Prototypes

[Terry Toenges]

When I started backdating my Mogul, I was considering my options as to how to do the headlight because I had two box lights to chose from. I decided on the larger metal PSC light. I studied the Mogul light and the PSC light and I figured I could cut ream out the inside of the PSC one and slip it over the stock Bachmann light. That way I wouldn't have worry about doing any rewiring. It was a lot of work but I got it done.
I've seen folks on here say that there's probably a prototype for everything somewhere or words to that effect.
Today, I received Larry Jensen's book "The Hollywood Railroads  - Volume One - Virginia & Truckee".
I started reading it a little while ago and I got to page 10 where he is talking about how Paramount Pictures was having V & T's #22 fixed up to use in the movie "High Wide and Handsome".
Here is the quote from the book, "While Paramount was waiting for the boiler certificate, other work was performed. Before No. 22 left Carson City, the V & T shop crew had replaced it's smokestack with the woodburner-style stack off of No. 12. They also hid its electric headlight inside of the sheet metal housing from a 19th -century box headlight...."
I found my prototype!
Here is V & T's.

Here is mine.

[bbmiroku]

I guess it really is true...
"If you can think it, it's probably been done."

[Maletrain]

Nice work, Terry.

[Terry Toenges]

Thanks. I'm getting ready to put the rest of the parts on it.

[Terry Toenges]

Speaking of prototypes - I found another one.
For Christmas one year, I put a Bachmann old time combine body on a diesel chassis. No one would ever do something like that, right? Wrong. I found another prototype.
In the movie "Around The World In 80 Days" (Released in 1956) they built an old time baggage car body around an Army diesel.
My fantasy loco -

Rio Grande's #315 C-18 had been retired in 1949 and displayed in a park. The film crew saw it and wanted to use it in the film but it was inoperable. The solution was to use a diesel to push it so they built the baggage car around the diesel and the diesel pushed #315 in the movie. The Vinton Wight photo is from Larry Jensen's book "Hollywood's Railroads  Volume Three  Narrow Gauge Country", Page 28 -

[bbmiroku]

Okay... now that is truly hilarious.

[Trainman203]

That isn't the only time an inactive steam engine was pushed for a movie shoot.  The latest was just a couple of years ago for an episode of a TV show I believe was called "Revolution ".

The best one I heard of was "Bound for Glory " in 1976.  Hoboes are riding on top of a freight with what is supposed to be a heavily smoking steam engine maybe 15 cars up.  In reality the string of boxcars was being pushed by a diesel, and up front was a flatcar with some kind of smoke generator. 😱😂

Of course, today all of this would be computer generated.i

[Trainman203]

Terry, look at this.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doodlebug_(rail_car)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKeen_railmotor

[Terry Toenges]

I don't think I've ever seen that Doodlebug pic before. I have seen pics of the McKeen Railmotor.
One of the three books talks about "Bound For Glory". With movies, sometimes they used both smoke and steam generators placed on a flat car behind a loco. Then they piped the smoke and steam to the loco. They would  use another loco as a pusher.
Some places kept diamond stack sleeves and empty box headlights around. They would just drop the stack sleeve over the straight stack and the headlight box over the round headlight when they wanted an older looking loco.
It was interesting how they would build wooden frames hanging  off the sides of locos and cars for the camera crews to film people on horses running alongside the train. I always assumed that was done with a truck or car driving alongside the train.

[dutchbuilder]

Have look at this movie about the making of the lone ranger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdXTXWpIYgQ
Talking about a pusher diesel.

Ton

[Terry Toenges]

That was good. I guess I'm going to have to watch the Lone Ranger again even though I didn't really care for it the first time. Now that I know all these things about how it was made, it will be a different experience. I had no idea they would be going down the highway doing that.

[ebtnut]

The EBT "doodlebug" is unique - it is the only true narrow gauge gas-electric car in the US.  All others utilized some form of mechanical transmission.  Interesting footnote - the engine in the EBT car was built by Brill in the 1920's originally as part of a competition for a U.S. Navy contract for blimp engines.  IIRC, each competitor had to produce 6 working engines for Navy evaluation.  I don't recall who got the contract, but Brill did not, and one of the engines wound up in the M-1.  Through the efforts of the Rockhill Trolley Museum, the EBT, and the Friends of the EBT, the car is still servicable. 

[Terry Toenges]

In "Bound For Glory", they got together 34 freights cars from scrap yards. They shot some of the scenes with the diesel (diesel stayed off camera) on Altamont Pass Line of Western Pacific RR. Once the train got to Oakdale, Sierra RR's #34 and #28 took over for a double header. It was the longest movie train ever on the Sierra.
Here's another page about making of Lone Ranger and the trains -
https://www.southfork.org/the-lone-ranger#!bs_NightTimeMovieMagicIMG_2405

[Trainman203]

Movie trains are worth a new seperate conversation .  Starting one.

[Terry Toenges]

I just want to add that the "Bound For Glory" info is from Larry Jensen's Hollywood Railroads Volume Two - Sierra Railroad.