I have that DVD. The locomotive “push of war” scene at the employee picnic is awesome!

Tom

The "push of war" was a reproduction of a real event wherein a Milwaukee 2-6-6-2 "battled" a bi-polar electric.  The electric prevailed.

The yard office and roundhouse scenes were filmed in Mobridge, SD. There were some scenes filmed at Lombard, MT  ( a small Milwaukee Road-created town that disappeared with the death of the Milwaukee Road). Lombard is where the Milwaukee crossed over the Northern Pacific and the Missouri River. 

  This film nicely captures the feel of railroading in the great steam era.

If you ever read any of the fiction stories in the old “Railroad” magazine, this film is one of those kinds of stories on film. It’s a little hoaky in spots, and the acting is not the best, but it’s a very entertaining film.

You will love ol’ Dan Thorn. “You office guys...put the Olympian in the hole?"

Camp at its best.  Here it is...

I have always been a fan of actress, Jean Arthur. She was Van Heflin's character's wife in the great western classic, Shane. That shootout in the saloon where the evil gun fighter played by Jack Palance is dispatched is a great climax! Another film worth watching during our sequestering!

Not a train film, but Shane is worth viewing as Alan Ladd portrays a want-to-be retired gunfighter who is forced to clean up the town and save the day! Famous ending with young actor Brandon DeWilde!

Always had a good laugh with this one...

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfydvh

Aways loved the three stooges.

For those of you with Amazon Prime video and movies, in addition to the regular videos and movies, there is an available "Train Channel".

Not a lot of content and a lot of it is foreign trains and recent, but there were a couple of shorts of the Superchief and B&O streamliners worth watching. The cigarette smoking and everyone "dressed to the nines" for dinner brought back memories of days long since passed.

Danger Lights is a favorite.  I just re-watched Other Men's Women (1931).  It has a similar story arc to Danger Lights.  There is an appearance by James Cagney but Grant Withers is hilarious when he hands out chewing gum to everyone he meets with "Have a chew on me."  Mary Astor, Regis Toomey and Joan Blondell round out the cast.

The rail yard scenes were in the SP River Yard in LA.  I was researching that last night.  It is now a park, as is the nearby Taylor yard, both next to the Los Angeles River.

In the process I solved a mystery.  There is a right of way visible stretching across Burbank and North Hollywood.  I thought it might have been a former rail line.  I discovered it was a failed 1920's highway project called the Whitnall Highway - the vision of George Whitnall.  Beside power lines it now has two parks and a lot of community gardens.

Also, for those with Amazon Prime "The Train" with Burt Lancaster. It takes place in France during WWII.

Rich Melvin posted:

If you ever read any of the fiction stories in the old “Railroad” magazine, this film is one of those kinds of stories on film. It’s a little hoaky in spots, and the acting is not the best, but it’s a very entertaining film.

You will love ol’ Dan Thorn. “You office guys...put the Olympian in the hole?"

Camp at its best.  Here it is...

Hello Rich,

Thank you for posting this link.  I really enjoyed watching this film.  

Big Ken posted:

Movie is 

Danger Lights

 

found it on amazon prime,  free for prime members.  It was filmed in 1930 and set in the steam era of the Milwaukee Rd.

Thanks for posting, and Rich, for the link.  It was a good break from the news of our current times, and the railroad shots were especially entertaining. 

I'm a huge fan of Silver Streak from the 1970's.   That movie would entertain me even IF it didn't have trains in it.  Some of the train stuff is patently wrong, but I think we can say that about just about every train movie ever made.

Classic movie quote from Dan Thorn in Danger Lights:

”Why my pan (face) looks like a street before they laid the pavement down.”  

You got me going. There some are some great classic train movies. One that is underrated is "North West Frontier" or another name it goes by is "Flame over India". It stars Kenneth Moore, Lauren Bacall and Herbert Lom and Wilfrid Hyde White. 1959.

Trailer for North West Frontier 1959 

Buster Keaton in “The General” is a true classic...

"Fours a Crowd" 1938 with great Lionel pre war scenes on an outdoor layout.
With Errol Flynn and Rosalind Russell.

Lionel prewar 1938 Trains Fours A Crowd.

Has anyone seen the other Silver Streak movie?  I have seen it once on TCM.

In The Silver Streak (1934) the crew of the Silver Streak Zephyr has only a few hours to deliver an iron lung to an injured man at the Boulder Dam.  The Burlington Route nameplate of the Pioneer Zephyr was replaced with Silver Streak for the film.  The mad dash echoes the rushed trip in Danger Lights and it is loosely based on the dawn-to-dusk run of the Pioneer Zephyr on May 26, 1934.

The film also includes some construction scenes at Boulder Dam.  The plot involves a polio break out among the construction crew.

See articles in Wikipedia and the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).

Silver Streak introduced me to the Pioneer Zephyr.  I was probably 5 or 6 years old when I saw it on TV in the 1950's, back when there were only 3 networks and one local TV station (and they would cease broadcasting at midnight.)   Waaaay before UHF stations, cable, satellite or streaming.

Taped it once on my Betamax in the 1980's.

Rusty

I think this is posted somewhere on the forum- the best 100 train movies.  The ranking is the small number at the end of the title.

The Train, with Burt Lancaster is one of my favorites. Much better than silver streak in my opinion.

Strap Hanger posted:

The Train, with Burt Lancaster is one of my favorites. Much better than silver streak in my opinion.

I agree, plus it is truly the most accurate steam locomotive related railroad movies ever made, since it was done with real steam locomotives. Even the wreck scene was done with real railroad equipment, in "live" one shot action.

The Train is a true and realistically filmed classic. Lancaster superb as usual.

Von Ryan's Express...........

I watched The Train last week (again).    Great movie.  How about the Marx Brothers in Go West?  Hilarious train chase scene.   They threw crates of popcorn into the firebox of an old woodburner.  And some firewater went down the stack, if I remember correctly.  

Breakheart Pass was on earlier today.

Tried a search on DirecTv for Cassandra Crossing - nothing came up.

Runaway Train was on the other day.  Wasn’t a good movie - I lived in Whittier, Alaska when it was filming in Alaska.  A lot of scenes were shot around the Portage area.  I was in the Chemical Plant scenes - riding in a truck - during a panic evacuation scene.  Didn’t make it in the film.