Different strokes for different folks, so, count me in for one who didn't, that is did not, like "TheTrain" movie.
Big Jim posted:Different strokes for different folks, so, count me in for one who didn't, that is did not, like "TheTrain" movie.
But, you must admit that the REAL train wreck, where the steam locomotive crashes into the rear of the stopped "art train" , has to be the best railroad wreck ever filmed, with NO "digital special effects".
There is a very good write-up about it on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSX_8888_incident) which explains how and why the dead man's switch was disabled and the not-so-funny comedy of errors that made a bad situation get totally out of hand.
Thank you for posting the link. It was an interesting article.
Hot Water posted:Big Jim posted:Different strokes for different folks, so, count me in for one who didn't, that is did not, like "TheTrain" movie.
But, you must admit that the REAL train wreck, where the steam locomotive crashes into the rear of the stopped "art train" , has to be the best railroad wreck ever filmed, with NO "digital special effects".
No, I can't. I only watched the movie once and said that I would never voluntarily watch it again. If there was a wreck, I don't remember it.
As movie train wrecks go, I enjoyed the one on the "Silver Streak" the best, but, as they say..."That's entertainment! "
Having been in a collision on the NYS&W I'm not fond of train wreck movies.
There actually have been plenty of instances I've seen in records where trains pass through a switch not aligned for it. The head on freight/passenger collision on the Canadian National line in 1986 is a perfect example.
As for the scene where 777 jumps the switch, while the SD40-2 twins enter the siding over the speed limit...well, there have been instances on other lines where trains have jumped a switch because of malfunction. That it is one heck of a coincidence. I will say that they put in a lot of effort in that derailment to make it look as realistic as a derailment could look. Big mushroom cloud explosion notwithstanding.
Regardless, despite its faults, Unstoppable has been one of the most thrilling and entertaining movies I've seen in theaters with some great acting by Denzel and Chris and an amazing soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams, and definitely one of the best sound edited movies I've encountered.
Plus, I gotta give props to Tony Scott with this being his last film he directed before he committed suicide in 2012.
First off: life is real; movies are entertainment.
Being a train geek, any movie about trains is better than one without trains. Unstoppable was a train movie, ergo, good.
I like Thomas the Tank Engine shows. There is no hope for me.
TM Terry posted:First off: life is real; movies are entertainment.
Being a train geek, any movie about trains is better than one without trains. Unstoppable was a train movie, ergo, good.
I like Thomas the Tank Engine shows. There is no hope for me.
X2
The wife of my best friend (who is also a train, hot rod, motorcycle nut) is a school psychologist. She says that preteen and teens that have developmental problems are fascinated by Thomas the Tank Engine but adult males that are test normal. Go figure?
Bogie
I have watched it several times and loved each time and I do mean several. It's SHOWTIME.
I have also watch the movie several times. It is enjoyable.
I just can't figure out why they just didn't press the emergency stop button on their DCS controller. The only thing that I could see that is unrealistic is that the movie left out the 3rd rail for the track probably to save money.
NH Joe
Although I can't remember the reason I was in northern Ohio (it was 14 years ago) my wife and I were driving on a north/south local highway, not I-75, that paralleled a railroad line. At some point we noticed a train, at that time not running particularly fast, on the track heading the same direction. We thought nothing of it at the time until we entered a town (maybe Findlay Ohio) where we began to notice that there were police cars guarding the railroad crossings. Still not realizing what was happening, we assumed that maybe power was off and the signals were not operating for some reason. Anyway we didn't think much of it until that evening when we were in our hotel room watching the local news and saw that this was a runaway train we had seen earlier.
Also shown was the police officer firing at the engine as it passed a crossing. The explanation by the TV folks at the time was he was shooting at the engine to disable it by putting holes in the crankcase so all the oil would leak out. Other folks thought he was trying to put holes in the fuel tank. Hmmmm, even a layman such as myself doubted that his handgun could penetrate the outer steel body and the crankcase of a locomotive engine, but maybe they thought it was worth a try; and how long would it take for all the fuel to run out of the tank if that was his target. The fuel stop button at least made some sense.
Only the next day did we get more information on the national news and realized that was the train we saw. Had we known, I guess we should have stopped and taken pictures. Oh, well...
Fj
Gregg posted:Emperor of the North was pretty far fetched as well. I just can't think of any old conductors that could have been that angry or worked for anyone that miserable when I started in 1965. Crews would have heard about it. Yes I know the era was probably in the twenties but some of the older guys I started with had over 40 years service and still a few years to go. Most were real gentlemen . Having said that I liked the scenery and equipment and some of the story. Setting out bad order car . yard office scenes. I also think the engineman would have thrown the conductor out of the engine cab .
The movie I did like starred Bert Lancaster , who played a engine Road Forman during WW 2 in France. Can't remember the name of the Movie.
The movie was set in the thirties,depression time. Also the fight against the establishment(Shack)and the little guy(A Number One)was at full throttle. Shack probably had friends in the front office so he could bully the yard master.
OldBogie posted:TM Terry posted:First off: life is real; movies are entertainment.
Being a train geek, any movie about trains is better than one without trains. Unstoppable was a train movie, ergo, good.
I like Thomas the Tank Engine shows. There is no hope for me.
X2
The wife of my best friend (who is also a train, hot rod, motorcycle nut) is a school psychologist. She says that preteen and teens that have developmental problems are fascinated by Thomas the Tank Engine but adult males that are test normal. Go figure?
Bogie
Sounds like 4chan territory where every model train and real train buff are autistic.
The only thing that drove me nuts about the movie was the guy on the helicopter. Why not just have someone on the 'porch' of one of those SD40-2s that could easily get into the nose of the lead unit once the locomotives coupled onto the front of that runaway, instead of trying to break the whole train?
New Haven Joe posted:I have also watch the movie several times. It is enjoyable.
I just can't figure out why they just didn't press the emergency stop button on their DCS controller. The only thing that I could see that is unrealistic is that the movie left out the 3rd rail for the track probably to save money.
NH Joe
Probably because the DCS handheld would have responded with the message "engine not found". 
George
yardlet6 posted:OldBogie posted:TM Terry posted:First off: life is real; movies are entertainment.
Being a train geek, any movie about trains is better than one without trains. Unstoppable was a train movie, ergo, good.
I like Thomas the Tank Engine shows. There is no hope for me.
X2
The wife of my best friend (who is also a train, hot rod, motorcycle nut) is a school psychologist. She says that preteen and teens that have developmental problems are fascinated by Thomas the Tank Engine but adult males that are test normal. Go figure?
Bogie
Sounds like 4chan territory where every model train and real train buff are autistic.
I have a child with Autism. Cant believe you went that route. Its a movie. It was fun to watch, was it realistic? No. So what, Its Hollywood. In the end, The Guy gets back with his wife, Denzel gets promoted and gets full retirement benefits. Gavin at Corporate HQ gets fired for his stupidity. Connie gets his job for getting it right. Dewey should of been in jail not the fast food industry. Otherwise happy ending. What's the issue other then rivet counting.
I didn't like "Unstoppable", I know it was based on a real event and filmed in Pa. but thought it was stupid. I liked "The Train" except the German train guards all had K98 Mauser rifles and the French partisans were all carrying MP40 submachine guns- that is Holly wood but I enjoyed it.
THIS IS LEAKED FOOTAGE OF UNSTOPPABLE 2! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxBwAVy0g9c
I wonder how fast a good section crew could remove a rail or cut a section out of it? Probably less than ten minutes.. Got to have track to keep things going else everything comes to a big stop. Yep! a pile up for sure.
I bet the engineman doesn't do the tail end crew any more favours by getting off the engine to line a switch... (if he got back to work, ).
Once again I fail to see why train films are so polarizing when it comes to forum opinion. People seem to get down right angry if you admit that you liked Unstoppable or Runaway Train. I don't watch films for technical realism. For that I have my model RR with 036 curves, center rail, oversize wheels and lobster claw couplers.
I enjoyed watching in "The Train" them throwing switches, looking at the system map etc the railroading part. I "Unstoppable" the woman "boss' yelling in to the radio plus other aspects of it were not good. Why military re-enacters drive their wives crazy at a war movie. The men are finding faults (usually many) and the wives want the romance stuff. Like in "Saving Pvt. Ryan" they used a German Kettenkrad to bait a tank -the Ketts were only used in Russia. Just a movie like our trains are just choo choos.
OGR Webmaster posted:A locomotive or rail car going through a trailing point switch (moving from double track to single track) with the switch aligned against the move will roll through just fine. There is a breakable link in the switch machine that will break and allow the points to move.
As for the movie itself, it was typical Hollywood crap.
I Beg your pardon, Sir. This was exceptional Hollywood crap!
Larry
I gotta love the part when the police are shooting at the "fuel off switch" and there are people on the other side of the tracks. And how about when they try to derail 777 and all those people and police cars are right there along side of the tracks. A Safety Managers nightmare.
As Bugs Bunny would say, "What a Maroon!".
Larry
jim pastorius posted:Like in "Saving Pvt. Ryan" they used a German Kettenkrad to bait a tank -the Ketts were only used in Russia.
Really? So, how'd this one get used by the 101st Airborne in France?
There were plenty of them used on the Western Front...
As far as "Emperor of the North", I'd say any movie themesong sung by Marty Robbins is OK. 
Interesting backstory is that the story was written by Leon Ray Livingston, who hobo'ed as "A-No.-1", telling of his travels in the 1890's with a teenaged hobo-wannabe...Jack London. ("From Coast to Coast With Jack London".)
I have the DVD with 'expert commentary' from some film professor. I listened for a few minutes and quit after it was clear he didn't understand the character names. If you notice, no one has a "real" name: the hobos all have "monikers" like A-No.1, Cigarette, etc. and the railroads are called by their jobs: Shack (nickname for a conductor), Hogger (engineer), Yardlet (yard worker), The Black (fireman), etc.
As for realism in war movies, the three that come to mind for me for realism are: 1) Silence of the Camps (actual Army footage of the U.S. entering five different WWII prison camps, 5- 30 min reels spliced together, no sound but you really don't need any); 2) Platoon and 3) Full Metal Jacket.
I also lost faith in the movie Star Trek when Kirk and Spock beamed over to Nero's ship from the rings of Saturn. Everybody knows you have to be at least 1000 km outside the Saturn rings or the transporter energy field gets distorted.
But as to a point about the emergency brakes. Even if the air hoses are not connected, the train would stop anyhow, because the engines have independent brakes that would go into emergency. Am I correct? As to what the original topic started about to what you mention about the switch and if there's no one in the cab. As for the switch, I do know locations that have spring switches that when the switched is curved and would stay curved and another train coming on the track comes on that track through that switch the switch points or frogs would move as the wheel flange would hit the rail point frog. As for the no engineer in the cab, most and all of engines have a button named a Reset Button or I believe named a Dead Man's Switch if I'm correct? As for me on an opinion on Unstoppable, the movie I did love. Great movie for entertainment. At least, another train movie made it to the movies. As to my opinion to things in the movie I didn't care for or I noticed was 4 things. First, would be when the passenger train with the school kids is on the same track in the view and then they show the switch to the siding. 2nd, would be when 777 starts up in the yard, that engine startup sound is a Geep sound, not a AC4400CW. And 3rd was when the 777 Beast Train clears Staton Curve Bridge, they show a scene when where there's half the train and 1206 isn't there. And 4th would be when there trying to couple the helpers to 1206, the one scene I remember was the scene showed they were going to couple fast and the next they try to couple normal. I know there were other things in the movie. But these 4 caught my eye. But remember, it's Hollywood, as to what Rich said. In my opinion, which I'm surprised no one brought up yet, would be Under Siege 2 with the crash on the Trestle, I noticed as the engine were about to collide on the bridge that the engines tilt and the trucks are spinning. Here's the video below of someone that posted it and that's how I found out about it.
But other then those things, the movie wasn't terrible. One thing I did find fascinating was how they added Lion Roars to 777. Also I wish MTH or Lionel or Williams would make the paint schemes to these engines. The color schemes did look great. I like 767 more then 777.
Re: the comment about the independent brake. On the CSX 8888, the independent brake was fully applied, nullifying the alerter, and the train still ran away. A 3000 HP locomotive can and will "overpower" the independent if the throttle is wide open.
As for the movie itself, well, I watched it once and that was enough.
p51 posted:jim pastorius posted:Like in "Saving Pvt. Ryan" they used a German Kettenkrad to bait a tank -the Ketts were only used in Russia.
Really? So, how'd this one get used by the 101st Airborne in France?
There were plenty of them used on the Western Front...
This is a cut and paste from a Wikipedia article about the Ketts:
Most Kettenkrads saw service on the Eastern Front, where they were used to lay communication cables, pull heavy loads and carry soldiers through the deep Russian mud. Later in the war, Kettenkrads were used as runway tugs for aircraft, especially for the Me 262 jet fighter, and sometimes the Arado Ar 234 jet reconnaissance-bomber. In order to save aviation fuel, a German jet aircraft would be towed to the runway, rather than taxiing under its own power.
The vehicle was also used in the North African theater and on the Western Front.
Yeah, I know this is straying a little
off topic, but you guys got me curious about the Ketts,
Doug
LLKJR posted:I gotta love the part when the police are shooting at the "fuel off switch" and there are people on the other side of the tracks.
In the real CSX 8888 incident, Ohio State Highway Patrol officers DID attempt to stop the loco by shooting the round red fuel shut-off button. When the locomotive was finally stopped, they found bullet marks on the round red fuel cap. Not being familiar with diesel locomotives, they shot at the wrong round red thing.
The gang that couldn't shoot straight.
Thanks, Doug
You're Welcome, You have to take Wiki with a grain of salt, but I am finding it to be more accurate than it was early on.
I was not familiar with the Ketts, and did find them interesting to read about,
Doug
jim pastorius posted:The gang that couldn't shoot straight.
NO! They shot VERY straight! They hit what they aimed at. They just shot at the wrong thing!
They have three more years for Unstoppable II. Then we will have PTC!
Usually shooting at the right target is part of the drill. Hitting the shut off button - would hitting it actually shut it down ?? Not that I want to.
Watching this movie was an embarassment to my craft. My brother is a NetJets captain. This would be like him going to one of the old "Airplane" movies, (parts I, II, and all the rest) and trying to take it seriously. You know, jump starting a jet engine off a Ford Mustang, letting Ray Charles drive the shuttle bus, etc.
Sort of amazes me that folks seem so up in arms about a movie. I agree with the folks that have said it, in any movie about whatever it is you do for a living, the representation of that job is a joke.
The scenes attempting to fly a man on from the helicopter and such are typical action movie filler, and as such need to make no more sense in real life than the fast and furious movies need to for folks that like cars.
Oh, one last thing on a couple comments early in the thread, Originally Superman could only jump, very far. Later this changed to flying, but in some comic story lines it has switched back and forth over the years. In the movies flying has been standard. I prefer the jumping version.
JGL
RickO posted:I tell you one thing, the idea of a giant gorilla climbing the Empire State building seems entirely plausible.... until he falls in love with a human female...... what a joke!!
I've seen a few good lookin females out in public with big ugly hairy apes.
