Just rewatching the fantastic docuseries on the building of the transcontinental RR. Hell On Wheels I have no doubt is 100% historically accurate. 
Until you realize the scene where they fire up a loco from frozen solid to blazing away in one hourā¦ Yah like that wonāt explode on youā¦
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Great series. We were addicted to it for three or for seasons when it came out. Historically accurate, not even close, but good entertainment.
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Is it filmed on a real railway or is it CGI?
They built some track for the sets. The locomotive is made of wood!
I think paper macheā¦ at least for the tunnels. 
The original RR is long gone, the CP only walkable by hiking, at least over the Sierras, in most places. The summit area was the most difficult, with the hard rock tunnels, massive retaining walls, and miles-long snow sheds, with tunnels and walls mostly built by āimportedā Chinese laborersā¦ who really knew their sh!t and saved the CPās a$$e$.
The China Wall remains a national monumentā¦ ok, donāt get me startedā¦ this is Devonās threadā¦
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Too much to doā¦.
Few minutes laterā¦ hmmm seems to be streaming on Australian Prime TV tooā¦ & Devon says itās hysterically accurate.
Herself: what are you doing?
Me: Shhhh! The Bretheren of the Devine Sinsley have told me I can learn all I need to know about the history of the Railroad Transcontinental by subscribing to Prime Video.
Herself: itās getting late.
Me: Iāll be there in a second. Iāve just got to see the miracle of the fast firing loco. Maybe I should ask Dave if thatās season 1ā¦. Wait Jon just said the loco is made of woodā¦
ā¦too late now. Iām sucked in. Dammit Reverend Sinsley, you should be on Tick-tock.
Jon,
8 episodes in and now that Iāve seen the close-ups all I can see is wood. I canāt look away.
Itās ironic that Petticoat Junction had a real locomotive but today itās cost effective for CGI and prop builders to start from scratch.
Still sucked in though.
Once again I canāt say I am all that sorry. I want to say the fast firing loco is in Season 2. It really is a pretty decent story line, well I think so anyway. Typical low budget drama series but revolves around a subject and time period that is of interest to me. And it does use ārealā characters and ālooselyā bases events on history. But it is extremely low budget. If I am not mistaken I think it was filmed in Canada but I could be wrong.
If it is āLow Budget productionā, made in Canada would be a good possibility, but not much better. or worse than āMade in The US of Aā.
If you want a good, possibly a bit accurate, well researched, and well produced documentary, you usually need to look to the āBritsā for satisfaction.
But then, few in North America truly appreciate the looks and feels of British Railroading today, or in the past. Just getting past the differences in railroad/railway terminology, irritates a lot of North American readers, and viewers.
FJPM
Fred,
any reference I make to it being any sort of documentary is purely in jest. It is NOT in anyway a documentary nor do they profess it to be even historically accurate. It is very much a drama series if not an out right soap opera. When I referred to it being low budget it was in the quality of production as a TV series.
Sorry to do this to you Billā¦
Yes for the long shots and the intros Petticoat Junction" used a real loco.
BUTā¦ and there is always a butā¦ For any of the Cab and closer scenes they used a wooden mock upā¦ Actually it was the āEMMA SWEENEYā That was originally built by the ā20th Centuryā studios for the movie āTicket To Tomahawkā. That engine had bit parts in a number of movies and TV shows it sat on the back lot for many years. EMMA, is currently owned by the āDurango Railroad Historical Societyā, and we have her sitting in the park on display in Durango. We have restored her back to her movie star days, and I have personally built some of the mechanics and pieces on herā¦
She is built mostly out of wood, some sheet metal, some fiberglass, some āPressboardā and plastic pieces with a steel frame holding her all togetherā¦ She is officially celebrating her 75 birthday this yearā¦ built to last only long enough for the filmingā¦ she has survived to a good ageā¦
Thank god I was sitting down. My childhood was in shatters. So I had to check if my whole childhood had been smoke and mirrors as opposed to smoke and locomotives.
I came across the Wild Wild Wild West locomotives and a 
LINK 
Great read on the restoration Dave.
ā¦and here is Ticket to Tomahawk
FYI: The real engine in the scenes was the RGS 20, it was finally restored to operation 2 years ago, and runs at the Colorado Railroad Museum.
And the blond show girl (Yellow Dress), was the first real movie role for Marilyn Monroe. She was originally uncredited until she became famous.
The City of Epitath was in actually the town of Silverton, and the station is still there and used, and a lot of the scenes were shot on Blair Street and a number of the building in the movie are still there. The Indian raid scenes were shot above the city of Durango at their airport, which is now the location of Ft. Lewis College. The Cab fight scene was filmed at Rockwood and a number of the scenes were filmed in the canyon of what is now the D&S line. The timber trestle was an abandoned one just outside of Durango on the RGS line, and yes they did blow it upā¦BOOM!!.
a good oldfashioned western!
but the tragic!
the real tragic isā¦
that this nice young actress now is over ninty years old, if she still lives.
The real tragic isā¦
for the group that doesnāt get Dave on their team for TRIVIA NIGHT 
Soā¦.
I made it through A Ticket to Tomahawk and was amazed at how robust a realistic model was produced to pull through the streets. Then of course I got back on to HELL on WHEELSā¦ but first came across thisā¦
I followed the link just to see if Devonās name was mentioned as a H.O.W. Influencer, so I could keep to the thread. (BTW Devon, youāre off the hook; you were not mentioned, yet)
Itās a link to a Facebook page devoted to Hollywood Locomotives
They appear to be a e-commerce site showcasing trains used in movies and TV shows with books and models to promote. For example There was a link for modellers who want the SHADY REST HOTEL on their layout.
@Cliff_Jennings there is a book devoted to the V&T
ā¦and now āback to my regularly scheduled program, Hell on Wheels currently in progressā¦ā
Lol sorry to lead you down a rabbit hole
You bet, I got that book when it first came out! Thanks to it being promoted through the V&T Historical Societyā¦ Good to know there were other volumes. 
Probably been mentioned earlier, but hereās the story on making the first loco for HOW.
I find it amazing that it was made in three weeks!! Wow, Iād still be making up the Excel spreadsheet on what the components were, with multiple-choice drop-downs on how the committee would like to make each oneā¦ 