Tag Archives: Amtrak

Planes, Trains and Automobiles 1987

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Paramount Pictures

Happy Thanksgiving! My brother recommended this flick to me as an Obscure Train Movie. I hadn’t gotten around to reviewing this movie, (or even watching it previously), because I can’t stand Steve Martin. His whole “Excuuuuse Me” schtick always left me scratching my head. At least John Candy has decent comedy chops and pretty much carries the picture, IMHO.

Anyways, Mark talked this one up so much as a holiday movie, I had to give it a shot. At first blush, the train scene had some very unique motive power and equipment. Second, this picture has a stellar supporting cast, with notable character actors including Ben Stein, Edie McClurg, William Windom and Ferris Bueller’s Dad (Lyman Ward) to name a few.

Having said that, I spent most of this movie on “fast-forward” and concentrated on the railroad bits. I just didn’t enjoy this movie as a whole (Again, Steve Martin rubs me the wrong way). One bright spot is a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA or “the L”) scene near the end. The most fun was researching the upstate New York railroad equipment and locations used — a lot of it is still there — so thanks for the tip, Big Brother!

Our movie train soars above a rushing stream somewhere in upstate New York State. I wasn’t able to pin-point the location, but it is a very high bridge with a supporting tower next to the creek.

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Superman 1978

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Warner Brothers

“More powerful than a locomotive!” I remember watching Superman in the theatre when it first came out. Great, fun film and quite a few train scenes to boot. It was a pleasure to get a copy on DVD then go back and research all the locomotive and train sets seen.

The movie would feature a GMD FP7, an EMD FL9 and 3 EMD SPD40F locomotives as well as a studio mockup of villain Lex Luthor’s (played by Gene Hackman) underground lair — done up as a flooded section of Grand Central Terminal in New York! It’s the late 1970’s, so there is plenty of pre-Superliner, “heritage” equipment to be seen.

Let’s take a trip on the Canadian Pacific, the New Haven and Santa Fe railroads, shall we? All Aboard!

The Kansas Star hurtles past the camera under a magnificent sky. This FP7-led passenger train would soon encounter a young Clark Kent racing alongside.

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Back in the High Life Again 1986

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Island Records

How about a music video? Hey, if it’s in IMDb.com, it’s a movie! All four minutes of it.

Seriously, Steve Winwood packs a fair amount of train and railroad-related action in those 240 seconds. It’s a quickie snapshot of operations on the old Southern Railway mainline through Manassas, Virginia.

Aside from the railroad bits, it’s an interesting story about how the song was written and the music composed.

At the time of filming, the Southern had merged (1982) with Norfolk & Western to form Norfolk & Southern Railway, still a big Class 1 railroad to this day.

Let’s see how the MTV crowd (back when they actually played music television) interpret trains into this video.

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A Southern Railway local freight does some switching in Manassas, Virginia. Just barely in shot is a red, bay window caboose and an EMD Geep of some sort switching a gondola onto a siding.

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