With the current thread on the old movies, does anyone remember or can point to a source of a very old Little Rascals (even predated the young Spanky and may have been silent) where the back drop of the episode is a railroad yard and the gang makes its own backyard pike?

Would love to see that one again.

Thanks in advance,

Matt Bumgarner

Some tips from someone who has seen the film, and who probably has "Little Rascals" stuff mixed into his DNA:

The Hal Roach comedy series is perhaps more properly known as "Our Gang", although movie reviewer/historian Leonard Maltin titled the first edition of his epic book (1979?) on the series "Our Gang" and the second (1992) edition "The Little Rascals".

The particular episode you are seeking is called "Sundown Limited". It dates from the silent movie era and was released in 1924. It's been re-released on a 5-DVD set of "Little Rascals" available at Amazon and elsewhere, but I must advise that re-releases of this nature are often fraught with either horrible editing (chopping out the animated silent titles, for example) or bad print quality, or both. Check reviews carefully. There are rail museum collections that have a film copy of this movie, as I think it was re-released by Blackhawk Films for home showing.

You might also want to seek out "Choo-Choo", a 1934 "talkie" short that was one of the first featuring a then-nearly-infant Spanky McFarland, where a bunch of kids are taken on a train ride on the Depression-era Santa Fe or SP (really "Sufferin' Pacific" after the hijinks aboard!). There was, if I recall, another railroad-themed episode called "Railroadin' " in the silent era, but I've never seen it and don't remember the details.

Sandy,

I believe "Railroadin" was one of the first talkies of the Rascal/Our Gang kind. It's a stellar installment with sound, image and railroad action in all! I've got a VHS copy of it back home. The kids hop aboard an out of control locomotive (set off by some guy named "Loco Joe?") and they go in and out of the yard and finally out to the mainline and through a cart on a crossing and almost collide with the main. The action in the ATSF yard is stunning, and some of the gags with the kids and the train are really well done.

Not exactly a public safety message, but a heck of a fun episode.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020307/

KL