Tag Archives: EMD GP30

Wrongfully Accused 1998

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Warner Brothers Pictures

Just three minutes of train action , but it’s a jim-dandy. And it is referenced on the cover of the DVD, for Pete’s sake.

Leslie Neilsen mercilessly parodies the famous train wreck scene from The Fugitive 1993. Filmed mostly in British Columbia along the old Pacific Great Eastern (later renamed British Columbia Railway or BC Rail), our film features one of that line’s locomotives: a General Electric B36-7 #3607.

The movie also parodies Charlie’s Angels, North by Northwest, and Lords of the Dance to name a few. If you just want to sit down with a nice adult beverage and be entertained, this is the picture for you. (The Fugitive itself ain’t too bad, either.)

Trying to keep up with all the guest star cameos is a hoot as well, with such notables as Kelly LeBrock, Michael York, Sandra Bernhard and John Walsh.

Curiously, the DVD cover appears to show a Union Pacific EMD SD60M #6408 with a 3-piece windshield. The make/model is correct; the locomotive number is incorrect. This engine is not seen anywhere in the movie.

The TWO sets of ditch lights are a BCOL-standard, but the crazy Gyralite box on the nose is Hollywood, pure and simple. A good, British Columbia-soaking of liquid sunshine completes this picture.

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Switchback 1997

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Paramount Studios

I first heard about this movie from a blog! Many thanks to James Tiroch and his Cinetrains site for providing a wealth of information about the two locomotives used in filming AND their disposition afterwards.

Despite the snazzy “Grande Gold” graphic (see below image) splashed across their flanks, these are NOT Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) locomotives! At the time of filming, Union Pacific owned D&RGW and would not allow use of their equipment. Movie makers simply leased a couple locomotives and painted them up the way they liked.

And WHAT a couple of engines they are! Two former Southern Pacific EMD-built (1970) SD39’s #5319 & #5325 dressed up in Rio Grande “speed lettering”. Let’s check out this film on the “Main Line Thru The Rockies”.

A pair of Rio Grande diesels is about to enter a tunnel deep in a Colorado canyon. These Espee SD39’s in disguise were frequently renumbered to represent different trains. Notice the cabside number location has been painted out. Here the lead unit is “2010” and the trailing unit is “234”.

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