Tag Archives: Steam Locomotive

La Bête Humaine 1938

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Paris Film Production

Many thanks to Steve Esposito who tipped me off about “A dour French film with great train scenes”. Normally, I don’t review foreign films, but La Bête Humaine (translation: The Human Beast) is not only available on YouTube, but just the train scenes, are available there also. Well, when you make it that easy for me, it’s hard to resist. I’ll review only the train vistas, then.

And what a collection of train views it is! Filmmakers got up in the cab and trackside to film SNCF pre-WW2 steam in all its glory. Left-handed running fast passenger trains on a double track mainline.

The star of the show is SNCF 4-6-2 steam locomotive #231-592. One engine from this class has been preserved (#231-558), restored and is operational.

Comparison of our black & white “movie star” #231-592 with present-day sister 4-6-2 #231-558. Looking good in racing green and gold pinstripes!

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Railroad Tigers 2016

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Well Go USA Entertainment

Happy Birthday, Hunny! Yep, this movie review coincides approximately with my wife’s 39th birthday and references tigers, her favorite carnivore and house pet.

The movie itself is rather thin on the tiger side, but chock full of kick railroad scenes pretty much throughout this picture. I had a heck of a time finding out about the locomotives used. After much googling, I came across this vague quote from Wiki: “The film had railway sequences shot in Diaobingshan using steam trains.”

Diaobingshan was the key. I soon discovered the nearby Tiefa Steam Locomotive Museum which has a whole fleet of similar looking locomotives. <– This last link is an absolutely outstanding look at operations from over 20 years ago (Many thanks to David Longman).

One more lick of trivia before we start reviewing. Check out the above back cover from my DVD. How did a U.S. built (Baldwin 1925), narrow gauge, Durango & Silverton K-36 class 2-8-2 #486, make it all the way to Diaobingshan? Slow boat to China? Nope. Cut & paste, and maybe they won’t notice. How about Flying Tigers?

Ding Hao!!

Here’s a REAL railroad tiger, posing with my glass-marbled crossbuck. Mister Tiger is the aforementioned house pet who spends most of his time napping on the living room couch (Lazy ass tiger…).

SY class 2-8-2 #9708 rounds a curve with an eclectic mix of rolling stock. I believe filmmakers were using 2 locomotives and just changing their numbers for different scenes or trains.

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Railroad Town 1956

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National Film Board of Canada

My regular readers know I enjoy reviewing B&W railroad films produced in the 1950’s by the NFB of Canada. In this documentary short, we take a look at the railroad town of Melville, Saskatchewan whose main raison d’etre is Canadian National Railways.

Melville is/was a division point with a two-story depot, a large rail yard with ample steam and diesel servicing facilities. The depot is still there as of 2022 and is being restored.

Steam was still plentiful, but early first generation diesels were on the scene and slowly taking over with full dieselization occurring just four years later. Also, this was pre-1960 “wet-noodle” C N logo and paint scheme.

Check out this gem with CBC host Fred Davis getting no less than 3 cab rides and an open air speeder trip!

This is the mystery locomotive from the documentary. CN #8553 does not appear to match up with any CNR roster I could find online.

It is an end cab switcher, possibly a GMD-built SW-900 that was quickly renumbered to the 7200 series. In one of my books (Rail Canada, Volume 1 by Donald C. Lewis), I have a picture of CN #8555 at Calgary, so this is a distinct possibility.

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Coal Miner’s Daughter 1980

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Universal Studios

This movie review was inspired by one of my favorite monthly publications. Kalmbach’s Trains Magazine (October 2021, page 28) published an article about the steam locomotive used in 1980’s, “Coal Miner’s Daughter”. I picked up a DVD of this excellent movie, but WAS disappointed in the lack of train screen time in the actual film.

Fortunately, the Trains article and a little web-searching revealed a bounty of pictures and information on our locomotive d’jour: Canadian Pacific Railway 4-6-4 Class H1c #2839 “Royal Hudson” built by Montreal Locomotive Works in 1937. At the time of filming, the #2839 had been restored to operation and was used in the Southern Railway’s steam locomotive program. In addition, Southern provided a series of 3 bay coal hoppers and passenger cars for use in the picture.

Railroad filming locations included Pardee, Virginia and Blackey, Kentucky. Moviemakers even built an authentic depot to represent Van Lear, KY. This station was later moved to Duffield, VA where it exists today in private ownership.

Let’s visit deepest, darkest Appalachia and watch Southern #2839 star in a pivotal scene of Coal Miner’s Daughter.

Southern #2839 is briefly seen during the opening credits as Loretta Lynn (played by Sissy Spacek) canters along on horseback.

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Terror on a Train 1953

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Metro Goldwyn Mayer

This started out as a movie I was reviewing on YouTube. Halfway through grabbing screen caps, they took the video down, so I went out and bought the DVD. MUCH better scans that way. The title is rather misleading. The original name, “Time Bomb”, is more accurate as this movie evokes suspense rather than terror.

Filmed in Great Britain, Glenn Ford stars as the Canadian bomb expert Peter Lyncort, recruited to (hopefully) find and disarm a saboteur’s incendiary device on a trainload of mines headed to the Royal Navy at Portsmouth.

Even in the misty murk of a black and white picture, I was able to identify no less than four English steam locomotives. French actress Anne Vernon plays the saucy wife of Glenn Ford, “Janine”, so the movie is not a complete weinerfest. Diffusing a bomb has got to be a perishable skill. Let’s see if ol’ Peter still has what it takes…

Here’s a movie poster for the original title. It looks like Glenn Ford is throwing a football; LOTS of interesting detail on the EXPLOSIVES placard.

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Loves Labor Won 1948

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20th Century Fox
Terrytoons Studios

Here I come, to save the daaaay! Yes, it’s Mighty Mouse once more battling Oil Can Harry for the affections of lovely Pearl Pureheart.

This train-laced, Terrytoons animated short, is done in a wonderful, fake-opera, melodramatic style with MM (our hero) belting out tenor, OCH (our villian) singing bass/baritone and PP (our damsel in distress) warbling soprano.

The art work is right up there with Warner Brothers for quality and the animators did a great job with backgrounds and interiors. Lots of action and enough asides and adult-gags to keep it interesting.

On with the show!

Wonderfully-detailed coach interior right down to the red-plush seats and pot-bellied stove; Standard old-fashioned steam locomotive about to change into an anthropomorphic object at the hands of Oil Can Harry.

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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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Murder is my Beat 1955

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Allied Artists Productions

I first heard about this B noir picture from reader Tony Wilson. As I researched, I discovered a good copy on both archive.org and YouTube. The film features at least 3 different Southern Pacific Railroad steam locomotives pulling various heavyweight and streamlined passenger equipment.

It’s a relatively short flick at just 77 minutes, but there are two train sequences at the 31 minute and 70 minute marks packed full of onboard and train exterior goodness. I had a great time discovering the equipment used — made harder by B&W night-time footage. And there might just be a little cheesecake in there for our more mature readers.

Let’s go ride “The Friendly” Southern Pacific!

Churning, spoked drivers roll along an impeccably-groomed roadbed…which segues into this shot of a steamer pulling a 5 car passenger train down a weed-choked right-of-way.

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Love Me Tender 1956

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20th Century Fox

B&W Cinemascope

Elvis! Guess what the baby said! Okay, I’m already getting off track here (pun intended), but I always think of the above Apes of Wrath 1959 cartoon when Elvis’ name comes up.

Yeah, Elvis. Here he appears in his first movie as brother Clint, of the notorious, train-robbing Reno Gang. Although he isn’t shown next to a train at any point, he aids and abets his brothers in their crime spree. Actually, Elvis was brought in as an excuse to include some of his musical numbers and be the third figure in a messy love triangle. More about that later.

Today’s movie features TWO studio-owned stream locomotives: 1. Virginia & Truckee 4-4-0 #22, “The Inyo” and; 2. Dardanelle & Russellville 4-4-0 #8. Both of these locomotives are still with us and located in Carson City, Nevada.

It’s the Confederates vs. the Damn Yankees towards the end of the Civil War. Here comes the train. Time to rob the payroll!

Presented here are two contemporary views of our feature’s two steam locomotives at the Nevada State Railroad Museum. While the Inyo is operational, the D&R #8 is stored awaiting restoration.

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The Plymouth Express 1991

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Picture Partnership Productions

It’s “Urk-Yul” Poirot! Yes, everyone’s favorite Belgie detective, Hercule Poirot (played by David Suchet) is once more investigating a murder — this time on a steam train from London’s Paddington Station to Bristol (and eventually Plymouth).

Our first steam engine encounter is in the credits of every TV episode of the series (see above). It looks to be an “artist’s conception” of a London and North Eastern Railway Class A4 streamlined 4-6-2 designed by Sir Nigel Gresley.

Today’s episode features two different Southern Railway (U.K.) steam engines as well as location shooting at Hull Paragon Railway Station (standing in for London’s Paddington, Bristol & Plymouth) and along the Bluebell Railway.

In a moving crane shot, we find SR #777 “Sir Lamiel” pulling its’ four-car train into Plymouth…er Hull Station. A grisly discovery is about to be made onboard!

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