I was watching the first Rocky movie and in most of the scenes in Rocky’s Philadelphia apartment and outside working as a collector we hear steam engine noises in the background. Were there really steam engines in service in the mid-1970s in Philadelphia?
I always thought that was a factory whistle. If I remember correctly there is a shot of a Conrail switcher engine in one of the shots. Of course I could be confusing that with one of the other seventeen Rocky movies.
Factory whistle…maybe…Steam locomotive: NO!
Steam excrsions maybe…
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If they got close to Lancaster they would have run into Steam at the Starsburg Railroad thats for sure as they have never had Diesel power there. Also in the 70’s the alot of Ships where still Steam Powered so hearing a Steam Whistle in an Industrial area near a Set of Docks would not have been out of Place as ships used them alot.
It’s also possible that the sound was dubbed in at the studio. For a technician who didn’t know much about railroads, the steam whistle may have had a haunting sound that fit in with the action. I do remember the movie, and it was quite good.
I was watching a rerun of “the Rockford Files” (James Garner) the other day and in a railyard scene a Dismal went past making the very distinctive chuffing sound of a steam locomotive and in the background I heard a steam whistle a couple of times. The series was on from 1974 to 1980.
The “Foley” man was just not knowledgeable of the real world.
In “Rocky” we hear not only steam whistles but chuff-chuff-chuff sounds of a steam engine. Listen for it next time you see it. Doesn’t really sound like a work shift change whistle but a train whistle.
Same thing happened in the second-to-last episode of Emergency! in the first season. Station 51 was called to a part of a rail yard where tank cars were getting cleaned out. Initially, they had the sound of a diesel horn on a train that was passing in the background, but later on in the rescue, you hear the distinct chugging of a steam locomotive starting up.
Kevin