Project Phoenix 1972

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Universal Studios

Banacek! George Peppard stars in this NBC Wednesday Night Mystery Movie. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” fans will remember him as the courtesan to Patricia Neal and companion of Audrey Hepburn.

This train-laced movie (both prototype and model) features 4 character actors from Star Trek TOS and Batman 1966 and includes overhead (helicopter) scenes of railroads in Boston, Massachusetts.

Banacek is brought in when an expensive, experimental sports car vanishes from a non-stop freight train. The solution to the mystery is so preposterous, you just HAVE to come along for the ride (no pun intended). Let’s roll…

Would you believe an Atlas O scale (two rail) Great Northern, Big Sky Blue box car is a key exhibit in explaining how they done it? Read on…

42 years later, this is what Big Sky Blue fades to, in Sandpoint, Idaho.

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Last Clear Chance 1959

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Union Pacific Railroad

This railroad safety film has the dubious honor of being mocked by Mystery Science Theater 3000 in one of their episodes, “Radar Secret Service”. A YouTube link to the MST3K version is provided below.

Basically the message is, don’t try to beat the train to the crossing – sound advice – but there’s a whole plethora of neat, old ’59 Fords and Chevys being driven, rather ineptly, by my fellow Idahoans, sometimes with disastrous results. (Thanks for the car ID’s, Mark!)

Beside the blurred streamliner images, trackside views include EMD F units, GP9s, switchers and even an Alco-GE gas turbine-electric locomotive.

Will the Idaho State Police get the word about railroad safety through people’s thick skulls? Let’s find out.

UP owned a fleet of EMD E8’s and E9’s seen here flashing past the camera in southern Idaho. Passenger trains of the era included #105/#106 City of Portland, #17/#18 Portland Rose and Mail and Express #11/#12. Portland Rose was the only train that traversed the Boise area in daylight.

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Paradise Express 1937

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Republic Pictures

Dorothy Appleby (as Kay Carson) and Grant Withers (as Lawrence “Larry” Doyle) dress up the front of Southern Pacific Railroad #2418 in this canted publicity photo. Our movie features this oil-burning locomotive as the primary motive power of the fictional “Moon Valley Short Line”.

Thanks to reader Mo Bouk for suggesting this movie and providing links to B&W and colorized versions of the film on YouTube. I will be reviewing the colorized version.

The gist of the plot is the evil Armstrong Trucking Company has resorted to nefarious deeds, (downright racketeering if you ask me), to take customers away from the railroad, forcing them into bankruptcy.

Larry Doyle has been appointed receiver/trustee of the short line, and charmed by Kay Carson’s perky ti…err…demeanor, sets out to win back the stolen business from the truck line.

The print of this picture is pretty bad, so I will concentrate on the last 3/4’s of the movie which seems to have the best daylight views. Enjoy!

Arriving at Paradise (the movie’s namesake), is SP #2418 4-6-2 “Light Pacific” P-1 class built by Baldwin in August 1906. Built as a coal burner, it was soon converted to use oil. Superheater added at Ogden on 3-23-18. Vacated from roster 11-8-42. Scrapped at Bayshore on 10-12-48.

OK, is that enough information? ;p

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Around the World in 80 Days 1956

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Warner Brothers

There were TWO distinct train scenes in this 182 minute, Oscar-winning monstrosity: the first in India and the second in Colorado. I plan to just review the footage taken along the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, narrow gauge lines. <– This last link is a FANTASTIC resource.

Taking its shape from the Jules Verne book of the same name, 80 Days follows the adventures of the fictitious Phileas Fogg (played by David Niven) and his loyal and resourceful valet, Passepartout (played by Cantinflas) as they attempt to circumnavigate the globe.

Of course, the REAL star of this entire production is D&RGW #315, a class C-18, 2-8-0, narrow gauge steam locomotive. She was originally built for the Florence & Cripple Creek Railroad as their #3 “Elkton” by Baldwin in 1895.

Let’s have some fun and check out the Wild West portion of 80 Days. All Aboard!

Ignacio, Colorado’s depot, on the D&RGW Durango to Chama, NM line, stands in as Fort Kearney (note the cavalry riding in). Filmmakers painted up the town’s depot into a pleasing red, white and blue scheme.

This was the best view of the entire passenger train in the movie. From left to right: D&RGW #315, diesel hiding in a baggage car, combine #212, coach #320 and parlor car “Silver Palace”.

More about the hidden diesel later.

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Two Smart People 1946

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Metro Goldwyn Mayer

Many Thanks to Tony Wilson for recommending this flick. Today’s feature is a post-war film noir taking place on a Southern Pacific Railroad train from Los Angeles to New Orleans.

John Hodiak (as Ace Connors) and Lucille Ball (as Ricki Woodner) star alongside Lloyd Nolan as NYC Policeman Bob Simms. You see, Ace is a bond swindler/con artist and Ricki is a flashy redhead with a jaded past. Officer Bob is on their tail looking for those fake bonds. To further complicate this triangle, Ace and Bob are old friends — just on opposite sides of the law.

Now. Where do you suppose Ace is HIDING those bonds? Well, you’ll just have to read this review and find out.

How about a nice, hot cup of tea? Most Noir pictures are loaded with symbolism. Case in point: Notice all the stripes (simulating prison bars). These two are definitely up to no good!

It’s probably on a studio set, but very nice-looking railroad lounge car interior.

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Stand by Me 1986

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Columbia Pictures

Update 1/11/2024: Many thanks to OregonRailfan who corrected me (see his comments below) on a couple of items.

Yeah, yeah. Four boys coming of age and learning about friendship and all that. The REAL star of this production is McCloud River Railroad #25, a 2-6-2 steam locomotive built by Alco Locomotive Works in 1925, new for the railroad. MCRRR #25 is still with us and currently operates on the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad.

I was fortunate enough to ride behind her during the SP&S convention at Astoria, Oregon in 2019. I have posted some pictures I took of the 2-6-2 at the end of this review.

What? The film’s main protagonists? Oh, all right. Here’s the boys in no particular order:

#1 Wil Wheaton as Gordie Lachance.

#2 River Phoenix as Chris Chambers.

#3 Corey Feldman as Teddy Duchamp.

#4 Jerry O’Connell as Vern Tessio.

The main menu (seen above) from my DVD, features a locomotive that looks nothing like #25. Any guesses on which engine it might be? Big boiler. A 4-8-4 perhaps?

Singing, “The Ballad of Paladin”, the four Musketeers march down the tracks. This is the ending theme song to the TV series “Have Gun – Will Travel” (1957) starring Richard Boone as Paladin. Songwriter Johnny Western successfully sued Stand by Me’s producers for not securing his permission beforehand.

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This Is My Railroad 1949

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Southern Pacific Railroad

The date is a little unclear. I believe this movie was originally produced in 1946 featuring steam power, then remade in color featuring diesels in 1949 or later. Something like that. If someone knows the true story, let me know.

Three cheers for the red and orange! In the years before Donald J. Russell got his mitts on the Espee (and began systematically dismantling their fabulous passenger train network), this WAS the friendly SP.

Freight F units wore the classy “Black Widow” paint scheme, whilst Passenger train diesels wore the flashy “Daylight” dress pulling matched consists throughout the southwest.

Our film is a snapshot of life along the SP Lines including snow fighting operations in the Sierra Nevada. From lower-quadrant semaphores to early CTC installations to rebuilding rolling stock, Southern Pacific did it all their own way. Let’s check out this colorful carnival of transportation. (Apologies for the fuzzy YouTube print.)

It hasta be Shasta. SP Train #9, the Shasta Daylight was a Portland to Oakland streamliner. Mount Shasta looms in the background as an Alco PA locomotive leads the way south (west in SP parlance).

Freight paid most of the bills, though, including SP X6190 leading a set of EMD F7 locomotives through the Sierras.

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Next Stop, Christmas 2021

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Hallmark Channel

Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus… What? Another Hallmark Chick Flick? Well, at least it features a real, live steam locomotive, that I’ve never reviewed before. Connecticut Valley Line Hype!

Kudos to Ben Haas for providing THIS MOST USEFUL LINK describing the origin and travels of this steam engine. In a nutshell, our 2-8-2 locomotive was constructed by Alco in 1920 for the Portland, Astoria & Pacific Railroad (a proposed line that was never built). Valley Railroad #40 spent a good portion of its life on the Aberdeen & Rockfish Railroad in North Carolina before moving to Essex, Connecticut.

Time travel is involved (a la “For All Time 2000”), so set your clocks back, err… forward, be flexible, and enjoy the show. Merry Christmas!

ROWF! Look at those eyes! The two protagonists on our time machine train are (left – Lyndsy Fonseca as Angie Reynolds and right – Christopher Lloyd as the enigmatic Train Conductor).

Green with gold flecks on Angie, dontcha think?

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Peking Express 1951

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Paramount Pictures

Remake! Today’s movie review changes direction (now Shanghai to Peking) and heavily copies 1932’s Shanghai Express including reusing several train shots from that film.

This film noir feature is a rather tepid affair, starring Joseph Cotton as Doctor Michael Bachlin and Corinne Calvet as Danielle Grenier. Still, there are some redeeming parts including a train-Jeep chase at the end, with guns a blazing.

It’s a mish-mosh of Southern Pacific Railroad locomotives and equipment done up with Chinese characters. Let’s check it out!

“Looks like Charlie Chan up there, man!” Nope. It’s white boy Marvin Miller, as the mysterious Kwon onboard the Tientsen-Pukow train, sporting heavy-duty Hollywood Oriental makeup. More about him later.

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