On cable as I type: Leslie Neilson in a movie I haven’t figured the name out of yet. On the side of the engine was “Friggin Express”. Comedy based here in Minnesota. There must be dozens of fake RR names used in movies and TV. Anyone have the Kalmback book on RR movies?
Could it be this movie?
Thats it.
I have that issue from a few years ago. While useful in determining what movies over the years have had trains in them, I was extremely disappointed with the magazine.
The special issue magazine was basically a plot summary of every movie with a few trivial details.
I guess I was expecting to see more behind the scenes info and photos of the trains, what railroads were used and their locations and history of the equipment used.
Except for some the occasional commentary from a movie critic who was hired to be the guest editor, all the information can pretty much be found on Wikipedia or IMBD.com. [2c]
Anybody remember the movie "Airport?
It was totally fictional and used a fictional airline name. It was intended to be a farce.
The same can be applied to railroads.
“Airport” or “Airplane”? I do remember a bit of farce in the former, but the latter… Who would have thought that Leslie Nielsen would have been so good at comedy?
- Erik
Whats the name of that issue? I might buy one on ebay if it comes up.
This thread has the possibility of being around for a while, actually.
While there are movies that have railroads as central players (Silver Streak, et al), there are many more in which railroads play only bit parts - a character arriving or departing by train, etc. Sometimes the movie folks just used existing equipment, but oftimes they applied a fictional but prototypical sounding name to the locomotive(s) and cars.
The Trains article covered the movies with railroads in a central roll, IIRC. Might be nice to summarize them here, if someone has the issue handy, so as to eliminate duplication.
Going forward, perhaps we can start to record those movies in which railroads play a bit part, or which weren’t noted in the Trains article. There have got to be dozens, or even hundreds.
I’ve observed that the scenes from “CSI: Miami” that are located in a port area are actually shot in Long Beach along Pacific Harbor Line, with a quick re-lettering to “Coastal Express” for the handful of locomotives that are seen from the side.
The special magazine was called the “100 Greatest Train Movies” issued in January 2010.
I am surprised that the movie" Emperor of the North Pole’ with Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine (‘Shack’ was his role name), and Keith Caradine has not come up.
It was later released with the name shortened to " Emperor of the North" . This was a movie based loosely on a couple of Jack London’s novels “The Road” and another novel " Coast to Coast with Jack London". was written under the pen name ‘A-No.-1’ (Marvin’s role) by Leon R. Livingston
The name ‘Cigarette’ ( Caradine’s role) was a ‘road name’ used by London.
Anyone remember what the railroad was?
Or where it was filmed?
Movie people generally are not too concerned with accuracy. A movie called “The Sting,” released some years ago had Paul Newman riding the 20th Century Limited setting up a victim. They showed an outside shot with the train rushing through the night, and it said “Louisville & Nashville” on the side of the tender. I told my wife that the NYC must have been short of equipment.
Also, in the movie “Coal Miner’s Daughter” they had the girl playing Loretta Lynn waiting for a train in a Kentucky holler. Sure enough, a Canadian Pacific steam locomotive was puling the train. This, in the days when CP didn’t go anywhere near Kentucky.
I’m sure y’all can think of other such gaffes.
Emperor of the North Pole was shot on the (real) Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway, with most of the shooting done in Cottage Grove, OR, and east. The trestle scene was shot west of Portland here, on the SP&S branch to Vernonia, OR.
The OP&E rails were pulled up in 1989, and the ROW is now the Row River Trail. The rails over Buxton Trestle were pulled up in 1973, and that ROW is now part of the Banks-Vernonia State Trail. The locomotive 19 is n
Fake railroad names? The biggest gaffe I can remember is a “Gunsmoke” episode that took place on a train. The tender had “Burlington Northern” lettered on the side. And this was supposed to be in or around 1880! Oh well, at least it was a steam locomotive and not a GP-7.
Not so much as a fake RR name but more of a more visible mistake is in the movie “White Christmas” with Bing Crosby show a Santa Fe passenger train transporting the main characters from Florida to Vermont. Of course Santa Fe never went anywhere near those places.
Also the Vermont train station showed palm trees around it.
While not a movie, does anybody remember the name of the railroad on which “Petticoat Junction’s” (train) “The Cannonball” ran? IIRC, a recurring plot was the railroad official who wanted to replace “The Cannonball” with a streamliner.
There was Taggart Transcontinental in “Atlas Shrugged”.
And anybody remember the Soviet stars painted over the Santa Fe boxcars in scenes from “Red Dawn”? Parts of “Red Dawn” were filmed in the Santa Fe railroad yards of Las Vegas, New Mexico.
If I recall correctly, “Petticoat Junction” was set on a disconnected branch of the “C&FW”, initials were never identified beyond that. The branch was disconnected due to a washed-out bridge and the goal of the railroad manager was to get the branch abandoned.
Chicago & Far Western.
A rather glorious name for a shortline, but that happened often enough in real life.