was watching the new annivesary release of the first Rocky movie. Several times you hear a steam engine in the background. Anyone know what steam would have been in Philly in '76? The Freedome train came to my mind.
Thansks

Could it have been a steam whistle from a factory?

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Indeed it could have been a factory whistle. I worked in the area in the early 1970's and there were still quite a few factories that sounded thier shift changes and lunchtime. But it could also be a post production for effect (what effect I'm not entirely sure of). If you notice in the movies, when the setting is at the dock or harbor areas in a big city,you'll hear a lot of whistles in the background. When was the last time you herd a ship whistling for a tug and the tug hooting back?

My wife gets mad at me when I start picking apart stupid stuff in movies. The other night I was watching "The Cassablanca Express", a cheap B movie where they left the station with a Moraccan steam engine on the front of a rake of coaches. Not a bad looking engine and train actually, but anyhow they were supposed to be working through the mountian range in eastern Moracco.

But....... the engine never let out one exhaust stroke in labor and apparently drifted downhill for over 350 miles. And a shot of the fireman chucking coal through the firedoor showed what looked like a pile (small pile at that) of newspaper burning somewhat not intensely. Take what you see on the screen with a large dose of salt.

The original was on Fox Movie Channel last week and I recommend that if you are planning on seeing the new Rocky, see the original first.

Funny thing is that when you watch a movie over and over again you pick up different things you missed on the first pass. I too was hearing steam engines in the background and being from the Philly area know there wasn't any daily steam running around in '76. Makes you wonder why they would do that! Maybe they couldn't find any diesel sounds.

The restaurant they film in the new movie is a place called the Victor Cafe'. Great food! It is so named because back in the early 1900s, the store was a Victor distributor. For those of you out there that are too young to remember, the predecessor to RCA was RCA Victor, a merger of RCA and Victor. They made record players. You remember, those round, flat black things that came in different sizes and speeds.

Later!
Mr. Ed

It just so happens that on the day we made our deadhead move with Rdg.2101 (AFT#1) from Wash. DC to our siding in Lebanon NJ via the NEC we passed through Phila. on one of the days they were shooting the original Rocky film so it is possible that the steam whistle you hear is the 2101 enroute North to NJ???
I believe the date of our move was 9/30/76 and to the best of my knowledge that was the last live unassisted steam move on the NEC?
Ross Rowland

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Keep in mind this was a run-and-gun shoot accomplished in under 30 days with a minimal budget. In a case like this, taking time to do retakes would be costly, and it'd be much easier to replace the dialogue in post production. Location sound is often eliminated entirely or sweetened in post, and in the case of Rocky I'd say Sly got what he could when he could, how he could. I'd say part of the charm of the film is this very approach to the material, and because of its affinity for the city of Philladelphia, it's likely anything Philly (steam whistles from a factory like Greg suggests) that was present was going stay there, steam whistles, cheese steaks and all.

As a side note and shameless mention, Bill Conti's original score to Rocky included the track "Going the Distance," which was licensed for use in a 765 video production entitled "Wheeling in the Rat Hole" in the 1980s.

Kelly Lynch

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I recall a McMillan & Wife when they are on a train going from SF to LA. They had 4 different diesels (not including possible numbers) on the cuts. Started out w/Sierra RR switcher, then Amtrak P-40s (?) and had an AT&SF Warbonnet F unit set (A_B_A or A_B_B_A with steam locomotive sounds) exiting a tunnel, and ended (?) with an SP EMD hood unit.
The sound and other items inserted into a film may be what the sound man and editor thought was good but not correct.
Doug vV

there might have been a whistle, but several times I heard the sound of a steam engine chuffing. Might have been you Ross.

There are plenty of other industrial sounds that can be mistaken for steam locomotive exhaust. For instance, large slow-speed compressors. In my town, a foundry operates a large forging hammer, and under certain atmospheric conditions, that hammer sound like a steam locomotive.

I count myself fortunate to live in a place where manufacturing still takes place, and the next town downriver hosts a plant that still blows a lovely chime whistle at 7 a.m. every weekeday.

I haven't seen the original Rocky for years -- if you remember the scene where a female TV reporter interviews Rocky in a meat locker -- well they used a real reporter and she's still on TV in Detroit.

To get this thread back on track, one sign that it would have been a real steam engine would be if there was a doppler shift in the sound, a sign an engine would have been moving.

Also, the last major steam engine to go through Philadelphia under it's own power may have been the 765 on a trip for the 1988 NRHS convention -- but we didn't run on the NEC that day.

Bob H

it's definatly a stem locomotive. I watched it again, and not only is there the sound a steam locomotive starting out, there is a whistle.

and a big thanks to all for showing the class of this site for no wise cracks on my mis spelling.