Les, I think there must be a room somewhere where a bunch of studio types decided, "ok we haven't had any train disaster movies lately..."

The movie was called "Runaway" and Ben Johnson was indeed the engineer. I was 10 and knew a lot of that stuff was phonied up. The "rescuing" locomotive was a GP35.

Yes, they pretty much would... Ever hear of "Snakes on a Plane" If you visit an airplane fansite you'll see they have the same gripes about movies. They get just as much stuff wrong on movies about planes or ships or whatever. The airplane guys love it when the tower says stuff like "You're cleared for Runway 42 R" Oh, and just in case you're wondering? The guys on Star Trek can't really do that Transporter stuff either.

I worked on the movie Runaway Train, accompanying Mt Rainier Scenic's F9 to the filming in Montana. The director even talked to me and let me read a copy of the script. I think he even made some minor change based on my commments, though I forget what.

He asked what I'd do to stop the train, and I suggested a few things, such as pushing the engine shutdown button. However, as much as he cared about accuracy, his mantra was "It's only a movie". Always keep that in mind. First and foremost, it's entertainment.

A movie where the engineer screams "Aaaarrrgghhh! Runaway Train!" and the conductor shuts down the prime mover and smoothly brings 'er to a stop with the handbrake won't win any Oscars, or sell any tickets.

We have movies about aliens and kids on flying broomsticks, and trolls and witches and ghosts and all kinds of stuff that doesn't exist. Movie stars routinely do things like leap from one airplane to another while in flight. When you go to a movie, you suspend your disbelief and get entertained.

There's a name for movies that are accurate and get details (mostly) correct. They're called "documentaries". You won't find as many of them, as they don't make nearly as much money as Arnold in "Terminator 29 - Revenge of the Nerds Avenged."

As for "Atomic Train", I've always wondered if that flatcar full of 55 gallon drums close to the engine was what they used to charge up the "Hydraulic brake system". :)

I wouldn't know. I've never been to Hollywood. The place scares me, since just about every action movie or TV show I've seen has guys driving cars through the streets at 100 mph while shooting at one another.

Talk about an overworked plot element....

The other part of this is that with the production budgets involved in movies, the focus isn't necessarily on accuracy, it's on 'can we get in on the action???'

That certainly applies to the one up here. Communities, and even the railroads, involved, implied, and/or inconvenienced, have been either bought off or turned into subcontractors. You won't find a lot of people stuck on principles. Or a whole lot of people that feel wronged, at least so far, despite any technical merits or the absolute lack thereof.

I was fascinated by that heavy equipment thread that showed the dummy movie locomotive being 'ditched' by deploying the hydraulic flip arms underneath. Geez, everybody knows it would pile up on the DIVERGING TURNOUT before it ever got there!

Doing trains for movies (even when the trains are the victims!) seems to be a pretty profitable side venture for a lot of railroads and not unwelcome, given the state of the economy.

Pass the popcorn, please.

Oh, I do agree with you, Randy and Bob. RMNE/NAUG has done pretty well by the movie biz over the years. There are some good revenue days to be had from film work. We've not had to deal with the outlandish stuff like the runaways, etc., but simply be background or "setting", etc.

The people we've worked with were open and enthusiastic about our (few) suggestions, and it was deemed a good experience by both RMNE and the film folk.

Howard P.
Cutting Room Floor, CT

LASTA in Louisiana did quite a bit of work with a studio on a movie recently. The studio went as far as to build a complete passenger car to blow up. Anybody here from LASTA that can give details?

Later!
Mr. Ed

Were they filming in Chicago today near Union Station?

Come on, without an "overworked plot element" requiring one to lobotomize oneself in oder to be able to suspend one's disbelief, the writers in HollyWeird wouldn't know what to do.

I saw the episode of "The Good Wife", and my first thought was, "Don't these guys have access to Google"? If you can't find the FRA Hours of Service rules in less than 5 minutes, you shouldn't be allowed to access the Internet.

And to the poster who mentioned "The Atomic Train", I want to know how/if I can sue the producer(s) for the 30 minutes of my life I wasted before changing the channel...

Not unless they have another location crew. Last I heard they were still out around Tyrone, Pa.