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One of the satellite channels in the UK has started showing re-runs of "Hill Street Blues" and in one episode, after the opening credits the camera pans slowly across New York and focuses on a distant train picking its way across a major junction. Question is, what type of train was it?
At the rear end it definitely had an engine but due to the angle it was filmed I couldn't tell whether the front was an engine or a "cab" carriage (like the Pacific Surfliner) to allow two-way working. Three of the passenger coaches were twin level "Superliner" types in Amtrak colours and there was what looked like a baggage car but what might give it away is that there were what appeared to be two SINGLE level coaches, one either side of the twin levels, painted in bright orangey-yellow with a black roof and trim and very square windows.
The episode would have been made around 1981.
Any ideas? Commuter train? Metroliner? Some strange LD combination from a bygone era?
Ocala Mike Member # 4657
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mr williams, I'm not a "telly" expert, but I believe the venue for "Hill Street Blues" was St. Louis, not New York. Also, "Superliner" type cars do not operate in the Northeast due to clearance problems. Afraid I can't help solve the "mystery train" problem other than that, though.
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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Mr. Williams, even though the actual location of the series was never identified, to my knowledge the "on location" shots for Hill Street Blues were all done here in Chicago.
'Orangey Yellow with a Black roof" with square windows would appear to be Chicago South Shore & South Bend rolling stock.
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I'll confirm that the Hill Street Blues opening shots were all done in Chicago. I was a fan in the late 70s when the show first came on, and I used to enjoy seeing spots I recognized from five years at university in Chicago.
I don't remember a train (although I remember lots of railroad tracks). What you describe sounds most like a Metra commuter train, although the mix of single and bi-level cars would be unusual. At one point, the South Shore was using a diesel-hauled bi-level consist while they waited for new equipment, but they never would have mixed it with their single-level EMUs.
Most Metra bi-levels were/are stainless steel, although the former C&NW fleet was orangey-yellow with black roofs before repainting by Metra in the 1980s. So that could be it.
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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As Mr. Resor notes, there were some ex-C&NW bi-level cars, that resembled the commuter fleet on the outside, yet on the inside they were configured for longer distance services. Those cars eventually ended up in Amtrak ownership and were Amtrak liveried. When they became surplus to Amtrak's requirements, they could well have ended up leased to CSS&SB.
Another possibility is that was an Amtrak Chicago-Carbondale train where those cars were assigned on occasion. The major junction would be Hegwisch, where SB the IC and CSS&SB lines diverge.
mr williams Member # 1928
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Thanks everybody - I assumed it had been filmed in New York but from looking at the photos of the rails I took from Sears Tower a few years ago it definitely seems to be Chicago and the train would have been approaching Union Station (unless there was something else still in existance thirty years ago).
Also, there is no doubt it was a mixture of single and bi-level cars - it was the brightly painted single level cars that caught my eye (my first thought was that they were perhaps First/Business Class).
As an aside, I know Amtrak axed a number of services in 1979 and unlike 1997 didn't use the equipment to bolster other routes (eg the end of the Pioneer meant the EB became 7 days instead of 4)- did they mothball the consists or sell/scrap them?
MetSox Member # 6035
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I watched Hill St. Blues regularly for most of the time it was on the network. The commuter trains shown were rounding the big curve into the C&NW station (now the Oglvie Center)in Chicago. In some of the earlier episodes, there were also shots of the El. On a few occasions, the Metro North 125th St. station in New York was shown.
It was never made clear exactly what city in which the show took place but it was generally assumed that it was Chicago, mainly because of the train shots. The street scenes, where the action took place, appeared to be shot mostly in LA. There were a lot of scenes around the bridges over the LA River and you could usually count on seeing a few palm trees here and there.
Great goofy diologue: "MA . . . I'M NOT GONNA ARREST MY OWN FATHER!"
irish1 Member # 222
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definitely chicago. the patrol cars were the same and all the OLD STYLE beer signs were a dead giveaway. OLD STYLE was the #1 beer in the area at the time.
rresor Member # 128
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I'd forgotten the "Old Style" signs. Of course! I remember Old Style well. Definately Chicago.
Cutting back and forth between locations isn't unusual in a TV series. I was watching "CSI: Miami", which is indeed shot (mostly) on location in Miami, and in this one episode they kept returning to a spot somewhere under the Green Line in LA. It was jarring to be in the middle of Miami, and then suddenly see a light rail train rumbling overhead of some parking lot near the Los Angeles River. That's the first time I've seen that on "CSI: Miami". Maybe the show's budget got cut.
cubzo Member # 4700
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Many of the CSI Miami episodes were filmed in downtown Long Beach CA. They shot a lot of film on the corner of Linden ave and Broadway. I lived just a few yards from that corner and having a film crew that close is a p.i.t.a.
CHATTER Member # 1185
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Very little of CSI Miami is ever filmed there. The red curbs (unknown in Florida, but quite common in California), less-than-flat landscape and dry airshots all give that away.
Hill Street Blues began its run in 1981, rather than the seventies, as was earlier claimed here.
Henry Kisor Member # 4776
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RResor, and did you enjoy Old Style? It was verboten in my house, considered even more vulgar horse-drawn swill than Budweiser. My elder son, when he came of drinking age, would often come over to the house with a six-pack of Old Style just to get my dander up. Now he is 40 years of age and drinks Heineken and Guinness like a civilized person. Whew. For a while I thought I had failed as a father.
He never, however, put ketchup on his hot dogs. For that he would have been disinherited.
rresor Member # 128
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No, actually I always detested Old Style. G. Heileman made awful beer, and I was happy to hear they had gone bankrupt. In fact, the last Heileman product I drank was seltzer water, courtesy of US Airways. Since their beer was always so watery, making seltzer was a natural next step.
When I drink beer (not too often, nowadays), it's usually a "microbrew", although I do like Yuengling products.
RRRICH Member # 1418
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HEY HEY NOW!!!!!!! I used to drink Old Style all the time when I lived in the Chicago area. It was pretty good, in my opinion. (I drink Miller Lite, Bud Light, or Landshark now!)
But no I have NEVER put ketchup on hot dogs!!!!!
mr williams Member # 1928
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Hey.........let's be careful out there!
Henry Kisor Member # 4776
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(Nudging RRRich in the rrribs.)
If you know not to put ketchup on a hot dog, then you are an educated and civilized Chicagoan! Bet you even call it "Soldier's Field."
mr williams Member # 1928
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When I was in California a couple of years ago I found a bar where they served the legendary regional dark British beer "Newcastle Brown Ale", but not in bottles, which is the only way you can buy it over here (it's very rare you even see it in cans) but on draught!!!!
I reported this to a friend of mine who lives in that part of the UK and he is campaigning to re-introduce the death penalty in that county for doing that to their famous brew!!
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