The "Jam Handy Organization" was a Detroit based advertising specialty firm run by Henry Jamison Handy. Beginning in the 1930s they produced thousands of industrial advertising and training films for many clients including General Motors, General Electric, Curtis Wright Aviation, and the US Government. Winton and Electro-Motive had films produced for them by Jam Handy, but how many railroads used this company for their film needs? Have you ever seen any "Jam Handy" railroad films, if so do you recall what railroads they were done for, and what subjects were involved?

Of course if it turns out they did films on low water alarms and steam locomotive boiler explosions it may have been a mistake to post this here....

The film "A Great Railroad At Work", about the New Haven, was a Jam Handy film, narrated by Lowell Thomas. An excellent look at the NYNH&H of the early 1940s, both behind the scenes and "out front". It's just about required viewing at RMNE!

Ooo, yeah! That one ranks up near Emporer of the North, and I'm not even a New Haven fan! I've practically got "A Great Railroad at Work" memorized verbatim. I got mine in a box set entitled "America's Railroads, the Steam Train Legacy" put out by Dastar /Marathon Music & Video. It came with other publicity/training films from the SP, Pennsy, UP, C&O, and the mighty New York Central System. Its a phenomenal collection.

-Chris
"You'll be interested to know they've got a new trail at Stowe, called the Skimeister Trail..."

Let's just say that this past spring, when we had our wood Fruit Growers Express reefer up on car jacks, rolling out the trucks, there were a few comments about "B.O. Brown".... a classic case of life imitates art!!!

Just a couple more viewings, Chris, and you WILL be a New Haven fan!

HP

I saw some of those on www.archive.org

I have an eight-tape VHS set of a bunch of RR public relations films, including "A Great RR At Work"

Have any of these (seemingly) public domain flicks made it to DVD?

I would think so, if from somewhere. "A Great Railroad at Work" is available on archive.org

Lots of interesting a fun public domain films. One of my personal non-railroad favorites is "Community Fallout Shelter Plan" done by Civil Defense and starring none other than Gene Hackman!

There's a wonderful collection of railroad industry films now available in DVD format, including "A Great Railroad At Work." Details on all the selections are available at the links indicated.

America's Railroads: The Steam Train Legacy (3 DVD set)
http://www.timelessmusic.com/dvds/ameri ... 3dvd_4.htm

America's Railroads: The Steam Train Legacy, Vol. II (3 DVD set)
http://www.timelessmusic.com/dvds/ameri ... 3dvd_5.htm

Jam Handy produced a number of interesting and a few not-so interesting films for GM in the 1930s, I remember seeing some of them many decades ago. "The Hydraulic Lash Adjuster" was one of the not so interesting releases, about fifteen minutes of watching high speed photography of how lash adjusters work and sometimes don't work. A real classic though, if any copies still exist, was (if I recall the entire title correctly) "The General Motors Two-Stroke Cycle Railway Diesel Engine". This film featured the Winton 201A engine and explained its theory and construction. They had shots of one running on a test stand and you could see the smoke rising from the leaked oil in the top deck that was running onto the exhaust risers. The basic story line of this film was later adapted into a GM classic called "The ABC of the Diesel Engine" that went through many re-issues and upgrades. It was a standard with libraries and high school shop classes for decades, and was updated in the 1980s to spotlight four stroke cycle diesels when the truck and automotive divisions started using them.

See classifieds, I am selling some videotape.

A friend just sent me a link to this extraordinary little Handy film made for Cheverlote, where the railroads, locomotives, and engineers are the standard by which automobile operation is to adhere to.

Many, many great shots, some happily stiff acting, and a fascinating look into how the railroads influenced day-to-day life...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSVU9hMSb0Y

KL

Really neat Kelly. Thanks for sharing it. I really got a kick out of that Standard gauge layout. An old collector friend of mine, now in that railyard in the sky, would literally freak-out if he saw that today!! Some great shots of some of the premier trains of that time too!

R.O.

Very interesting that it was produced for Chevrolet about the same time that "Diesel's Working on the Railroad" was done by Jam Handy for Winton and Electro-Motive, and uses many of the same photographic style elements, but does not make any effort to feature the GM locomotive products.

That was a great link, thanks. Some really interesting shots of Pere Marquette and NYC locomotives. There's a great shot in the video of PM 712, a P-3 Pacific type working her way thru the yards while her bell does occasional 360 degree rotations. I thought our loco (PM 1225) was the only one that did that. . . . .

I've never been in a position to ask, and it's never occured me to do so, but does the 360 rotation of the bell, whether purposeful or accidental, ever require the bell to be "unwound" or is it simply a swing that turns the bell in order to ring it?

I know it sounds like a silly question...