The Jam Handy Organization for
Westinghouse Air Brake Company
(Jim Handy to the rescue!)

Inspector Luger! Yep, I actually recognize someone in this industry featurette. Good old James Gregory appears in this corny, railroad worker documentary. Corny yes, but great scenes of first generation diesels and passenger/freight trains from the post-World War 2 heyday of American Railroads.

Long before the days of FedEx, UPS and Amazon, practically EVERYTHING used in the American home and business got there by rail. This message is beaten into the viewer continuously. Our story takes place in a railroad beanery called “Scotty’s”, just up the street from the depot. A stranger has arrived and is pumping the locals for information, about just what it is, that makes a railroad go.

I plan to overlook most of the hyperbole and just concentrate on the kick color views of trains. Sound good, Inspector?

Mr. Gregory was a great character actor “curmudgeon” from the 1960’s and 1970’s. Here we see him as Inspector Frank Luger in Barney Miller and the diabolical Doctor Tristan Adams in Star Trek’s “Dagger of the Mind“. Is that a great, smirking countenance, or what?

SP #6000, an EMD E7, leads #75 (a northbound Los Angeles – Oakland “Lark” train).
UP #1632, an Alco FA-1, leads a freight train.
ATSF #312, an EMD F7A, leads a passenger train (possibly The Chief or the Super Chief).
Wabash #1000, an EMD E7A, leads a passenger train (possibly the City of Saint Louis).

“The Stranger” (played by Bill Kennedy), walks up from the depot to Scotty’s. In a trice, he is chatting up waitress Kelly, (played by Pat Englund), much to the annoyance of Bill Ritter (James Gregory).

How about that depot, nowadays? Just a brief google, identified this building as the former Michigan Central Railroad station in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is still with us, in use as a restaurant.

More colorful trains. Check that sexy Cotton Belt Alco PA-1! Joining it for a posed runby are Katy #131 (EMD E8A) and a Pennsy E unit. They must have filmed this trio in Saint Louis, Missouri, which is where all three roads met.

A pair of back to back NYC EMD F units in the “lightning-stripe” scheme rounds a curve; A Union Pacific Alco PA leads a passenger train (San Francisco Overland, maybe?).

Back when most of the U.S. Mail went by train (some would say a far better system than today), we see a Wabash Railroad streamliner snagging mail from a crane. I think this train is the Blue Bird, judging from the drum head on the observation car.

Onboard in the Railway Post Office (RPO) car, mail is sorted en route for delivery. At destination, sacks of mail are unloaded onto a baggage cart.

Meet shot! At Middendorf, South Carolina, an extremely boonie (and rare) Seaboard Air Line #4511 Baldwin “Centipede” takes siding. Shortly thereafter, a SAL passenger train sails by on the main line. The lead EMD E8A #3050 blurring past, is wearing Seaboard’s “Citrus” paint scheme.

Dome Cars! Invented and popularized by the Burlington Route, other railroads began to purchase or build them to attract more customers.

First view: Kansas City Zephyr passing through a deep cut
Second view: California Zephyr on Denver & Rio Grande Western rails.
Third view: Super Dome built by Pullman for the Milwaukee Road.
Fourth view: Skytop Lounge (not technically a dome) built in Milwaukee Road’s shops.

They did managed to sneak in one steam powered passenger train. How about Southern Pacific’s Train #99, the northbound Coast Daylight (Los Angeles to San Francisco)? Is there anything snazzier than a high-stepping GS-4 locomotive in daylight dress pulling a matched set of cars?

No there isn’t. So I’m going to end this review right here. I hope y’all enjoyed this snapshot of 1954’s railroading, as much as I did researching it.

If you’d like to watch it yourself, the link is here:

That is, if it’s still on YouTube…

Here’s what IMDb has to say about At This Moment:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0892037/

If you have ANY information about this movie you’d like to share, please contact me at: Lindsay.Korst@gmail.com, or leave a comment.  Thanks and enjoy the blog!

THE END