Tag Archives: Santa Fe Railway

Project Phoenix 1972

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Universal Studios

Banacek! George Peppard stars in this NBC Wednesday Night Mystery Movie. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” fans will remember him as the courtesan to Patricia Neal and companion of Audrey Hepburn.

This train-laced movie (both prototype and model) features 4 character actors from Star Trek TOS and Batman 1966 and includes overhead (helicopter) scenes of railroads in Boston, Massachusetts.

Banacek is brought in when an expensive, experimental sports car vanishes from a non-stop freight train. The solution to the mystery is so preposterous, you just HAVE to come along for the ride (no pun intended). Let’s roll…

Would you believe an Atlas O scale (two rail) Great Northern, Big Sky Blue box car is a key exhibit in explaining how they done it? Read on…

42 years later, this is what Big Sky Blue fades to, in Sandpoint, Idaho.

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Two Smart People 1946

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Metro Goldwyn Mayer

Many Thanks to Tony Wilson for recommending this flick. Today’s feature is a post-war film noir taking place on a Southern Pacific Railroad train from Los Angeles to New Orleans.

John Hodiak (as Ace Connors) and Lucille Ball (as Ricki Woodner) star alongside Lloyd Nolan as NYC Policeman Bob Simms. You see, Ace is a bond swindler/con artist and Ricki is a flashy redhead with a jaded past. Officer Bob is on their tail looking for those fake bonds. To further complicate this triangle, Ace and Bob are old friends — just on opposite sides of the law.

Now. Where do you suppose Ace is HIDING those bonds? Well, you’ll just have to read this review and find out.

How about a nice, hot cup of tea? Most Noir pictures are loaded with symbolism. Case in point: Notice all the stripes (simulating prison bars). These two are definitely up to no good!

It’s probably on a studio set, but very nice-looking railroad lounge car interior.

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At This Moment 1954

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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?

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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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The West~Bound Limited 1923

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Film Booking Offices of America (FBO)

“An Amazing Photodrama of Flesh and Steel” is the tempting come-on of one lobby card (seen above). Today’s feature from the silent era was filmed in the Los Angeles area at both Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroad locations.

My review pretty much just skips over the plot and concentrates on the train and locomotive goodness. Considering the movie is 100 years old, it’s a reasonably crisp print. A link to this movie can be found at the end of my narrative. Enjoy!

Southern Pacific Lines #2420 gets a fair amount of screen time and is seen here at full gallop. The 4-6-2 is from Espee’s P-1 Class and was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1906. This was robust, speedy passenger power for its day including 77″ drivers, 200psi boiler pressure and just under 30,000lbs of tractive effort.

Sister locomotive #2423 is shown here for comparison, in this well-lit view from 1940.

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Challenge for Tomorrow 1954

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Santa Fe Railway Safety Department

This one was a lot of fun to research and review. An old Santa Fe safety film in glorious Technicolor from the days of yore. Its formal name was the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) which stretched from Chicago to Los Angeles, The Bay Area (Richmond, California), and down from Kansas City into Texas.

Somehow all the prints I discovered online have the opening credits/title page lopped off. Thus, we’ll use the above safety images instead. The gent in the natty suit and bow tie, (wide lapels must be “IN” this year), has his pointer on San Bernardino’s injury count. He really needs to take a look at Albuquerque.

Just a smattering of steam locomotives are shown segueing into Santa Fe’s colorful, first-generation diesel fleet. And there’s no topping that classic red, silver and gold “Warbonnet” scheme on the passenger engines.

Let’s check it out. Santa Fe, All The Waaaaay!!

Motorcar operator “Skippy” is trundling down the San Joaquin Valley, blissfully unaware of the approaching San Francisco Chief. Should we warn him? “Look around, Skip, look around!” bellows the narrator. This great bit of melodrama will be fleshed out in the upcoming story. Read on.

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Railroadin’ 1941

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Adverti-Films – Hollywood

Filmed in glorious Dunningcolor, today’s feature was sponsored by Alco Locomotives & General Electric, so naturally their railroad equipment was featured front and center. Released just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, America is already gearing up for World War 2.

What sets this movie apart is the absolutely priceless scenes of Pre-war steam and diesel trains in color, no less. There are enough Electro-Motive Diesel passenger locomotives to keep things interesting and I’ll try my best to identify each scene used.

For example, the above picture appears to be in Chicago where an orange & maroon Milwaukee Road “Hiawatha” passenger train is arriving as a CMStP&P commuter train is switched alongside.

Let’s check it out!

How far they’ve come. At first, railroads themselves were shunned as dangerous and foolhardy. Now this nefarious couple contemplate railroad travel on credit…to collect her husband’s double indemnity insurance policy!

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Santa Fe 3759 — 2004

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Pentrex – Santa Fe 3759 – Video DVD
Seymour F. Johnson Enterprises – Farewell to Steam! – Audio LP

This is the story of the final run of Santa Fe Railway steam locomotive #3759 in 1955. A 4-8-4 Northern built by Baldwin in 1928, this oil-burning behemoth was saved from the scrapper’s torch and placed on display in Kingman, Arizona where it resides today.

Today’s movie review was inspired by an LP from my father’s record collection — which I literally wore out playing, as a youngster. Loved that record. It wasn’t until later in life that I discovered a great deal of color film footage had been taken of the fan trip and put out on DVD by Pentrex. I had to get a copy.

The harder part was getting a good audio CD to replace the original LP. Apparently, there are two versions out there. The first was the original 1955 sounds put out by Mr. Johnson (see above). The second, more common, was a 1958 remixed album which had the reverb turned up to 11. Awful recording. As someone said, “It sounds like the listener was at the bottom of a steel drum”.

Anyways, Trolley Dodger to the rescue! Offered for sale on his website (see link at the bottom of this review) is an audio CD of the ORIGINAL mono non-reverbed LP. Fantastic sound quality and frequently playing as I drive along in my truck. ;p

For this video review, I created over 200 screen captures, but I’ll try to whittle that down to 65 or less, as #3759 makes it way from Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPT) to Barstow and back. Let’s watch big steam in action over Cajon Pass! In color!

Climbing towards Summit, the Farewell to Steam special passes a beautiful set of A-B-B-A F units on a downhill freight. With the San Gabriel mountains in the background, AT&SF #3759 blasts through a cut during a photo runby.

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Sudden Fear 1952

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RKO Radio Pictures

A cross country train trip on a through sleeping car is the highlight of today’s feature. Believe it or not, back in the 1950’s, you could ride from New York City to Chicago, then on to San Francisco (Oakland) in the same sleeping car. Other railroads also offered similar coast to coast service.

What we see on screen (and out the window) is a wonderful mish-mosh of various railroads — some that would definitely NOT be on our movie’s NYC – Burlington – D&RGW – WP routing.

Myra Hudson (played by Joan Crawford) is a successful playwright whose smash hit is running on Broadway. Whilst riding the train out of New York, she spots Lester Blaine (played by Jack Palance) boarding at an intermediate stop. Myra had rather abruptly dismissed Lester from her play. Well. This might be a touch uncomfortable.

Palance turned in a wonderfully-creepy performance in this picture and Crawford… oh, those scary eyebrows. No wonder she wound up portrayed in the campy horror classic, Mommie Dearest. “Tina!! Bring me the axe!”

Anyway. It’s film noir on a train and that’s always a winner. Remember The Narrow Margin, anyone?

Can’t have a noir flick without smoke. Through the haze we see the studio’s recreation of Grand Central Terminal.

Note in the background, Track 25: Commodore Vanderbilt (Train 67) and Track 24: State of Maine Express. Myra would have taken Train 67 which carried the through 10-6 sleeper.

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Bound For Glory 1976

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United Artists

Four! Count ’em, FOUR steam locomotives star in today’s movie review. Just to whet your appetite, the four steamers are:

  1. Sierra Railroad #3, an 1891 Rogers-built 4-6-0.
  2. Sierra Railroad #28, a 1922 Baldwin-built 2-8-0.
  3. Sierra Railroad #34, a 1925 Baldwin-built 2-8-2.
  4. McCloud River Railroad #25, a 1925 Alco-built 2-6-2.

Today’s feature is a 1930’s biography of folk singer Woody Guthrie (played by David Carradine). Filmmakers really went all-out, pulling 34 obsolete freight cars out of a scrap line and painting over most railroad identification marks.

Train scenes were filmed along the Western Pacific, Tidewater Southern and Sierra Railroads. Let’s jump right in and enjoy THIS TRAIN-laden bio pic.

Electric traction also made a brief appearance in this flick. Woody/David is about to step off Pacific Electric #1058 in Los Angeles on his way to the studio. With a trolley pole reaching for wires that aren’t there, this Red Car had to rely on an internal-combustion engine of some sort.

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