I know that movie trivia is a big thing to gather and collect as data for movie preservation folks, but why is it not for RR people?
I was watching my DVD of “Emperor of the North” and got to wondering why there seems to be so little written on what is arguably the classic RR film.
The line they filmed it on has been since torn up, but I’d love to know where several of the key locations are today just for the heck of it, notably the spot for the passing siding where they almost have the cornfield meet. You can see a road runs right next to it. Also, the spot where they grease the tracks and hop on from what appears to be a bridge to carry a water main and the spot where Keith Carradine ‘joins the birds’ with an assist by Lee Marvin at the very end.
I know # 19 looks pretty much the same today as it did in the movie and was for sale last time I heard (wish I had the money as I’d surely paint it in the movie paint). http://www.steamlocomotive.info/vlocomo ... isplay=234 I also understand that the only other locomotive (which doubled as both the mail train and the passenger train locomotives) was Magma Arizona # 5 which is Galveston today: http://www.steamlocomotive.info/vlocomo ... splay=1175
I found this site which mentions the film but lacks details on the locations in the movie other than the “Salem” station area: http://www.brian894x4.com/OPandErailroad.html And the right of way is now a trail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Row_River_ ... tion_Trail Still, I’d love to be able to see the specific locations, even without rails…

I think this is part of the preservation mix (heck, in Durango they are plinthing a move prop locomotive).

Ther are some great videos on YouTube that show then & now locations from famous films. Emperor would be a great subject. I also have a DVD of "The General" which has an extensive section of then & now locations.

Add "Breakheart Pass" to this of railroad films that I would love to know more about.

Rob

Back in the early 1960s, Seashore Trolley Museum rented trolley # 396 for a role in The Cardinal. Shooting took place in Belmont, MA, which still had trolley tracks in the street. The Boston MTA—it did not become MBTA until several years later—ran electric trolley bus service so the streetcar drew power from one of the twin wires.

I suppose in this digital age, filmmakers conjure up traction scenes with rubber tired trolleys operating on "painted tracks"; i.e. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Sloan