Can anyone out there tell me where Hollywood came up with the model trains they used in movies back before they started using CGI ?.
Tracklayer
They either made them in their own shops or professional model makers would build them from what I’ve seen in books and magazines.
Bob Boudreau
That’s something that always amazed me because it takes a great deal of talent to do. I’ve built large scale static models of locos from scratch, but had neither the tools or know how at that time to make them actually run.
There’s an old fella from Fayetteville, Texas that has devoted his life to building large scale static locos and rolling stock from wood. The TV show Texas Country Reporter did a story on him back in the early 90s, and I was so impressed that I contacted him and went over and saw his collection in person. Each loco took him two years to complete from start to finish, and are very detailed. I’m not sure if he’s still living, but he sure was a nice old guy. He was telling me that a German toy company offered him a million dollars for his collection one time but that he turned them down. He said he couldn’t stand the idea of parting with them. I hope that they all end up in a museum dedicated to him for everyone to enjoy some day.
Tracklayer
The Fugitive, w/ Harrison Ford. Remember it? The train wreck?
http://www.dvdtown.com/review/Fugitive_The_Special_Edition/481/735/
Did you know that?
Some of the best model trains used in films appear in UNION PACIFIC (1939), SARATOGA TRUNK (1945) and THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (1952). In these films, the models are ‘wrecked’ in several very spectacular scenes.
However the studios used real trains whenever possible for their films–some studios, such as Paramount, MGM and Universal even had their own ‘railroads’–vintage equipment that they bought for their films. A lot of it came from the Virginia & Truckee and the Nevada County Narrow Gauge railroads in Nevada and California.
The Sierra Railway, in Tuolumne County, California, was used as the background for a number of movies and TV shows–they actually had two locomotives, 4-6-0 #5 and 2-8-0 #18 that they used especially to rent out to the studios.
One of the best of the railroad movies–THE TRAIN–used a lot of old French railway equipment that was scheduled for scrapping, and then bashed them around a real railyard in France for the demolition sequences.
From what I understand, most models used in motion pictures were built either to 3/4 or 1" scale, though I do remember seeing one Lionel train used in a cheap-jack sci-fi film from the 'fifties about giant scorpions on the rampage in Mexico. It was a hoot!
Tom
As Tom has noted, whenever Hollywood can use a real train in a scene today, they will. When forced to restort to models, almost invariably they go with large, custom built examples. Not too long ago I saw one of the cable channels run (re-run?) a documentary on the making of the 1995 Steven Segal movie “Under Seige 2: Dark Territory”. Therein is a train wreck that takes place on a high, steel trestle. The cars and locomotive involved were custom built and around 8-10 FEET in length each (about 1:5 scale?)! The trestle stood over 30 feet tall and was something like 150 feet long! This was necessary so that, even in slo-mo, they could conveyed the impression of mass and momentum in the wreck scene.
At the other end of the spectrum, perhaps20 years ago there was a Vietnam War movie that involved an American air attack on the city of Hanoi. At the time MR ran a story on the modeled city. To create the scene, an n-guage city the size of a football field was built on a soundstage, with fly-over cameras to give the impression of the cockpit view during the attack. Obviously, the modeled city, complete with trees, streetlights, thousands of building, vehicles, etc. must have cost a literal fortune! Sadly, at the end of filming, a frontend loader was brought in to clear the soundstage of the miniature Hanoi!
I’ve often wondered what a professional Hollywood movie miniatures expert could do as a model railroad hobbyist. I expect that everything ever appearing in MR would absolutely pale in comparison. 'Course, after spending all day for weeks, months, years at a time making specialized models, who’d want to come home and work on a layout!
CNJ831
There have been a few articles and books by the professional modelers. I have a softcover book by Brick Price “The Model-Building Handbook”. While not devoted to model railroading, there is some material on the hobby. Mostly referring to cars, trucks, ships, space craft, etc. It was first published in 1981 so I imagine much of it is out of date.
One thing to keep in mind that movie models are made to convey the basic look of a subject, and are probably not detailed as much as one would think. If it cannot be seen in the film, then it is probably not modelled. And of course these models are usually buitl relatively fast in modern fully equipped workshops where cost isn’t a major factor.
Bob Boudreau
There is a western that runs from time to time where the rear cars are cut loose and crash (of course) over the cliff. An article on the model builder quoted him as saying the first thing he wanted to salvage from the wreck was the trucks. It is fun to watch old movies with trains as they are a snap shot from the past. The train wreck in the Fugitive was of course a real train wreck and was shot on the Great Smokie Mountain Railraod. The engines were still beside the tracks in 2000 and it was pointed out on their train trips. Phil
We had a retired Hollywood stunt man in our club before he moved to Tombstone, Arizona. He had HO scale models of old-west buildings, stagecoaches, and passenger cars that were used as movie props. When he moved, we inherited the buildings and they are now part of our layout. See http://members.cox.net/cacole2
Two other movies where models were used:
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The Cassandra Crossing. Depressing movie but spectacular train wreck. An HO scale Europeon passenger train (looks like Marklin) was used in the scene where an enourmous bridge collapsed and the train fell into a shallow river 200 feet below.
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Disaster on Coastliner. Pretty good movie that shows off Amtrak F40s and Amfleet cars during the early 80s. William Shatner (yes, Captain Kirk), a crook winds up being the hero. Pat Hingle (Commisioner Gordon in Batman movies from the 90s) does a nice job as the locomotive engineer of one of the two trains that are headed for a high speed, head oncollision.
At the end of the movie a lone F40, which Shatner uncouples from the train, gets into a spectacular smash up. The loco was a large scale unit, which at the time ABC refused to reveal its size.
Two instances where real locomotives were used as ‘stand-in’s’ for the aftermath of movie train wrecks were in deMille’s UNION PACIFIC and Universal’s 1940 THE SPOILERS. In both instances, the wrecks were filmed with models, but in the aftermath sequences, actual locomotives were gently turned over on their sides for additional scenes. As careful as the prop men were, however, both locomotives (Virginia and Truckee #22 and Nevada County Narrow Gauge #5) suffered damage to their tender trucks, and had to be re-shopped at considerable expense to the studios before they could be used in other films. It would have been cheaper to construct ply-wood mockups of the locos for the additional scenes, such as David Selznick did when he ‘wrecked’ Sierra #18 for a sequence in DUEL IN THE SUN.
Tom