Just saw this great Doris Day and Jack Lemmon flick of a hometown lobster-hawking woman versus the mean-old railroad magnate. Some great scenes for fans of the New Haven, that's for sure. A couple of questions that occurred to me:

1.) Did Patrick B. McGinnis and the New Haven Railroad have any idea how badly they were being lampooned in this flick? The Ernie Kovacs character seems to be a dead-ringer on everything I have read about McGinnis, and the fictional "E&P" is obviously borrowing F-Units in a couple of scenes on the "Limited" from NH. The addition of the complaining commuters just makes this too funny.
2.) Any idea what happened to "Old 97," or from what road she was? She looks for all the world like one of those American Flyer/ NH-esque steamers. You can barely make out that a "6" has been painted out on the cab side at one point, but not much more.
3.) Any idea exactly where this was filmed? Was it really in Maine? I assume the town of Cape Ann is entirely fictional.

All in all a great flick. Make ones wonder if simply owning a train does really give you common-carrier status! My guess is that if it truly was so, there would be a heck of lot of more loco-owning railfans out there!

T.J.G.

Port Huron Museum

tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

Great movie! Did you see it on TV? Sure would like to get a video of it. Engine was New Haven 3016, taken out of storage just for this movie. Later scrapped.

> Just saw this great Doris Day and Jack
> Lemmon flick of a hometown lobster-hawking
> woman versus the mean-old railroad magnate.
> Some great scenes for fans of the New Haven,
> that's for sure.

Old Time Trains
oldtimetrains@rrmail.com

This flick has a special status for those of us in the rail preservation "biz" in Connecticut....

Filmed in 1957, it was done on the New Haven. Many scenes were shot on what is now the Valley Railroad.... "Cape Ann" is actually Chester, CT. The "reel" station was placed where the current Chester depot is now. The diamond scene, with the new FL-9s, was shot at Plainfield. Other scenes were on the Canal Line (mostly gone now). The coal dock was Lamberton St shops in New Haven. "Marshalltown" is Hartford. The quaint village of Cape Ann is "downtown" Chester.

NH 3016 was still on the roster as a snow melter when she was called to star as E&P 97. After the movie was completed, the NH offered 3016 to the towns of Essex and/or Chester. When they both said no, the two trolley museums (Branford and Warehouse Point-- the only RR historical groups in the state at the time) were offered 3016-- again, "no" was the answer. Finally, 3016 was offered to Joe Leahy, then-owner of the Great Danbury Fair, an large "state fair" just west of Danbury. NH had given Leahy's fair the Boston & Providence 4-4-0 "Daniel Nason" in 1952 ("Nason" is now at St. Louis.. hope Molly is taking good care of him!). Leahy also said no, 3016 was too big. So, the rods came off, the white lines were painted through her number, and off to Modena, Pa. she went. Two weeks later, Joe Leahy had second thoughts, and called NH PR rep Bob McKernan..... "Is that steam engine still available?" Bob McKernan had been the guy trying to find a home for 3016, and he scrambled to make some phone calls. At the end of that day, he sadly reported to Leahy that the cutters had already started on 3016, and she was apparently too far gone.

We still feel that "one that got away" up here in CT. And, it's one reason RMNE pushed to preserve NH diesels and cars in the 70s-80s.

It's a cute little New England movie, with a real cast of "characters". By the way, those of you who get the "Pocket List of RR Officials" might note that RMNE has a Special Consultant on it's personnel listing......

hpincus@mindspring.com

HP:

Any background on why the Branford and Warehouse Point folks didn't try to stash the 3016? Even if it didn't fit into their "strategic plan", at a minimum it could have provided some kind of future swap potential.

The Stauffer book "New Haven Power" led me to believe that 1950's NIMBYs and old biddies in Essex didn't want the 3016, and that was primarily why she wasn't saved.

Grrr.....

jcpdeke@aol.com

Anyone know where this is commercially available today? Amazon.com and Yahoo! don't seem to have it.

jcpdeke@aol.com

TJ - check out and read the position papers. UK railways are open to anybody wanting to run trains. Actually owning the equipment is probably just a formality.

Dave

We have a video "New Haven Railroad in the 1950's" done in conjunction with the Historical Society, and it has about a 10-minute segment showing the last excursion with 3016. The original 16mm film was shot by Kent Cochrane, who had been a combat photographer for the Navy.
There is some really classic stuff in here, such as a segment of DL109's, and RS3's passing semaphore signals dropping one after the other. Classic stuff for sure.

3016 was the last steamer to operate on the NH.
Greg Scholl

Videos

sales@gregschollvideo.com

> Any background on why the Branford and
> Warehouse Point folks didn't try to stash
> the 3016?

Just a thought - where Branford is concerned, the reason might have had to do with their location. There's no rail connection to the museum, so everything has to be trucked in; worse, I think that the bridge that leads from Sprague depot (and the unloading area) to the rest of the museum site is too light to carry heavy locomotives.

Frank Hicks

fullparallel@wideopenwest.com

From the Shameless Commerce Division of Greg Sholl Productions...... Don't worry Greg, I didn't realize that you had such diverse material for sale. Might have to check some of it out.....

david.wilkins@inisightbb.com

>>>So, the rods came off, the white lines were painted through her number, and off to Modena, Pa. she went.

Why Modena? Did the steel mill buy her for scrap, or a scrapper?

Jeff Lisowski
West Chester, Pa

unfunkyufo76@hotmail.com

> From the Shameless Commerce Division of Greg
> Sholl Productions...... Don't worry Greg, I
> didn't realize that you had such diverse
> material for sale. Might have to check some
> of it out.....

Funny thing...Just checked an old 1830 drawing of the first run of the Tom Thumb, and there right beside the right-of-way is a man who looks vaguely familiar, holding a mysterious box with a lens on the front...


kevinmccabe@avenew.com

> From the Shameless Commerce Division of Greg
> Sholl Productions...... Don't worry Greg, I
> didn't realize that you had such diverse
> material for sale. Might have to check some
> of it out.....

I was just keeping with the topic which was the 3016, and the film, so the video fit right in in my estimation. If its too much of a commercial plug, then god save the railroads, and the tourist railway industry.

I see lots of stuff mentioned regarding books, and reference material, and as long as its railroad related, and on topic I see no problem with it. Now if someone wants to promote airplanes or trucks, then thats a bit much.

If we cut out some of the video producers, writers, and other folks who happen to do some commercial products on railroads, aren't we descriminating against a segment of the railroad community? Food for thought, eh!

By the way, we do spend our fair share of dollars in magazine ads, and other sources, which in turn
helps the tourist railroad community directly, and indirectly.

One other note regarding the New Haven Video. There is a plug for the NHRHTA on the end of the tape as well!

I wasn't sure if your comments were serious, or tongue in check, but I do get tired of the occassional slap at the commercialism thing. I can count on one finger sales I have gotten from
these kinds of discussion boards. I post mainly
cause I enjoy the discussions and can once in a blue moon add something.

Cheers,
Greg Scholl

PS Note no urls or Pics to keep everyone happy!

sales@gregschollvideo.com

> I was just keeping with the topic which was
> the 3016, and the film, so the video fit
> right in in my estimation. If its too much
> of a commercial plug, then god save the
> railroads, and the tourist railway industry.

> I see lots of stuff mentioned regarding
> books, and reference material, and as long
> as its railroad related, and on topic I see
> no problem with it. Now if someone wants to
> promote airplanes or trucks, then thats a
> bit much.

> If we cut out some of the video producers,
> writers, and other folks who happen to do
> some commercial products on railroads,
> aren't we descriminating against a segment
> of the railroad community? Food for thought,
> eh!

> By the way, we do spend our fair share of
> dollars in magazine ads, and other sources,
> which in turn
> helps the tourist railroad community
> directly, and indirectly.

> One other note regarding the New Haven
> Video. There is a plug for the NHRHTA on the
> end of the tape as well!

> I wasn't sure if your comments were serious,
> or tongue in check, but I do get tired of
> the occassional slap at the commercialism
> thing. I can count on one finger sales I
> have gotten from
> these kinds of discussion boards. I post
> mainly
> cause I enjoy the discussions and can once
> in a blue moon add something.

> Cheers,
> Greg Scholl

> PS Note no urls or Pics to keep everyone
> happy!

Greg:

I, for one, have NEVER been offended by the occassional inclusion of a "plug" for one of your videos. And I think that David's note was definitely "tongue in cheek!" At least that is the way I took it.

Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum)


midlandblb@cs.com

Yes, I was kidding.

david.wilkins@inisightbb.com

> Why Modena? Did the steel mill buy her for
> scrap, or a scrapper?

> Jeff Lisowski
> West Chester, Pa

A lot of NH steam power (and retired rolling stock) was sold to Luria Bros., and went to Modena, Pa., or Weirton, W. Va. to be cut up and melted down.

Modena was also the killing ground for much of the PRR passenger car fleet in the 60s-70s, especilally all those yellow work train Pullmans.

hpincus@mindspring.com