RAILforum: The General

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Posted by Patrick Howat (Member # 1832) on :

I am writing a series of articles for the Friends of the National Railway Museum in York, England on "Great Railroad Movies". "The General" has to be one of these - perhaps the greatest.

I have the following engines that were used in the movie, on the Oregon, Pacific and Eastern RR: #3 "General", #5 "Texas" and #8. I can't make out the name of #8 from the few shots in which it appears close up. There is a name plate - can anyone tell me what it is?

Patrick Howat, York, England

Posted by Douglas (Member # 1830) on :

Patrick,

May I also suggest the motion picture,
"The Train"? This is my all time favorite
railroad movie. The production was filmed in France I believe. Actual European type locomotives and rail cars were used for very dramatic derailing
scenes... missing cameras by scant inches.

Leading actor in the film is Burt Lancaster.

The story line concerns a battle of wits
between French railroad crews and German military officers. The battle is over priceless national treasures in the form of paintings by the world's masters
stolen from French museum archives...and being transported to Germany and that countries elite. It is a motion picture brimming with dramatic realism along the tracks between France and Germany.

If your friend likes locomotives in very realistic settings along with real train
wrecks the likes of which have never before been seen on film, then he will love this picture.

Best wishes,

Doug Vernon
San Diego, California USA

Posted by Douglas (Member # 1830) on :

Patrick,

Leading actor in the film is Burt Lancaster.

If your friend likes locomotives in very realistic settings along with real train
wrecks the likes of which have never before been seen on film, then he will love this picture. I vote it as the best railroad theme motion picture ever produced.

Best wishes,

Doug Vernon
San Diego, California USA

Posted by Douglas (Member # 1830) on :

Patrick,

Leading actor in the film is Burt Lancaster.

Best wishes,

Doug Vernon
San Diego, California USA

Posted by Patrick Howat (Member # 1832) on :

Dear Doug

Many thanks for suggesting The Train. I already know of that one and I agree with all that you say about it. You slightly misunderstood my query: the Friends of the National Railway Museum in York is a support and fund-raising group, which publishes a quarterly magazine. For your interest the other railroad movies that I am including in my descriptions are: Union Pacific, Emperor of the North (Pole), Breakheart Pass, Denver and Rio Grande, Night Passage, A Ticket to Tomahawk, The Runaway Train (both movies, for there have been two!), Disaster on the Coastliner and The Titfield Thunderbolt. The last of these is quaintly British! If anyone has any further suggestions please let me know. The movie has to be about a railroad or train, and not merely have sequences of trains. Night Passage perhaps doesn't qualify.

Posted by Ira Slotkin (Member # 81) on :

Patrick:
I am a film buff in the same way many of the folks here are railroad fans. I suggest you look in something like Halliwells Film Guide or better yet Time Out: Film Guide (a British publication) which has films sorted by topics (such as Railways!!) back to 1927. There are everal dozen films listed there - from around the world. Many take place in GB: Titfield Thunderbolt, Oh, Mr. Porter, Railway Children, for example. Railway children is a very sweet film, from 1970 and Oh Mr Porter a funny one from 1937).

Some I think are appropriate choices for your search and others I know are not. But those choices are really for you to make. Lemme know what you think. If you can't find a Time Out Guide, then email me and I will send you the entire list from my 1997 edition. It includes country of origin, director, stars etc. There are desciptions too.

Good Luck. Again - email me directly if you need specifics.

Ira

Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :

There was a great video biography of Buster Keaton, and I recall an interesting story about the filming of the train wreck on the burning bridge.

It seems the entire town of Cottage Grove Oregon came out to watch the filming of the wreck. A dummy was placed in the locomotive to simulate an engineer. When the train went down somebody screamed "Oh my god there's a man in there!" If I remember correctly this caused a bit of a panic among the crowd.

------------------
Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy

The Del Monte Club Car

Posted by MPALMER (Member # 125) on :

A more recent example would be DARK TERRITORY, an action movie with Stephen Segal. It was filmed in the 90s I believe. The title refers to the segment of mountain railroads where signals and communications are non-existent.

Posted by Patrick Howat (Member # 1832) on :

I've noted Dark Territory. I've not heard of that one and I'll have to see if it comes up on British TV.

The answer to my original query - the name of engine no. 8 in The General - has kindly been provided by Dan at northwestrails.com and is "Comet". Thanks Dan.

Any more Great Railroad Movie suggestions will be gratefully received.

Patrick of York

Posted by BNSFC449W (Member # 1819) on :

Dark Territory is the 2nd Under Siege movie. I liked that movie, of course thats mainly because I like action movies. I could also recommend Runaway Train about 2 prision escapes who jump on a train that turns into a runaway. The movie also includes alot of the ditpatchers with controll to the signal lights and switches, Its pretty exciteing but alittle grusom at times. The guy who acted as Manny as one of the two convicts won best actor in the academy awards in the 80's for that movie too.