The upcoming release of the runaway train film "Unstoppable," which appears to be (loosely, as usual) based on an actual incident, was partially shot in the area of Wheeling, W.Va.-Benwood, W.Va., and Bellaire, Oh. (I'm interested in this because I'm originally from Wheeling.)

This tickled my brain cells, and recalled another film with rail equipment, this one shot in 1970 but set in 1935, in the nearby town of Moundsville, W.Va. This was "Fools Parade," based on a novel by local writer Davis Grubb (who also wrote "Night of the Hunter," also adapted to film), and the cast included such notables as James Stewart, Anne Baxter, George Kennedy, Strothers Martin, Kirk Russell, and (drum roll, please) Walter C. Dove, Paul Merriman, and Southern's 4501, the latter in "makeup" of black paint and Baltimore & Ohio lettering as a B&O Q-3 (USRA light 2-8-2).

http://southern.railfan.net/ties/1970/70-11/movie.html

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/r ... 10,1628404

Have fun.

P.S.: The Delta Queen makes a very brief cameo in "Night of the Hunter."

Just for the record, a lot more of the movie "Unstoppable" was filmed on the Nittany & Bald Eagle RR between Lock Haven and Tyrone, Pa. As I understood it, they only filmed the bridge scenes over Wheeling/Ohio way.....

Sadly, to accommodate the movie production equipment and rigs, the NBER took down a LOT of the lineside telegraph poles and former PRR position light signals that were popularly featured during the PRR 1361 runs on the line in 1987-88.

I also have an interest in "Unstoppable," but for different reasons. Last fall I was regularly working the third shift Change Off job at Canadian Pacific's St. Paul Yard (MN). The job consists of moving power from the roundhouse tracks onto outbound trains. One night in October we moved four CP 9700-series AC4400s through the yard and tied them onto train #280, bound for Chicago. Nothing out of the ordinary there, except all of the units were set up for forwarding east after their arrival in the Windy City for use in Unstoppable.

Jeff Terry

The recap of the story of the use of Southern 2-8-2 #4501 for the movie "Fools Parade" was interesting. I seem to recall reading a story that an old B&O engineer came up to the cab when the Mike was painted up for the Baltimore & Ohio saying that he ran those engines many times when he worked for the B&O. The explanation that the engine was not ACTUALLY a B&O Q-3 fell on deaf ears, and he was not convinced it was in reality, a Southern Railway locomotive.

Les

Hrumph! That B&O man not wanting to believe the 4501 wasn't from the B&O is nothing compared to Paul Merriman's whopper for a reporter on the Florence Times in 1971 on the subject of "Fools Parade:"

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gA ... tive&hl=en

Merriman's description of the movie sure doesn't resemble the flick I saw or the book I read! I wonder if author Davis Grubb would have given him a piece of his mind when the two met in the next world! What was Merriman trying to do, out-fib Fibber McGee?

Actually, the movie as Merriman suggested it would have made a great railfan flick--essentially it could be an adaptation of David P. Morgan's "Locomotive 4501." The title could be appropriate too, considering how cantankerous steam engines can be--but that still wasn't the real "Fools Parade!"

I don't know if Jeff Terry has seen this, but here is the trailer to "Unstoppable," in which he gets to see what Hollywood was doing with his locomotives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBn2xYxXmcA

Interesting detail in the trailer--there are trackside structures in the scene where the pipes fall off the flatcar that aren't there (location is the Ohio approach to the bridge between Benwood, W.Va. and Bellaire, Oh.)--the amazing things digital magic can do today!

DANG! That movie has to be based upon the crew of the CSX Q636 that chased down a 47 car runaway out of Stanley Yard on the T&OC in 2002-03. I was working out of Parsons Yard at the time and the 636 crew was also out of Parsons. I hired out with the conductor.

Here is what happened: A Stanley yard job was doubling tracks with the CSX 8888 (movie's engine is 777. Coincidence?). Engineer notices too late that a switch was lined against him, and instead of trailing through it decided to put the unit in full dynamic and drop off to throw the switch. So he throws the selector to dynamic and puts the throttle in number 8. Well the dynamic did not engage, so instead of slowing the SD40-2 is accelerating. Engineer jumps off, gets the switch but could not get back on.

So now here is this runaway train heading south on the single track T&OC. Just leaving Columbus is the Q636, daily northbound from Parsons to Stanley. Dispatcher orders Q636 into a siding to clear a path for the 8888. Dispatcher asks the Q636 crew if they would volunteer to try to tie onto the rear of the runaway after it goes by. So the 8888 goes flying by and the Q636's power, anotehr SD40-2 gives chase. They tie on and get the train's speed down enough so a trainmaster can jump on the 8888 and shut her down.

It will be interesting to watch this movie.

This is why you don't always trust information from Wikipedia, and double-check before you post. Wild Wild West was definitely not engine 475. Rather, it was the engine "William Mason", which Strasburg Railroad restored.