I tuned in to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on my cable station right at the explosion of the "Union Pacific" baggage car just behind a K-37(?). Was this scene shot on the Silverton branch or on the section west of Chama and east of Durango? Did they sacrifice an actual piece of D&RGW equipment or mock up a flatcar with a phony superstructure? Lastly, did Butch and Sundance take their famous leap into the Animas or somewhere else?

wrj494@aol.com

The guys over at the Narrow Gauge Discussion Form have been over that one. As best as I can remember all the cars in that train except the
K-37 were mock ups. One of them is now part of the display in the Roundhouse Museum in durango.

The horses just jumped onto the flat car, the rest of the leap was make believe they said.

Ted Miles

ted_miles@NPS.gov

I was watching that the other night too. It was the first time I had actually watched the whole thing. "BC&SK" used the D&RGW Silverton Branch (where the jump to the train was) and the mainline east of Durango (for the "dynamite" shot) near the siding of "Florida". They used 478 and 473 but for unknown reasons swapped numbers in the movie (DRGW 473 became UP 478). The baggage car was a fake built out of balsa wood on a steel flat car. The filming east of Durango was one the last movements on the line before abandonment.

earlk489@hotmail.com

> I was watching that the other night too. It
> was the first time I had actually watched
> the whole thing. "BC&SK" used
> the D&RGW Silverton Branch (where the
> jump to the train was) and the mainline east
> of Durango (for the "dynamite"
> shot) near the siding of
> "Florida". They used 478 and 473
> but for unknown reasons swapped numbers in
> the movie (DRGW 473 became UP 478). The
> baggage car was a fake built out of balsa
> wood on a steel flat car. The filming east
> of Durango was one the last movements on the
> line before abandonment.

Earl; Check with the Rocky Club on that one. I remember reading a lot of flack about destroying historic equipment after that film was made.
Also, I read somewhere that the baggage car used in the scene where the horseback posse jumps from the car that they rode up a ramp and thru a dummy car built high enough to clear a man on horseback.
Something a standard NG baggage car would not do.
Jim


rrfanjim@mvn.net

I think the car in question, where the horses jumped out of, is located in Ridgeway at the fine museum there.
I visited it this past summer and was impressed by the small group's dedication to their task.
One of the guys built a replica of one of the geese, which is also on display.
RBrinton

http://members.home.net/svry/
ronbrin@eoni.com

> I think the car in question, where the
> horses jumped out of, is located in Ridgeway
> at the fine museum there.
> I visited it this past summer and was
> impressed by the small group's dedication to
> their task.
> One of the guys built a replica of one of
> the geese, which is also on display.
> RBrinton

Thanks. One of the guys that helps take care of our display locomotive here ( IC 2500) is in
Ridgeway for Christmas. He'll want to know about the museum, if he doesn't already, so I'll call him tonite.
Thanks again, Jim


rrfanjim@mvn.net

The fake baggage cars were built on top of 6600 class steel frame flat cars. The flats thenselves were built from cut down standard gauge box cars during the gas pipe rush in the 1950's. The car that had hauled the horses is the one I believe is now located at the RR museum in Ridgway. The D&S had it for several years, and donated it to them. To my knowledge, no historic passenger equipment was destroyed in the filming. At that the DRGW was using every piece of passenger stock they could muster to field the Silverton Trains.

At the same time BC&SK was being filmed, there was another film project being done over in Chama called "Good Guys and The Bad Guys". It used 483 and a handful of Silverton Train coaches. Most of the filming was done east of Chama, but there were a couple shots west of Chama near Willow Creek siding. One day, both movie jobs were out on the line between Chama and Durango - although some 50+ miles apart. It was the last time 2 trains were on the line between Chama and Durango.

earlk489@hotmail.com