death at the hands of the Indians. The hero aims his gun point blank at her temple. she hunches up her shoulders, closes her eyes and scrunches up her face as she waits for that last bullet to save her honor when the cavalry comes charging onto the scene with their guns blazing…O00-00h! the excitement.
I do have another favorite, one that my dad took me to see when I was about ten years old, The Denver & Rio Grande, a dramatization of the real life “Canyon Wars” between crews of the D&RG and the Santa Fe. There were just miles of footage of those gorgeous little narrow gauge C16 2-8-0s. The name of the Santa Fe was changed to Canyon City & San Juan. This was a pretty good movie too. Odd-d
I have seensome good ones. In “The Christas Story”, Ralphieis looking in the window display. There were 3 loops of Lionel T-Rail track, with 2 postwar freight sets and a prewar streamlined “Hiawatha” with coach headcar and observation without the third coach.