I know this has been discussed before, but with all the film ordering by mail it might be great to bring to the top of the pile for reference.
“Emperor of the North”
“Break-heart Pass”
What others?
Runaway train
Hmm…might be a nice Wiki entry…
Ric Golding said:
I know this has been discussed before, but with all the film ordering by mail it might be great to bring to the top of the pile for reference.“Emperor of the North”
“Break-heart Pass”
What others?
How about “The Train” with Burt Lancaster, “Von Ryan’s Express” with Frank Sinatra and “Wreck of the Coastliner” to name a few.
Gee Ric, you must be snowed in and have nothing better to do…
There was one I saw a while ago with Danny Glover and Tom Hanks in it. Can’t remember the name but it was about an FBI agent trying to track down his kidnapped child and about half the action was around the D&RGW RR in Colorado. Had the usual on-board fights and shoot-outs and “just missed’em’s”…maybe someone else can recall the name of it. I’m drawin a blank…
Ken Brunt said:
Gee Ric, you must be snowed in and have nothing better to do............;)There was one I saw a while ago with Danny Glover and Tom Hanks in it. Can’t remember the name but it was about an FBI agent trying to track down his kidnapped child and about half the action was around the D&RGW RR in Colorado. Had the usual on-board fights and shoot-outs and “just missed’em’s”…maybe someone else can recall the name of it. I’m drawin a blank…
It was Switchback, and it was Dennis Quaid, not Tom Hanks…a good movie.
Union Pacific, an old C.B.Demille classic about building the transcontinental railroad. Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Preston, Joel McCrea.
If you want to turn your attention to TV, “X Files” had trains (RDC’s) in the Alien autopsy shows.
bob stirk said:Ken Brunt said:
Gee Ric, you must be snowed in and have nothing better to do............;)There was one I saw a while ago with Danny Glover and Tom Hanks in it. Can’t remember the name but it was about an FBI agent trying to track down his kidnapped child and about half the action was around the D&RGW RR in Colorado. Had the usual on-board fights and shoot-outs and “just missed’em’s”…maybe someone else can recall the name of it. I’m drawin a blank…
It was Switchback, and it was Dennis Quaid, not Tom Hanks…a good movie.
Yup, that’s the one…Thanx…
Ric Golding said:Try "Danger Lights", 1930, B&W, Starring Louis Wolheim, Robert Armstrong, and Jean Arthur.
I know this has been discussed before, but with all the film ordering by mail it might be great to bring to the top of the pile for reference. "Emperor of the North" "Break-heart Pass" What others?
A gritty reality movie showing lots of REAL and rare scenes of steam era railroading. No special effects or stage action here!
Happy RRing,
Jerry Bowers
Many good ideas. Wonder if “Ticket to Toltec” is available from Netflix?
I saw Danger Lights on TMC a few weeks ago, fun flick. Dumb plot but lots of great steam train stuff, including a “tug of war” between two big locos at a company picnic.
Oh, I just remembered a movie I saw in the theaters sometime around 1980 or so. “Tough Guys” starring Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, and SP Daylight #4449. I seem to recall that there was some consternation among railfans when word got out that the train crashes at the end of the movie, but that scene was actually faked. To paraphrase the usual movie disclaimer, “No locos were harmed during the making of this film”. 
“The Train” with Burt Lancaster did feature several crashes of real trains, and lots of other neat train action.
“The Fugitive” had a great train wreck near the beginning of the movie. However, the logistics of the action involved made no sense: Harrison Ford jumps off the bus just as it’s hit by the lead loco, then is chased (in leg irons, no less!) by the second loco as it derails. Seems to me the second loco would have reached the point where he jumped by the time he hit the ground.
“Runaway Train” sucked on toast, IMHO. It also seemed pointless to have the movie building up to this big crash only to have the movie end just BEFORE the crash.
“Silver Streak” with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor was pretty good, and had a fairly impressive (fake) crash at the end.
In no particular order: a few train centered movies…
Emporer of the North-Marvin/Borgnine
Von Ryans Express-Sinatra
The Train-Burt Lancaster
The Great Train Robbery-Sean Connery
The General-Buster Keaton
Our Hospitaility- Buster Keaton
The Great Locomotive Chase-Fess Parker
Silver Streak-Wilder/Pryor
Danger Lights-
Union Pacific-McCrea/Stanwick
The Titfield Thunderbolt-
The Iron Horse-De Mille
La Bete Humaine-
Disaster on the Coastliner-Shatner
Runaway Train-Voight
and just a favorite of mine
Wrongfully Accused-Nielson… where the train not only jumps the track but chases you thru the woods!
How about an entirely forgettable film? “Where the #@$& is that Gold”…starring, of all people Willie Nelson
Back to the Future III. Can’t forget Doc Brown’s flying 2-4-2. First flight, not too successful, but once he installed the flux capacitor…!!!
And Bridge on the River Kwai. Okay, so the train was only in the last ten minutes of the movie.
Spiderman II and The Warriors. Both made good use of subway/elevated rail.
And Chicago’s El makes many a cameo appearance on NBC’s ER.
Ghost
Ghostbusters
Mark
To me the greatest train crash ever on film was in the epic “How the West Was Won”. Breathtaking the first time on Cinerama.
Evonne(sp?) DeCarlo’s husband was a stunt man and was severely injured in the filming of the wreck.
Nobody mentioned “The Polar Express” or the “Harry Potter Series”. How about “The Man who Shot Liberty Valance”?
TV shows would have to include “Petticoat Junction” and “Casey Jones”.
Don’t forget that great British film, “The Railway Children”
Don’t know that one, Fred. Can you give me a short synopsis.