This movie had me thinking. I heard that the Gulf Mobile & Ohio used EMD north of St. Louis while the Alcos went south. It wasn’t until 1970 that the EMDs and Alcos wandered into each other’s territory. If that is so, then why was that three car passenger train was pulled by an E7? (I know Sparta is really in Illinois, but it is on the mainline south of St. Louis.)
Here’s another GM&O question: When did passenger service south of St. Louis ended? I know the ex-Alton line to Chicago still thrive today (thank goodness), but I assumed the fabled Rebel was discontinued before 1966 (The year this movie was made. In the Heat Of The Night was released the following year).
An answers and info related to this time period, region, as well as the movie itself, would be greatly appreciated.
My guess would be the filmmakers asked the railroad for a passenger train to use for the movie, and that’s what the RR provided. I doubt the filmmakers could tell the difference between an E unit and an Alco. To be honest, most railfans then couldn’t either, if it wasn’t a steam engine it wasn’t worth bothering with. For the aerial shots of the train, they probably just timed their flight to when the train came thru, and filmed whatever the railroad ran that day on that train.
There were railfans who liked diesels in the 1950’s including me, and could tell the difference between an Alco PA and an EMD FP7. So could the average pre-schooler. I love steam but if you wanted to a railfan in the 1950’s you made peace with the diesels. GM&O was one of the early roads to go totally diesel. I believe that the Rebels were discontinued in 1958, GM&O operated a bus service from St Louis to Mobile Alabama for many years that was in the Official Guide along with the former Alton Route trains between St Louis and Chicago.
I do not know where In The Heat of The Night was filmed but the Passenger train was EMD powered not Alco. Also if you notice Missouri Pacific trains appear in the movie including a fast freight and a Geep switching. I assume that the GM&O was chosen for dramatic effect because of its identity with the South. I don’t think that the movie was filmed in Sparta Illinois which is on the former Mobile & Ohio route to St Louis. I wish I could have been more help. I just checked Wikpedia and they confirm that Sparta Illinois is in fact where In The Heat of The Night was filmed. Does somebody know where the MP trains were shot ?
I cannot give you the exact dates quickly, but the original Rebel was gone by July of 1954; its St. Louis extension was gone before April 1, 1953, and the Gulf Coast Rebel was cut off between the issue dates of the Fall-Winter 1958 and Spring-Summer 1959 timetables.
In the “filming location’s” section of the link above the following locations are given: Belleville, Chester, and Sparta, Illinois among others, and the “opening railroad scene” is listed as being filmed at Freeburg, Illinois.
The MoPac had a Missouri-Illinois line going through Sparta, which explains a GP doing some local switching. (The shops, where Mr. Tibbs had to confront a car load of trouble-maker, may be their’s.) This line use to go through Centralia in to Salem, but it doesn’t anymore. The line was abandoned northeast of Kellog, IL. But I sure this like is still serving Sparta!
But the fast freight of auto-racks, that’s the MP-SSW joint river line. According the the audio commentary, this shot accutally happened by chance! When they were ready to shoot the scene, they discovered that a train coming down their way, FAST. They shot that is to make the chase scene more exciting.