1924 film - Southern Pacific Passenger Train vs Car

[Trainman203]

1924 - Southern Pacific Passenger Train vs Car

https://mirc.sc.edu/islandora/object/usc%3A34487

The train always wins, as we see even back in 1924 in these staged clips.

They appear to have been filmed in two different locations, possibly three.  Southern California is the probable location because of nearby studio resources, but also by utilization of the Southern Pacific Railroads.  In addition, early in the series, an apparent large produce loading shed is seen at trackside in the background. 

The first location appears to have been filmed several times, the train hitting and destroying several automobiles, two at a time on one occasion.  The filmmakers must have been striving for maximum destructive effect and used up several perfectly good automobiles in the process.  The steam locomotive approaches, storming down the track putting out beautiful thick clouds of smoke that are obviously being produced by bad firing strictly for dramatic film effect, since the engine is an oil burner pulling a light two car train on level track .... a perfect setting for a clear stack, but not today, this is Hollywood.  Crowds of people attracted by the known-in-advance spectacle, including many youngsters in knickers, swarm over the track in excitement after the impact.

After the first series, we are treated to the first complete crash scene, the film of which for some reason is run in reverse.  Here we get our first really good look at the railroad equipment as it passes backwards.  The last car in the short two car train is an older wooden truss-rodded paired-window clerestory-roofed turn of the century coach certainly working its last days in local service and hazardous jobs like this film.  In contrast, the first car is a more modern design Harriman steel coach.

The engine rolls backward past us, first revealing a long water tank Vanderbilt tender almost identical to one offered by Bachmann several years ago.  Then the engine passes in reverse, appearing to be a heavy 4-6-0, the road number only partially visible as 22-something.  In a spoiler, a later scene clearly identifies the engine as the 2290, one of SP's older and lighter ten-wheelers in the twilight of her career, probably being used because if damaged, her absence from service would not have been acute.  But, not only have trains always won in car-train collisions, the 2290 seems to have no damage  at all to the pilot after sending several autos to the junkyard.  That's ironic in a way, since automobiles eventually would send the 2290 to scrap.

Period locomotive details that squarely place this SP engine before the 1940's include a full length boiler tube pilot extending up over the pilot beam, a design which was slowly replaced in the coming years by shorter tube affairs terminating below the pilot beam.  The 2290 has a large sunbeam headlight which were largely, but not completely, replaced by more modern and smaller visored Pyle headlights.  And the smokebox is burnished with graphite, providing a beautiful SP classic period appearance before the more modern and more familiar silver smokebox front began to appear in the late steam 1940's.

More runbys destroying more automobiles follow.  A wonderful early period crossbuck is seen that has the vertical message "look out for the cars."  One might wonder if that was wry filmmaker humor directed toward the locomotive engineer.  But that message is actually antiquated language dating back to, at that time, the not so distant past when trains were called "the steamcars." 

We see alternate locations, one alongside a very busy highway chock a block full of automobiles that tell us the glory days of the railroad are slowly but surely ending.  A depot with a double bladed lower quadrant train order signal is seen.  The engine is finally clearly seen as the 2290, and the train number indicators by the stack identify the train as X2290, "Extra 2290," not a regular train but an unscheduled movie train on this day.

There's many train/car crash clips available today, but this one is rich in period details of automobiles, clothing, railroad cars and engines, and lineside items.

[Trainman203]

A few additional observations.  You can tell the whole thing is staged because the train not only doesn't brake before the collision, it actually speeds up in a couple of instances.  Watch the smoke pour out as the hogger guns it and pulls back on the throttle!

The depot at the end has two train order boards, one on either side.  The depot has a place name sign  on the end, maybe someone with a very big high resolution screen can read the name and help solve the order board mystery.

[Trainman203]

I've viewed this film a good many times now and every time something new is seen.

In the first couple of clips we get very good closeups of period trackwork, definitely built to lesser standards than those of today.  The ballast is very fine, almost like plain dirt instead of gravel that would afford better drainage in the infrequent rain events of the region.  The rail is pretty light for a well traveled line, and is in 39' long jointed sections as was common for very many years.

The last two runby/crash scenes offer insight into steam locomotive operation.  The second to last one shows us that as the engine approaches, the smoke momentarily thins, showing that the hogger has momentarily pulled the throttle back a notch.  Then, we see much thicker black smoke erupting very intensely, telling us that he has pulled the throttle open much more widely, creating a very strong draft to pull sand through the flues that the fireman has shoveled in, scouring oil residue from the flues to create dramatic smoke for the film.  The downward settling oily mess created by flue sanding, which cleaned the flues for better steaming, required that the work be done in rural areas.  I don't believe it is my imagination that the engine speeds up approaching the crossing, because the throttle has been pulled open.  As the engine passes , we barely see the smoke suddenly go to nothing as the hogger cuts the throttle off, preparing to stop.

The sun angle variations make me think that this is a southbound train filmed between mid and late morning.  The last runby appears by sun angle to have been filmed earlier in the morning, and from the top of a boxcar rather than on the ground.  Right before the engine hits the car, the engine's pop valves snap open with a magnificent eruption of steam into the heavy oil smoke.  As the engine passes, water can be seen pouring out of the injector overflow below the cab, showing us that the fireman is injecting water to cool the boiler and lower the pressure to shut off the pops.

The fireman leans way out of the cab window giving a hand signal to someone on the ground.  He is dressed in a very light colored outfit as was sometimes seen on coal dust free oil burning lines, but more often as not worn by enginemen on electric juice jacks (and later diesels ), as a good natured jab at the dirty overalls of most steam crews.

And in the closeup of the wrecked car on the engine pilot, the hogger is seen walking around to see what damage the 2290 might have taken, none apparent, the train always wins.

[Trainman203]

I was thinking about Southern Pacific Engine 2290.  It's an older ten wheeler, not as old as the 1880's 2248 preserved on the Tarantula/Grapevine operation in Texas with its square steam chests; but, with its early 1900's inward slanted piston valves and inside valve gear antiquated in 1924, she was older than the newer 2300's, one of which I believe to be preserved today.

By 1924, SP's 4-6-2's had been around for awhile to pull ever heavier and longer trains of heavyweight steel Harriman cars, and the beautiful 4-8-2's (terribly, none preserved, and as deserving as the Daylight 4-8-4's in my opinion) were beginning to appear.  So the duties available to 4-6-0's were shrinking.

Even yet another factor impacted SP's 4-6-0's, one that I can't decipher and that some diehard SP steam fan would have to explain, and that is the SP's overwhelming commitment to the 2-6-0 beginning in the early 1900's when the 4-6-0 was already around.  The 2-6-0's remained in service until the end of steam in the later 1950's, even down on the T&NO where I saw them, whereas the 4-6-0 slipped away seemingly.  There were two 1890's Cooke ten wheelers that survived dieselization within 10 miles of my home, but as far as I know, none more modern ever ran down there, whereas 2-6-0's ruled the local run and branchline roost.

So, in summation, I'd say that the class of 4-6-0 that the 2290 belonged to was basically out of a job by 1924, possibly in storage in considerable numbers, and concurrently available/disposable for hazardous duty like wrecking cars for Hollywood. That's unfortunate, for she was a beautiful engine that survived the day but probably not the long term.

[Trainman203]

The Varney Casey Jones of the days of yore is a credible model of a generic SP 4-6-0, if you put a (no longer offered) Bachmann medium oil Vanderbilt tender behind.  In the 50s and 60s this engine was everywhere .  Of course it's a old school die cast DC engine but with work it could be converted to DCC.

This engine resembles many mid weight ten-wheelers on many roads.  Maybe one day when suppliers get over their current fixations on Certain Big Engines on Certain Roads, one of these might appear.

https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/283082578041_/HO-Vintage-Varney-Casey-Jones-4-6-0-Locomotive-Can.jpg

Note that someone numbered this model in the 2200's.  And also note the incorrect tender lettering.  The small pre-1946 font lettering should read "Southern Pacific Lines," not just "Southern Pacific" as shown.  The enlarged "Southern Pacific" appeared, along with silver front smokebox doors (generally) after the war.  For some reason, most SP model steam engines feature the entire smokebox being silver, which is incorrect.