Fun railroad things in the movies....
Gotta watch "Disaster on the Coastliner." Filmed on the Northeast Corridor, largely in Connecticut (and some in Rhode Island) and purported to be in California. Nice HO wreck of F40PH #213 (which ran for another 20 years after the movie and is now 90213, a CAB-BAG unit on the Downeaster ....) The whole premise of the movie is outlandish ... but hey, it has William Shatner in it! There's a particularly neat scene when the runaway unmanned locomotive is parted from the train, and all the power cables arc and spark.... the brake hoses blow .... and then as the locomotive drifts ahead, below Shatner's feet you see the cables all neatly tied up and the hoses secured...
"The Cider House Rules" ... see Tang-Shan 1647 (formerly VRR 1647, now Susquehana 142) lettered "Bangor and Aroostook" steaming away at the beginning.
"Ray" with the double stack well cars rolling by in the background ....
"Back to the Future" with an engine in 1885 that was actually built in 1891, and has air brakes, and burns oil (even with all that wood in the tender.) Most folks dont' recognize it as the same engine that stopped in Pixley in "Petticoat Junction" .... or a zillion other movies!
And of course "Silver Streak." Need we say more?
Still fun to watch.... even if you do cringe when something happens like Ernest Borgnine (as the conductor) takes it on himself to blow the whistle in "Emperor of the North" ....
Matthew (OV)