I first saw this in Public School back in the late 60’s and I enjoy it as much today as I did as a kid.
https://www.nfb.ca/film/railrodder
Fergie
I have to second that. But I also have to admit I really liked the Silver Streak with Gene Wilder from the 1980s.
OMG! What a delightfully funny short feature! Completely made my night.
Thank you
Mark H
I enjoyed that short film with Buster Keaton, I also really liked Silver Streak, but my all time favorite is Emperor of the North, now that is a classic!
Actually, it was from late 1976. I remember because I took a very nice-looking gal there for a date in high school in January '77.
Tom
Danger Lights (1930) is on TCM tommorrow afternoon at 3:30 CDT. Another great Railroader movie.
James in Texas
Keep an eye out for “Human Desire” with Glen Ford and Broderick Crawford. Made in the mid 1950’s, it’s by far my favorite. Ford plays an engineer, with Broderick Crawford as the division point yard master. Lots of great cab shots, yard action, pretty decent plot, train views.
Another good one is “The Tall Target”, which is about Abe lincoln’s journey to his inaugeration and an attempt on his life. Most of it’s on the train.
Benny
Mark! I didn’t buy it. I can’t see any of us acting in such a juvenile manner… and I’m not going to show it to my wife either![|(]
I agree. I have it on VHS (yes, my two VCRs still work…). I also like Emporer Of The North with Lee Marvin and Silver Streak with Gene Wilder - among a few others.
Tracklayer
I also prefer “Danger Lights”. Although some of the plot elements are hokey the filming was done on an actual Class One working railroad ( The Milwauke Road ) with mainline engines in everyday service or being serviced in actual facilities. Some of the sequences are really unique like the duelling locomotives at the employees picnic and the high speed run through the approaches to the Chicago terminal. Most railroad themed movies are shot on branchlines with cobbled up trains and small steamers or diesels of no prototypical identity. Finally, Danger Lights was a very early sound film and with remastered audios, those engines really sound powerful.
Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!
You obviously failed to see the humor in it …
The Joe McDoakes films were a series of “So You Want …” that poked fun at the extremes of the topic at hand and were meant to be entirely tongue-in-cheek. Sorry you couldn’t see that. MY wife got a big kick out of it.
Mark.
Bazinga Mark! my post was sarcasm. Of course there’s a bit of that in all of us, especially me. Why I just got vetoed last night when I floated the idea of running a staging track into the laundry room. Looks like I’ll have to move the laundry room!
Watch “The Great Indian Railway”, a PBS documentary narrated by Linda Hunt. It’s a little dated, a little more romanticized and focuses a bit much on obscure traditions (“the loco beauty pagent”) rather than train working (the real magic on IR). But it will give you a great sense of a railroad that moves 13 million people per day (not including suburban traffic) and has 1 million on its payroll.
Pieces of it are available on YouTube, but the original VHS is now out of circulation. Amazon sells a download.
But for every rail fan, i think knowing something about Indian Railways should be required reading. It is not fast. It is not luxurious (well the AC 1st class and some tourist trains are luxurious beyond comparison). But it moves a lot of people over a 55,000 mile route network with 8,000 stations.
NP.
Ah Fergie your great idea would have quickly turned to consternation when your hot shot freight came out of staging festooned with dirty laundry and soap flakes[:$]. Come to think of it, that might be worth filming too[^o)]. J.R.
“The Train” starring Bert Lancaster…
Very entertaining ! My favorties are Emperor of the North, The Train , Von Ryans Express, And Denver & Rio Grande. Never seen Danger Lights, If I’d known it was on a couple days ago I definately would have caught it…Mike
Gidday, thanks for the links, will have to sit down for a proper look when I have time. This is not so much a film as a TV ad from the 80s, but it is world famous in New Zealand.[:-^]…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQbXeAycblU
Cheers, the Bear