Favorite Train Movies

[Terry Toenges]

Casey Jones steaming and a rollin'
Casey Jones you never have to wait
When you hear the tootin' of the whistle
It's Casey at the throttle of the Cannonbal Express

I've got it on DVD, too.

[Santa Fe buff]

Atomic Train

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144039/ >link to older version of it.

Runaway Train (1985)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaway_Train_(film)

[PRRThomas11]

A little fun fact:

"A Ticket to Tomahawk" was filmed on the Durango and Silverton. The producers requested that the color of the train be changed to bright yellow. The owners of the railroad liked it so much that after the movie was filmed, they had all of the cars on the Silverton branch from drab old Pullman Green to what they trademarked as Rio Grande Yellow, giving a real personality to the line.



Also, for another movie, a big tunnel was made out of paper mache in the middle of the high-line.

[glennk28]

There was another movie titled "Runaway"--it was a TV movie, starred Martin Milner, Ben Johnson, and several others.  Filmed on the D&RGW Ski Train--setting moved to Calif---premise was loss of air brakes coming off the mountains--  used another loco to stop it.  Not too hokey--mid 1980's as I recall.  gj

[peterherron]

What was the movie with Burt Lancaster where he gets out of prison and ends up stealing a whole train and tries to get to Mexico.  I remember it sliding on the dirt but can't remember it it made it over the border or not!!??

[john tricarico]

the movie is TOUGH GUYS

with burt lancaster and kirk douglas

its about 2 old crooks who stole a train in 1940
after prison there released and decidi to steal the train again

theres a scene where the s.p. 4449 slides off the track
of course special effects

good luck  john t  brooklyn ny

[Santa Fe buff]

Oh yeah, I love that movie! Found some YouTube videos on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X0-e2YkJ8Q&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soiubd2kSeo

[glennk28]

TOUGH GUYS--the reason they stole the train was that they were unable to cope with life outside of prison.  Both are in their 70's.  So they want to get sent back to prison.

A side story I liked was Eli Wallach as the elderly hit man ("Coke bottle" glasses, trench coat, )  who was given a "contract" on them thirty-some years earlier, and feels honor-bound to carry it out.    gj

[Guilford Guy]

No one has yet mentioned Danger Lights, which has AWESOME MILW scenes.
http://www.archive.org/details/danger_lights

[pdlethbridge]

There was a movie from the 30's that had a lot of good photos of a Hiawatha at high speed and multiple tracks.
another was "How the west was won". a Cinerama movie that had a train scene, unfortunately a stunt man was killed in the scene

[Guilford Guy]

Actually, the stuntman only lost a leg and some spine bones... Not as bad as Death I guess...

[Phil Hoffer]

A lousy plot but plenty of scenes on the Cats RR was a movie called ''Black Diamond and Dinomite'' with Willie Nelson and Delta Burke. Well worth watching just for the rail scenes.
Phil

[Woody Elmore]

Hey Guilford Guy - I mentioned "Danger Lights" early on in this discussion!!

My favorite scene is the tug of war between the two locomotives and Louis Waldheim, an ex-professional fighter, really is good in the part of an engineer.

I had the film on video tape but it got damaged. I don't know if it's available on DVD. It's a must for Milwaukee Road fans. Add "Emperor of the North" and you have two great train films. I'd add "the Train" but the French engines just leave me cold. "Ticket to Tomahawk" is great for its rolling stock pictures but the syrupy plot and cheesy acting are unbearable.

"Atomic Train" would be on my list of train movies to burn. Ugh.

[Guilford Guy]

The Color of a Brisk and Leaping day has a lot of good shots, such as turning a mogul on a turntable, and riding in a motor car...

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

A little fun fact:

Another little fun fact--that is, if my memory is correct.

I believe the locomotive in A Ticket to Tomahawk was named the "Emma Sweeney." A couple of weeks ago I was watching my new CD set of the first season of Petticoat Junction (yeah, yeah. ...). In one episode, a new throttle is needed for the "Hooterville Cannonball" because Norman Curtis, president of the C.&F.W. Railroad, broke th eold throttle. An old friend of his, a retired railroad executive who runs a museum, called in to help with the repair, gets on the phone to his museum and tells someone to take the throttle out of "the wood-burner on the second floor" and ship it to Hooterville. The name of that wood-burner is the "Emma Sweeney."