Do you have any information on the train used in the movie "Silver Streak"?
Also curious to how they did the final scene with the train running through the station. Models and special effects?
Do you have any information on the train used in the movie "Silver Streak"?
Also curious to how they did the final scene with the train running through the station. Models and special effects?
In reply to Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) :
I vaguely remember that was at least somewhat real. The station was scheduled for demolition anyway.
In reply to Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) :
The locomotive used as "AM ROAD"'s #4070, was Canadian Pacific FP7 #4070. For the filming, the AM ROAD decal was placed over the CP markings, and logo. At the end of the shoot, the decals damaged the engine's real paint job. The production company had to pay for the repainting of the engine, which took place in the CP Rail Transcona shops in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 1982, CP sold it to Société de transport de Montréal, where it was re-numbered to #1300 in 1983. The #4070/#1300 was sitting in Tring Junction (can see it here on Google Earth) as a gutted, rusty hull, and there was an effort to get it moved and saved, and it was supposedly moved in 2020, although no one knows by who or to where. The second FP7 has long been scrapped.
It was originally planned to be filmed in the United States but Amtrak, still fairly new and embroiled in the derailment issues with the SDP40F, was fearful of adverse publicity, and refused to cooperate. As a result, the producers were forced to work with the Canadian Pacific Railway, using thinly disguised CPRail equipment and shooting exteriors along the CPRail right-of-way. Exterior shots of the train set in the rural western U.S. were filmed on the Canadian Pacific line from the Crowsnest Pass to Lethbridge, Alberta. Interiors were shot in a studio, with the sets mounted on rubber tires so they could be rocked. To simulate the train passing through the shadow of a tree, a series of crew members would successively move obstructions in front of each of a row of lights shining into the windows. Most of the interior station scenes set in Kansas City and Chicago show different parts of Toronto's Union Station. A CPR EMD switcher is seen moving cars in the background at one point, and as the train enters the "Chicago" platform area, a Canadian National Turbotrain with a red nose and white body boarding passengers is clearly visible
The train crash at the end of the film was shot in an airplane hangar with a replica locomotive and a replica train station. The final approach shot into "Central Station" was filmed from a Hi-Rail truck on Track 2 of what is now the Ogilvie Transportation Center, at the time the C&NW's, in Chicago. The engine crashing into the station was filmed in two adjoining hangars at the Lockheed Aircraft Plant in Burbank, California using a full-sized mock-up of the FP7 locomotive. The replica of the Chicago train station spanned several acres. The train crash was filmed using nine cameras and amounted to just fourteen seconds of screentime. The cost of the set, its filming and equipment totalled five hundred thousand dollars, which averaged to about thirty-six thousand dollars for each second of the sequence.
The train crash at the end of the movie was actually inspired by a real train crash on the morning of January 15, 1953, when the Pennsylvania Railroad's Federal overran the end of the track into the concourse of Washington's Union Station due to a brake system failure. The train crashed through the buffer stop at 35mph, then through the stationmaster's office, and then demolished a newsstand. The locomotive began skidding to its right, destroyed a steel pillar in the concourse, and tore through the concourse's concrete floor, which was 6 inches higher than the tracks outside. The floor, not designed to hold the weight of a train, gave way beneath the PRR GG1 locomotive, #4876, and the rear of the engine plunged into the baggage and mail rooms in the basement below. Two coaches came loose from the engine and the rest of the train. One of them slid onto the concourse to the right of the engine, coming to rest almost abreast of it. The other nosed downward behind the engine into the gigantic hole in the concourse floor. Six more coach cars jumped the tracks behind the train.The engine was just inches from smashing into the crowded waiting room beyond the concourse. A Life magazine photo showed the nose of the engine just pushing open the doors to the waiting room. Amazingly, no one died during the accident and only 43 people were injured, of which only 6 required overnight hospitalization. As the incident occurred just five days before the inauguration of Dwight Eisenhower, which was to be held at Washington Union Terminal, it was decided to make temporary repairs to accommodate the expected crowds. Working round the clock, the derailed cars were removed, the engine lowered fully into the basement, and Steiner Construction erected a temporary wooden floor over the hole in the concourse and covered it with quick-drying asphalt in just two days. The workers also built a temporary station master's office and newsstand in time for the crowds coming in to DC. After the inauguration, the #4876 was cut into pieces, the parts were removed via the baggage ramp and loaded into gondolas, where they were shipped back to Altoona and reassembled. The #4876 actually still exists, although in severely deteriorated condition, tucked out at the back forty at the B&O Railroad Museum.
PRR #4876 after falling through the floor of Washington Union Terminal
Your knowledge of these things is amazing!
The wreck of #4876 is largely attributed to why it was "preserved", if you could call actually call it's current condition and status preserved. When New Jersey Transit retired the #4876 in the '80s, a group grabbed it up in hopes of cleaning it all up and cosmetically restoring it to it's 1950s appearance and then parking it on one of Washington Union Terminal's tracks as a display piece. They had it moved to the B&O Railroad Museum to store it there until they got their plan approved by Washington Union Terminal. From what I've heard, when they brought their proposal forward to WUT, the reaction was something to the effect of "You want to do WHAT? With what number GG1? Hell no." Washington Union Terminal needs every square inch of trackage that they have, and certainly was not interested in taking one of the tracks out of use to park a display piece on, and they sure as hell were not interested in memorializing a wreck that happened at the terminal. With that plan dead in the water, and B&O Railroad Museum having no interest in a PRR piece, the #4876 has been shoved out behind the museum and suffered heavy damage from the elements and vandals.
The accident occurred with the Federal Express, which was a joint New Haven/PRR train that ran from Boston to DC. It left Boston behind New Haven diesel power, which then swapped to New Haven electric power at New Haven, and then changed hands to the PRR at Penn Station in New York, running from there to DC behind PRR electric power. On the day of the accident, the Federal departed Boston at 11:00PM and after making two stops, the train halted at Kingston, Rhode Island, due to brakes sticking. A 45-minute inspection occurred and conductors discovered a closed "angle cock" at the rear of the third car. This was not allowing air flow to the rest of the train, and so the brakes were not releasing on all the following cars. The train proceeded safely to New York City, where the New Haven power was cut off, and GG1 #4876 was hooked on.
New Haven crews failed to mention the issue to the PRR crews, and a routine inspection of the cars was made at New York and everything was found in nominal condition. The train left and made stops at Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore without issue. Near Landover, Maryland, on final approach to Washington, the engineer tried to slow the train from 80mph but was only able to reduce speeds to 60mph. Since the track stub-ended in Washington, he dumped the emergency brakes, but speed only reduced to 50mph. There was also a slight downgrade into the terminal, which caused speeds to increase. Failing to be able to slow the train, he then laid on the air horn to alert everyone of it's approach, and fortunately drew enough attention that the station personnel were able to clear everyone out of the way.
After the accident, the ICC performed an investigation and found that the angle cock on the third car was closed again. Once they had pumped the air up to release the brakes on the train and the angle cock was closed, it then cut off the rest of the train from applying the brakes again, so the locomotive and first three cars were trying to stop the momentum of the following thirteen cars. The investigation further discovered that the New Haven coach in question had a design flaw that caused the handle to come in contact with the coupler, which forced the angle cock closed and caused the accident.
NickD said:Reading & Northern just announced that Reading #2102 will be pulling Iron Horse Ramble excursions from Reading to Jim Thorpe this year on May 28, July 2, August 13 and September 3. That may be easier to swing financially, especially if I chase it instead of riding.
R&N also said that anyone who had tickets for the July 2020 maiden voyage excursion for the F-Units, which R&N ultimately cancelled, gets first stab at the #2102 Reading Rambles tickets. Also rumored that there will be at least one photo runby.
I had my first experience with photo runbys on the R&N RDC trip from Reading to Girardville this summer. One thing I learned was do not under any circumstances cross the "photo line", unless you like getting your ass beat. Everyone was lined up perpendicular to the track, ready to take their photos and some guy decided he was going to go further up the right of way to get his own photo. Immediately everyone started screaming "Get the hell out of the way" and he scurried back. I've seen some other videos where someone decides to go in for a close shot and everyone starts chewing them out. My photo from the runby:
An amusing story I heard was of a steam excursion in Germany. A bunch of people (but not everyone) disembarked, the locomotive backed a mile up the track, and then she came by on a tear and everyone got their photos and videos, and they all stood and waited for the train to stop and come back. And they waited, and they waited. Apparently the engine crew didn't realize they were supposed to stop and pick the photographers up, and just continued on. One of the trip organizers had gotten off with them, and he scrambled to find a taxi and they caught up with the excursion at a stop further down the line.
CSX #2651 arrived on site and took her first trip yesterday to rescue NYS&W #3040 from Sangerfield. The #2651 is ex-Clinchfield #6000/ex-Seaboard #6000. It has a pretty neat horn, and the rear numberboard on the fireman's side (left) and the front numberboard on the engineer's side have some hilarious lettering. According to John, they actually tried firing up SD45 #3618 but were unable to get it to start. Also includes some neat explanation of the history of the NYS&W Utica Division, including a rare, active section of the New York, Ontario & Western trackage.
The Saratoga & North Creek is going up for auction soon. This was one of Iowa Pathetic's operation that ran 30 miles of the old D&H Adirondack Line between Saratoga and the old titanium, magnetite and ilmenite mines at Tehawus. IPH ran freight and passenger operations on the line, using a pair of BL-2s in D&H-esque livery and an IPH E8 in their Illinois Central passenger colors. It's been shut down since the bankruptcy and the BL-2s have been sold off to the Hoosier Valley Railway Museum. Now the line itself is up for sale. There are apparently at least four bidders, and the one that has come for the is Revolution Rail, who plans to run rail bikes over 6 miles, and freight service will be run by SMS Rail Services. SMS Rail Services is the line in NJ that is the Baldwin equivalent of Genesee Valley Transportation, although they do operate some other stuff, and it seems unlikely that they would, or rather could, send any of the Baldwins up (friction bearings, lack of alignment control couplers, altogether non-standard nature of Baldwins). Sadly, to avoid conflict with the rail bikes, the freight moves would be at night. But, at least it sounds like the rails are safe from the Rails To Trails crowd with that option. Of the other bidders "one is a freight carrier (Genesee & Wyoming perhaps, or maybe, just maybe Genesee Valley Transportation), another is a large local landowner and the other is an environmental organization." Those last two options sound distinctly more ominous for the fate of the rails.
On further reading from the Daily Gazette, the Saratoga & North Creek trustee has an amendment, requested by local officials, that whomever purchases the line cannot tear up the rails and convert it into a trail. The rails have to remain in place for future use. I like this particular quote: “I have spent a lot of time with the local officials. Their line to me is, the forest has an abundant amount of hiking trails. There’s no crying need for yet one more.” So, it's future seems relatively secure. Which is good because that line has a lot of history. It was built as the Adirondack Railway (not that Adirondack Railway, nor the Adirondack Scenic Railroad, or the Adirondack Railroad) by Thomas "Doc" Durant of Union Pacific fame in 1871. Teddy Roosevelt was vacationing in the Adirondacks when McKinley was shot and traveled over those rails to get back to D.C. During World War II, as the D&H's Adirondack Line, it was considered essential for the war effort due to it's transportation of materials from the mines at Tehawus and Newcomb. While it needs some work on the roadbed, it's still a functional line and was laid with heavy 125lb rail during WWII, so it's up to pretty much anything. It has an interchange with Canadian Pacific, and it also has on-line businesses that are hoping for a return to service.
Also, hot off the press, Andy Muller says that Reading #2102 will make her debut hauling tonnage (I'm betting good ol' anthracite cars) on return to operation. Also, he spent a cool $1.5 million over 6 years to get the big T-Hog up and running again.
After 170 pages I am still in awe by how much you know Nick and how much I am learning at the same time.
Thank you for all this!
Taken last weekend at Utica, didn't post it, but decided it looked cool enough. This was a westbound CSX container train with CSX #7200 on the point. #7200 is a CM44AC, which is a GE AC4400W rebuilt to ES44AC specs.
I had the day off from work and was out in Utica for some stuff, and had some time to kill, so I decided to see if I could catch CSX #2651 out and about on the NYS&W's Utica Branch, and sure enough I found it at Oneida Warehousing.
And then headed up the old NYO&W Utica Division remnant, which was the Utica, Clinton & Binghamton before the O&W bought it. It runs next to Ontario Ave, which is named after the New York, Ontario & Western.
Interesting that the CN boxcars have Canadien National lettering, instead of Canadian National. Painted in a shop at Quebec, perhaps?
I would have liked to have caught it running down Schuyler Street but sadly I had things to do and couldn't waste the day waiting.
This is the last video put out by Digital Light Studio, been putting out kids stuff on youtube for 7 years.
A video has been making the rounds of an EMD FT and one of the ex-D&H PA-4us moving around under their own power at the Puebla Railroad Museum in Mexico.
In reply to 914Driver :
It won't be quite as extreme as that, but the plan is for PRR T1 #5550 to take a crack at breaking the steam locomotive speed record out at the FRA test facility when it is completed. The speed record has always been a contentious subject and both claimants to it have some asterisks next to them that make their claims dubious. PRR said it was E7s Atlantic #7002, with a speed of 127.1mph. The speed claimed to have been achieved was on a 3 mile stretch near Elida but this speed was based solely on two passing times recorded by separate observers at two different points (AY Tower and Elida) just 3 miles apart, and it is difficult to obtain even a general indication of a train's speed from signal box registers. Also, the #7002 was an older E2 Atlantic that had been updated to an E7s with the substitution of piston valves for the old slide valves and the installation of a superheater, so it was not the modern race horse that an E6s or K4s was, and it was pulling a full length, fully loaded train. Sure, it's flat running between Crestline and Fort Wayne, but 127.1mph out of an old teakettle with a full train just seems really hard to believe, and is easily dismissed by the crude measuring method.
The Brits meanwhile have always found fault with PRR's record (for good reason) and contested that London & North Eastern Railroad Class A4 Pacific #4468 Mallard with a speed of 126mph. Mallard was a more modern engine, with three cylinders, 80" drivers and streamlining, built in 1938. Where it's claim to the record falls apart is that it was done on a slight downhill grade, and later review showed that the speed recorder aboard jumped around erratically and that if you plot a straight line through the peaks and troughs off the graph, you end up with an average of 124mph. Also, the Mallard suffered mechanical damage from being operated at those speeds, which causes some to dismiss the record. They had planned to attempt another run in 1939 to backup the record, but the outbreak of WWII put them on hold permanently.
There was a German streamlined Hudson that ran a verified 124.5mph in 1935, which seems to be the most honest claimant, but often forgotten or overshadowed. Milwaukee Road's streamlined Hudsons, PRR's S1 6-4-4-6 Duplex and the T1 4-4-4-4 Duplex all supposedly ran faster than that but none were ever officially recorded, meaning it was all just hearsay.
Also, in that video taken in Mexico, it's worth pointing out that the EMD FT A-unit is actually more noteworthy than the Alco PA. There are only 2 EMD FT-As known to exist: One of the former demonstrator units at National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, and that ex-Northern Pacific unit at the Puebla Museum in Mexico City. Meanwhile there are four Alco PA-4us, D&H #17 and D&H #19 are at the Puebla Museum, one in Nacionales de Mexico colors and the other in Southern Pacific "Daylight" colors, while D&H #16 is in Frisco, TX under a slow restoration to it's original ATSF colors and number, and Doyle McCormack has D&H #18 and is turning it into Nickel Plate #190 (cosmetically that one is done, mechanically it still needs electrical work)
There are 3 EMD FT-B surviving though. All three are ex-Southern units, although the one is painted in the EMD demonstrator colors to go with the the EMD #103 in St. Louis. The other two are at Virginia Museum of Transportation, and Southeastern Railway Museum. There is only one surviving Alco PB-1 and it has been heavily bastardized. D&RGW cut it up to use as a steam heat generator car for the Ski Train, removing the engines and all the electrical gear and swapping the General Steel Casting A1A trucks out for Blomberg B-trucks taken off of an EMD, then it was sold to the Algoma Central where it was converted to be a Head End Power car.
The EMD FT demonstrator set was an A-B-B-A set painted in an unusual chocolate brown with yellow striping. FT stood for Freight - Twenty-seven hundred horsepower. Unlike later F-units, the FT was an A-B set coupled together with a drawbar, which meant that with a 1350hp rating per unit, an FT A-B set was rated for 2700hp. These were then usually paired up as a 4-unit 5400hp set. After delivery, Santa Fe retrofitted their A- and B-units with couplers on both ends for greater flexibility in use, and this then became the EMD standard setup for the F3s and onwards. Santa Fe was also the the first to run afoul of the Brotherhoods of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen, who insisted that each cabs required crews, so the railway had EMD produce extra boosters, and renumbered its earliest sets into four unit A-B-B-B sets instead of the as-delivered A-B-B-A sets. Union negotiations soon rectified this across the board, but that's why a lot of the early E- and F- units were numbered as sets (59A, 59B, 59C, and 59D, for example) because by having the same number they were considered one locomotive and needed only one crew.
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