Since the silent film era we have seen many a movie camera operator on the tracks with a train headed toward the movie camera. As the engine gets close, the camera drops down below the cowcatcher and we see the train from underneath roll over him. Is there a cameraman between ties of a bridge who ducks in the hole in order to accomplish this? Or, is it filmed with a slow train and the action is sped up. Trains Magazine released a DVD about coal trains which included a straight on and under shot like this. Can’t imagine modern day railroad safety engineers allowing this sort of activity.
I’m not sure how it was or is done, but you’d be trespassing on railroad property if you attempted to place a camera in such a location unless your presence was formally sanctioned by the railroad.
I do have a couple of videos, though, showing steam excursion trains where railfans are seen placing video cameras on the ties between the rails of an oncoming train and apparently no one was there to stop them.
Saw a “how do they do it” piece on this once. They used 2 cameras, 1 between the rails and 1 on a tripod beside the tracks aimed at a mirror set at a 45 deg angle across the tracks. Viewed in the mirror it looks like the train is comming straight at the camera. Add a little “movie magic” and presto, it looks like the train ran over the the viewer. Saw this in an IMAX theater, it was impressive.
Tim
There was a video making the rounds a few years back that purported to have been taken by someone lying between the rails.
What actually looked to be the case was that someone was below an open deck bridge with a camera mounted on a pole. As the train passed, they slowly turned the camera around so the viewer could watch it (the train) disappear in the distance.
There was a lot of conjecture on how the video was made, including suggestions that it was actually done with MSTS or a similar program.