Advertisement from Timkin in 1949.
not only are they selling the benefits of roller bearings, but its also interesting that "Tim" is a diesel, and the other locomotives are steam! :)
an interesting snap-shot of the era:

http://youtu.be/Peu5hH9vy7E

Scot

Immature by today's standards, for sure! I'm wondering at who this film was aimed, because I can't imagine many CMO's sitting around and tolerating ten minutes of it. It does tell a story, and does illustrate how roller bearings work, but otherwise???
Thanks for posting.

Richard, yeah, I thought that too! "who was this made for?"
that is a bit of a mystery..

Scot

The public, investors, Wall Street. Similar to the flashy General Electric ads of today.

That sure was some fancy negotiating of that yard!

Yes, especially when he plows right through the boxcar at 1:58...

Do I not recall that one purpose of this film was to show school children about railroading, friction, etc.? With the 'propaganda' being icing on the cake, and a deduction for Timken?

What we now tend to regard as being "corny" was common humor of the times in the 1930s through the 1950s. Many industries produced short films that were both an advertisement for their products and a combined entertainment and information presentation for use in schools.

EMC's film "Diesel's Working on the Railroads" (1937) was produced by Jam Handy, and featured sequences of locomotives passing by to marching music, an overly flowery narration, and a couple sequences demonstrating visibility that would get today's railroaders very concerned for the bad example they set. Some of the run-bys in the film are obviously played back at double speed to make the speed of the streamliners look more impressive.

The Alco/GE film "Shining Rails" (1948) also features overdone narration and simplistic animated sequences along with some very interesting color footage of steam and early diesel power.

By far the worst film of the period was a Cleveland Diesel (Winton Engine) publicity film that was narrated by a talking tugboat, the Peter Moran.

Another example of this kind of production was GM's "ABC of the Diesel Engine", (many releases from the 1940s to the 1960s) which was widely shown in schools, I remember seeing it as a high school student. The music, the narration, and some of the animated sequences all seem crude and awkward compared with what we are used to seeing today, but they were very normal for films in that time period. I still remember a little of the ending narration: "Diesels are the tough guys of the transportation industry, they do the hard jobs, and they keep on doing them....".

This is an interesting topic to try to "interpret" to the public nowadays.

PC

Mr. Cook's comments got me interested, and here are some search results:

Alco-GE promotional film, "Shining Rails:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcmPwH3YK3s

Couldn't find the others he mentioned, but here are some others, starting with the New Haven's "A Great Railroad At Work." Items of note, at least for me, is a relatively big name for a narrator (Lowell Thomas), the strong New England accent of President and Trustee Howard S. Palmer (Trustee? Was the New Haven in receivership at the time?), the "dream coming true" of the boy who becomes an engineer, and some of the shop scenes that had all sorts of things going on at once.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuzs-UG7Zss

"On The Track," by Carl Dudley Productions (like Jam Handy, apparently someone who got regular railroad publicity film work), with a GREAT (what we now think EXAGERATED) exclamation of patriotism and (dare I say it) an echo of "Manifest Destiny:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQcF7navpmA&feature=plcp

Dudley again, with "Big Trains Rolling," which definitely looks to be for the schoolyard set:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N58aae_D ... re=related

Condor Films' production of "Once Upon the Wabash," notable for a magical jump of a couple from their car to a Wabash passenger train. I also note, who or what was Condor Films? What was Dudley Pictures Corporation? What became of these companies, which I would guess were what we would now call marketing firms? Do they survive today, perhaps in the form of a successor company?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZpCDs8G1_o&feature=plcp

"Look, Listen, and Live," on grade crossing safety, apparently produced by the Union Pacific (not a contract film company):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2tgPjKFE8k&feature=plcp

Another UP safety film, this one by Dudley--real preachy, serious subject:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaTaLUY8 ... h_response

"Operation Fast Freight," for the Norfolk & Western, by Willard Pictures, Inc. This one is a personal favorite of mine, partially for this being an all-steam N&W, and partially for the two narrators, one of whom is playing an employee. Favorite line, at least for this steam fan, is "Coal is the fuel we use, and like. . ."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xf9CTEG5hE

"Pay Day," by the Santa Fe (no apparent or credited outside film company) about the delivery of a television set; I had this one up before, and Bob Harbison got a kick out of an introduction that he said reminded him of the intro to "Dragnet:"

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

"This is My Railroad," by Southern Pacific (no credited outside film company). This is a 1952 version, and incorporates some footage from a 1847 edition. What's most notable about this one, and is even more pronounced in the 1947 version, is the "romantic" feel for the railroad, about how it is part of the land and of the seasons of the year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SspN6D3uF3s

"Lifeline of the Nation," Association of American Railroads and Carl Dudley, from the WW II era:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkqp6ym7KwM

Also from the WW II era or just after it, "Railroadin'" (not to be confused with the Hal Roach-Little Rascals 1929 film of the same name), AAR and Adverti-Films, Inc.:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W65eOOK9 ... ure=relmfu

These are only a few of the vintage railroad publicity films that are available. Besides an idealized look and feel of America in the 1940s, besides the sometimes corny attempts at humor from the time, and the now rare or impossible to duplicate scenes, what stands out most is how railroads were once so very much a part of American life, like water from a tap or electric lights. Today, many people don't think of railroads or trains at all except when they're stuck at a grade crossing, or reading about an accident of some sort (thankfully those are extremely rare, the worst days of Penn Central seem to be behind us). Railroads were so much a part of America at the time that even General Motors used them as a parallel for a driving safety film in 1935:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uLwV8oXLHg

Yes, interpretation of how things once were, and as interpreted in film from the time--oh, what rich vein that could be!

J3a-614's posting caused me to go back and take a look at "Shining Rails", and it brings back memories of sitting in the school auditorium the first time I saw it in the 1950s. The loud music, the overdone narration, the cheap animation, and the theme song are all a wonderful slice of Americanna from that period. And the color footage is great, too bad they cut it up so much in the "back and forth" editing style they used. It is fun now to think about how many of those locations I subsequently found in railfanning, how few of the railroads shown still have the same name. And it looks like they could not find a really clean Alco PA or FA to film anywhere except the Rio Grande, those GE air cooled turbos and "turbo lag" covered the paint on the roof with carbon very quickly. What a great film for the window it provides into railroading sixty plus years ago.

PC

I agree, it was made for the school "educational film" market. To see how more or less the same material was presented to the Saturday matinee crowd, take a look at the 1937 Looney Tunes "Porky's Railroad":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjhOT3OYjl0&feature=related

The real railroadin' starts at 3:55, with the dispatcher transmitting a train order via telegraph to an agent who then "hangs" the order on a wash line. These are all items that would have been in the common knowledge of ten-year-olds of the day.

I particularly like the choice of the name of the stream liner, Silver Fish, obviously a play on the CB&Q with their silver everything fleet. Someone at the Museum of Science and Industry caught the reference, too, as this cartoon is part of the background for the Pioneer Zephyr display.

The New Haven was usually in bankruptcy court in the last century, at least 3 times.

I agree with Mr. Cook, this is a load of fun, and it's so because of the Americana! How I wish we could feel this way again.

"To see how more or less the same material was presented to the Saturday matinee crowd, take a look at the 1937 Looney Tunes "Porky's Railroad":"--Dennis Storzek

There was also a color version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jlgo8HbDDQU

This would have been in black and white originally; we have a colorized version of it here--"Mickey's Choo Choo," by Walt Disney, of course--from 1929! Hard to believe the flowing animation that came from Disney started with some rather primitive looking things a decade earlier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XNfawYyHXI

What a difference 20 years makes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbTBk4pDIHA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH7vb71oy_M

One of Disney's rivals for a while was Max Fleischer. The Fleischer house was noted for a number of interesting technical developments, among them combining animation with live-action or stop-motion miniature work. This is shown here in what could be an early, early Operation Lifesaver film, "Play Safe:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1BccGi16zc

The Fleischer house also had the licensing for an animated version of "Superman." These shorts had some beautiful animation, and were supposedly among the costliest short animated films done up to that time; sadly, they may have also been one of the things that put Fleischer out of business. One episode from the "Superman" series was very railroady, "Billion Dollar Limited." The railroad portrayed has, to my eyes, a strong Lackawanna look; I believe Fleischer was based out of New York City, which could explain that. And take note that the running gear of a steam engine portrayed with the blurb, "more powerful than a locomotive," is based on a Norfolk & Western A!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C85FZPYdHBA

There was traction action for the matinee set, too, from none other than Fontaine Fox's "Toonerville Trolley," produced by Van Beuren Studios:

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRg6IGbI0Sc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A958SI-8JLQ

We'll close out with "Taxi Turvy," from Paramount's animation division in 1954 (which was the eventual successor to Fleischer), featuring Popeye, Bluto, their cabs, a trolley (and note the sparks from the trolley wheel), and a New York Central Hudson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4zrwi7rU74

Ooo, ooo, ooo, also found Popeye was on a Class I, the "Onion Pacific:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... qjDvag6gDk

What's so fascinating in all of this film, all of it aimed at the juvenile demographic, is the very strong implication of how much railroads were once a part of the American scene. It's a memory that seems to have been almost completely obliterated--and one we struggle to maintain as relevant today.

Have fun.

(Related Thread):

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33013

I would think that if you had to pick just one film to use at a museum to demonstrate the "educational" films of the period, "Shining Rails" would be an excellent choice. It does a nice job, mentioning the steam to diesel transition while also presenting electric locomotives and introducing the gas turbine. But perhaps more important, it gives a good overview of how electricity was used by the railroads, along with the systems and structure of 1950s railroading. And that is really a key element, it puts the motive power into context as part of a system. The locomotives are a commercial tool that moves freight and passenger cars, the railroad provides transportation and services the needs of industry and the nation. The bigger perspective and the emphasis on the value of the railroad to society are something lacking in today's educational system.

Railroads no longer get that kind respect in the educational community, or from our government leaders. I recently attended a preliminary planning meeting on a very expensive commuter rail project, and when the administrators asked for questions, I inquired why there was no educational component being planned for such an expensive project. Despite the claims that it was going to create "thousands of jobs" there was no plan to interface with local vocational schools and colleges to provide courses of study specifically pertinent to the railroad industry. The schools in the area do provide courses relevant to fishing, an industry that is now being driven out of existence due to all the new government regulations and fines.

You could see that the question about railroad related education surprised the people present, they obviously hadn't even thought about it, and none of them had an answer. The head of the project later commented to me that they tend to think "behind the curve" on those things. It demonstrated the extent to which education about and for the railroad industry has fallen out of public visibility, even among those planning large and very expensive passenger service expansions that are supposed to create many jobs.

PC