Those heavysided RR coaches weren’t of the kind Capote and Nell Harper Lee took on the ATSF to Kansas in 1959–author himself in IN COLD BLOOD wrote early on that the “celebrated expresses” like the Super Chief didn’t stop in little Holcomb; he and Lee got on/off the Super Chief in Garden City, KS, (where I think Amtrak’s SOUTHWEST CHIEF still stops). New film shows fading-red heavysides and a stop in village of Holcomb, KS, nearby.
There might have been a local back then making all stops. I doubt the coaches were painted fading red–if non-streamlined, wouldn’t they have been yellow? And I’m sure the name of RR Co. was not “ATCHISON & TOPEKA /sic/”.
I’m not ragging on the production; at least it tried to show an exterior unlike last year’s flick CAPOTE. Any guesses as to where those slightly-doctored coaches were borrowed from?
BTW, if it helps, none of INFAMOUS seems to have been filmed in Canada.
Yeah, I saw the film last night. Those two, red, heavyweight coaches looked pretty pathetic and the name of the fictional railroad standing in for the oh-so-classy Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe was borderline libelous.
One other moment in the film popped my cork as well. It was the flashback scene where the killer Perry was depicted as a little boy. In the scene he saw his long lost father in a pre-WW2 time frame. In the background was a rail yard, and on the tracks were 100-ton capacity covered hoppers and 70-ft. center beam bulkhead flats. And those flats were loaded with cut lumber that was wrapped in a plastic tarpaulin. HEY YOU DUMBA$$ PRODUCERS! THAT EQUIPMENT DIDN’T EXIST IN THE 1930s!
This faux pas ranks with “The Road to Perdition” movie starring Tom Hanks of a few years ago. In 1930s Chicago he’s about to drive southbound on La Salle St. at the Chicago River bridge. As he does, a westbound elevated train passes above Lake St. Instead of using the only two decent pieces of equipment left on the CTA roster, namely the 4271-4272 set of mid-1920s built “Cincinnati Heavyweights” decorated in the authentic colors of the era, a four car set of modern, quiet, comfortable, reliable, utilitarian, stainless steel junk goes trundling by. When that moment flashed on the screen I let out an involuntary, yet plaintive, “OH NO!” right in the middle of the movie. I was so disappointed that such an important detail was overlooked!
Within the railfan community there are diesel fanciers, steam nuts, tractionphreaques, and the rapid transit lunatic fringe
Worst offenders so far to me, was the double stacker running thru “Ray” and the very British Hogwarts Express standing in for a UP local in “Flyboys” D’oh!
Some motion pictures seem to be produced over such a short time frame that the producers must run out of time to call and search for the right railroad equipment. The movies take such a long time to get written and get the script approved that the quick shoot seems to undo the long scriptwriting period.
There may be fiscal necessities to think of, Andrew, along with not knowing / not caring.
The rear end of a passing freight train is briefly shown in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. You don’t have to be too much of a foamer to realize that it’s probably a real, modern Canadian freight: the hoppers are clearly in the modern Prairie Province style. (At least there’s no intermodal shown.) This kind of anachronism probably went right by, no pun intended, the vast majority of the audience.
Worse, although the film the film takes place in 1963, the train has no caboose. I’m guessing that it would probably have been an impossible expense, or just plain impossible, to jury-rig a 1950’s-1960’s caboose at the rear of a current-day CN or CP freight (what about FRED?).
That sort of thing I can excuse. But as for the mis-named antique coach in INFAMOUS, it was so unnecessary to produce such a dull visual joke regardless of the audience’s knowledge of railroading. Rather than spend money doing it wrong, they could have faked a shot of Capote and Lee getting on the Super Chief in the snow, which really happened, by using an ankle’s-eye-view of just their shoes climbing aboard a contemporary Superliner (recall that the AT&SF used highliners for coaches so the resulting “cheat shot” wouldn’t be too egregious). Come to think of it, they could have used almost any corrugated pqassenger equipment if the shot were tight enough.
I don’t think these physical detail errors, in “Capote” at least, are as bad as the liberties they took with the actual lives and actions of the people in the story. For instance they show William Shawn, the New Yorker’s editor, flying to Kansas to confer with Capote. Not only did he not make this trip, according to his sons he never traveled by plane in his life.
And they played fast and loose with many other facts of Capote’s life and Shawn’s editorship.