ABC Television / Orion Pictures

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2024!

This is a LONG, but enjoyable review — at least it was for me! ;p

I previously wrote about this ABC Sunday Night Movie ten years ago. My summary of the All-Star Cast, pretty much covers the basics about what happened. Whoever wrote the script for this 97 minute potboiler, obviously had no idea how a railroad operates. The shortcoming of my first review is I only included two pictures!

That just won’t do when you have early-Amtrak equipment on both coasts (ex-Santa Fe Surf Line in California and ex-New Haven Shore Line in Connecticut) with lots of footage inside Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPT) as well. Thus, this review will be short on plot and long on pictures.

Oh, did I mention? William Shatner has lots of screen time despite being only 7th in the credits (an unforgiveable oversight) and is the hero of the day — as only Captain Kirk could do it. Engines ahead. Warp factor one.

I’m really torn about the ID of this locomotive in the opening credits. It’s too blurry to get the exact unit number (400 something). At first I thought it was an EMD FL9 locomotive, but AFAIK, those engines didn’t have nose lift rings. So this is probably an EMD E9 diesel selected from a private railroad, pre-Amtrak.

The engine that saved Amtrak, EMD’s F40PH. Here we see a quartet of these classic locomotives pulling trains of Amfleet cars as establishing shots.

As follows: #211 leading a baggage car, Amcafe, etc.; F40 flashing by a switch tower; #202 as “South Bound #3 @ 10:42am“; #222 as “North Bound #12 @ 12:10pm“.

Notice all the East Coast (Connecticut) F40s have “ghetto grates” on the front windshields. Lots of bad boys throwing rocks at trains Back East.

LAUPT sets the scene as passengers board at Gate G for San Francisco. The Secret Service is screening everyone as the Vice-President’s wife will be on this northbound train.

They’re also looking for Stuart Peters (The Shat) who’s in some sort of trouble with the Feds. Here he is in the Gents, peeling off his disguise.

ROWF! It’s Weena! (Paula Harvey played by Yvette Mimieux). Here she is on a payphone in LAUPT calling her boyfriend, Matt Leigh (played by Robert Fuller), in San Francisco.

Unbeknownst to Paula, “Doctor Brackett” is quite the horndog and is two-timing her at the Mark Hopkins.

Meanwhile, over at “Trans Allied Railroad Co.” headquarters, bumbling Secret Service Agent Al Mitchell (played by Lloyd Bridges) and inept Chief Dispatcher (DS) Roy Snyder (played by E.G. Marshall) quickly lock horns.

Shortly thereafter, Bridges would go on to star in the role he was born to play, as Steve McCrosky in Airplane!

And finally, the villain of this picture, Jim Waterman/Victor Prescott (played by Paul L. Smith) as the tormented, eeeeevil engineer of northbound #12.

Here he is, all smiles, as he sabotages a circuit board right in front of the dispatcher, E.G. “The little lights are not twinkling, Clark” Marshall.

OK. The stage is set. On with the show!

Northbound #12 is beginning to board. (I always thought the Amfleet cars looked like aluminum beer cans.) “Keep an eye on that – I’ll be right back” says the engineer to little Joey watching trackside.

Both cars and locomotive are clad in Amtrak’s “Phase II paint scheme“.

BOOOO! HISSSS! As sinister organ music plays, sweaty and satanic Jim/Victor marches into the LAUPT crew lounge unchallenged, chloroforms the engineer (FOUL!!), climbs into the cab past little Joey, and prepares to take #12 north.

“Joey? Have you ever been inside a Turkish Prison?”

Good shots of the platforms and throat tracks at LAUPT as Evil Jim (Somebody STOP him!) leads #12 towards San Francisco.

Captain Kirk chats up Weena and they eventually move to the lounge for some drinks. Oh, that maroon, orange and purple 1970s Amtrak upholstery!

Gosh, we haven’t talked about the Southbound train #3 yet, have we? Our Hogger on #3 is John Marsh (played by Pat Hingle), who is a lackadaisical, easily-confused, rules-violating engineer — just about the last person you’d want in the cab of a locomotive.

Notice “Le Pub” on the wall. There’s quite an interesting back story on Amtrak using Le Pub to attract ridership back East.

And check out the action in Le Pub! A raven-haired beauty (rahr-RAHR!) has caught the eye of Doctor Brackett. She even orders a Harvey Wallbanger which was a featured drink of Le Pub (see above link). Hey Doc, you’re gonna poke someone’s eye out with those lapels. Man, he is creepy in this movie.

Signals! Yes, Evil Jim has trifled with the CTC system causing Southbound #3 (F40PH #211) to stay on the same track as Northbound #12. The script has us believe there are no crossover switches for the one hour before the two trains will meet head-on. Sure.

Here’s the plot hole that REALLY chaps my ass. Engineer Marsh ignores RED lineside and cab signals, his Chief DS, his conductor (intercom), and instead listens to Evil Jim — a voice he’s never heard before — telling him to keep going.

On TOP of that, every passenger car on both trains are equipped with an Emergency Brake Valve. Okay, I’ll get down off my soap box now…

They call in a helicopter to get red light-running engineer John Marsh’s attention (now driving Amtrak #216 with a modified Phase III paint scheme). No good. Great stunt flying though.

I like these guys they bring in (driving a 1973 Ford F-250 – THANKS FOR THE ID BIG BROTHER!) leading a busload of Amtrak Maintenance-of-Way workmen.

Hollywood’s idea of cutting in a crossover — that would not actually work.

Meanwhile, the passengers on Evil Jim’s train are on to him. Our Dashing Hero, Bill Shatner, takes the lead and manages to uncouple the #216 from its train…and winds up on the runaway locomotive!

My favorite bit of trivia from IMDb.com about this film:

“During the filming of the close-up shots of William Shatner on the outside of the train, the wind machine had to be turned down several times, because it would constantly blow off his toupee.”

In another bit of hokum, the MOW supervisor (I love his mesh T-shirt) bets his assistant: “$100 says, she’ll hold!”. He lines up his men in a dramatic pose barking, “Let me hear ya groan!” Yeah. THAT’LL keep the train on the track…

This FINALLY gets the attention of ol’ Pat Hingle, as he uses his foot to put the train into emergency, then madly blows the whistle as the consist successfully negotiates the “temporary turnouts”. Southbound train #3 is safe.

NOW. What to do about Northbound #12’s runaway locomotive? Well, Shatner is on the job, climbing the steps and crossing over the roof to the cab of the F40. Nice sandy beach on the Atlantic side somewhere in Connecticut.

Notice the original helicopter is joined by a second chopper (which was mainly used for filming).

Now that all his demands have been met, Evil Jim/Victor realizes he can’t stop the locomotive. Hero Jim Kirk drags Evil Jim’s sorry ass out of the cab to the roof as the helicopter hovers alongside to, hopefully, pluck them off to safety.

Nice view of the Nathan KL5A airhorn and “skate” style radio antenna. Along with Kirk’s ample caboose. “Come ride the little train that is rolling down the tracks to the junction.”

Uh-oh. Bridge coming up; Duck!; Bascule lift bridge; Eject! Eject! Eject! (that is QUITE a stunt).

Now that the F40PH is unoccupied, the MOW gang has rigged the track to use…

MODELS! In dramatic fashion, Amtrak’s Flying F plows up the ballast and smashes to smithereens a lineside structure.

Meanwhile, back at the bascule bridge, Hero Kirk agonizes over the death of Evil Jim. Despite all his heroics, the Feds (the bastards), lead The Shat away to jail.

Ever the ham, Shatner smiles for the camera.

Done and done. Wasn’t that fun? If you’ve never seen this flick, it’s well worth your while to do so. Even if you’re not into trains, just watching all the stars chewing the carpet is 1970s Disaster Movie GOLD.

Here s what IMDb has to say about Disaster on the Coastliner:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079056/

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