Tag Archives: Ontario

Station Master 1954

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National Film Board of Canada

This film was recommended to me by Pete! It’s the third National Film Board of Canada movie I have reviewed on my blogs and the first to mainly feature Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). This is the story of CP station master Dalton Henry and his crew in little Finch, Ontario. The Canadian Pacific had a crossing here with a New York Central (NYC) branch line to Ottawa.

Steam was still active in Eastern Canada at the time and there is a nice mix of trains on both railroads. The CP rails still exist through Finch, but the NYC branch was abandoned shortly thereafter in February 1957.

This black & white short packs a lot of railroad action into its 15 minutes and is a poignant look at the way things used to be on the railway. Highball!

Out in front of the depot, a section gang is busily shoveling snow from switches and the crossing diamond. Up in the interlocking tower, Charlie lights up a Player’s and checks his pocket watch. Note the nearby telegraph key and dispatcher’s phone on a scissors arm.

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Holiday Affair 1996

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USA Network
RKO Pictures

Merry Christmas! Thanks to a 2016 challenge by good friend Carl Swanson, I am reviewing the 1996 USA Network remake of Holiday Affair 1949. The story line is just about the same, freshened up with 1990’s accoutrements.

Once again, Lionel model trains are the real star and major plot point for this movie. It appears filmmakers whomped up a custom-made trainset painted a very shiny shade of silver, with a red/white/blue stripe high along the sides of the cars and locomotive. The consist used is an EMD F3A unit, coach, baggage/coach, full baggage car and dome observation car, in that order (a somewhat unusual arrangement). A brief search turned up little about the particular cars used. Perhaps modelers out there can enlighten me in the comments?

Filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, we are also treated to quick glimpses of the city’s subway system and a real, live peek at VIA Rail’s Canadian in Union Station. Pour yourself a cocoa or glass of wine and enjoy this holiday story of a boy and his trains.

A Lionel train set by the fireplace, Christmas morn. What red-blooded American (or Canadian) kid wouldn’t wish for something like that?

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