Lately I've been trying to find references to a childrens train movie I used to watch on VHS all the time in the 1980's. However, as of yet I can't find a blasted thing that even implies this thing existed and I can't remember the title.

I remember the plot fairly well though. Two wealthy english kids (one who likes trains) are introduced to their new adopted brother who I remember being from the orient. While the three are exploring an abandoned branch line near their home one of the boys finds a tunnel covered by large tarps and when he pulls them down he discovers inside a large steam locomotive in pristine condition.

In the nearby woods they find an old engineer living in a caboose that tells them he used to run the locomotive and hid it in the tunnel years ago instead of letting the engine go to scrap. The adopted kid wants to go back home and three ask the engineer to teach them how to run the engine so they can use it to return him back home (remember its a kids film). The engineer teaches them how to run a steam locomotive and in the end they fire her up and take off into the sunset.

I also seem to remember the engine they found being something on the order of a Canadian Pacific semi-streamliner but since the movie I believe is english in origin I'm probably wrong. Also I remember just as a small detail that one of the boys had a pet duck he carried around with him for alot of the movie.

Has anybody else ever seen this?

I vaguely remembered that film also, I didn’t remeber a title either. I did remember that Mickey Rooney was in it. He played the engineer. I looked up his films on line and found the film. It was made in 1982 and CP Pacific 1201 was the loco. The film was titled “Odyssey of the Pacific”.

Steve Heister
Northern Ohio Railway Museum
http://www.northernohio.railway.museum

HI

This movie is also known as ,,The Emperor of Peru, the railway engineer, Pat

The Internet Movie Database can be your friend:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082323/

This indicates the American title was "The Emperor of Peru" and

http://www.amazon.com/dp/6303015859?tag=imdb-adbox

indicates it can still be snapped up as a used VHS videotape.

That movie sounds like the plot from a Disney flick which involved a biplane hanging in the ceiling of a barn. A good Disney kid film with some rail scenes is the "Apple Dumpling Gang"

I actually have that one on VHS; though it is a bit wierd IMHO.

The one I liked far better, and was just slightly more believable, was the 2004 Film "The Great Train Robbery." It was about a group of kids who find a steam locomotive sitting in a scrapyard. When they find out that it is about to be scrapped; they along with the engine's last engineer plot to steal the engine and take it to the River City Railway Museum.

If nothing else, you have to admire the motive behind these kids, even if it is a little miss-guided.

Here is the one I was thinking of; it is actually from 2000:

http://www.amazon.com/587-Great-Robbery ... B0000X9738

IMDB entry reveals it's based around NKP 2-8-2 587 from Indiana:

http://amazon.imdb.com/title/tt0235953/

And you can buy it CHEAP on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search-ali ... imdb-adbox