"A Steam Train Passes"

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Hi Guys,
A friend in Tamworth, New South Wales - that's Down Under - sent me this 20 minute short.
I was skeptical at first as she had so lauded it, when that happens I go in thinking "yeah, show me" but 5 minutes in I was a believer.
As were the many experts at all the film festivals where it has been honored.
This is one of the finest films that I have seen in a long time, you don't have to be a train aficionado to appreciate it.

I would stress it would be a crime to watch this on a phone, no way no how, it needs a good sized screen.

For some reason known only to the computer gods every time I copy and paste a link, it doesn't work.
So if the below link doesn't work, just copy it and put in your search engine of course:

A Steam Train Passes | National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

"From the Film Australia Collection of the National Film and Sound Archive. Made by Film Australia 1974. Directed by David Haythornthwaite.
Generally regarded as Australia’s finest railway film and winner of many awards the world over, A Steam Train Passes is a nostalgic, imaginative
essay on one of the majestic C38 class steam locomotives.
This fine locomotive has been restored at the Newcastle State Dockyard.
The film follows the 3801 on a journey through country New South Wales as it seemingly moves back in time with each stop at a railway station."

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Thanks a lot for this one, Dobe.

Checked it out and really enjoyed it. As a train buff I love everything that has to do with trains. My 3 year old son is also crazy about them. Wonder where he gets it from, eh? In fact he watched "A Steam Train Passes" last night and tonight again on YouTube before being put to bed.

I just love the gritty and realistic feel of the whole thing. Really puts you right there in the middle of it all. You can almost smell the whole thing. The train yard, the puffing smoke, the squeaking of the wheels. All very genuine - the real thing! There's something really special about steam trains. I'm a big fan of train films in general. John Frankenheimer's THE TRAIN, Mark Robson's VON RYAN'S EXPRESS, Robert Aldrich's EMPEROR OF THE NORTH. All great films! Even as recent as 2010 we had Tony Scott's UNSTOPPABLE (actually based on a real event) which I also enjoyed. But especially train films from the 60s and 70s are something really special for me.

[Pahonu]

Hi Guys,
A friend in Tamworth, New South Wales - that's Down Under - sent me this 20 minute short.
I was skeptical at first as she had so lauded it, when that happens I go in thinking "yeah, show me" but 5 minutes in I was a believer.
As were the many experts at all the film festivals where it has been honored.
This is one of the finest films that I have seen in a long time, you don't have to be a train aficionado to appreciate it.

I would stress it would be a crime to watch this on a phone, no way no how, it needs a good sized screen.

For some reason known only to the computer gods every time I copy and paste a link, it doesn't work.
So if the below link doesn't work, just copy it and put in your search engine of course:

A Steam Train Passes | National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

"From the Film Australia Collection of the National Film and Sound Archive. Made by Film Australia 1974. Directed by David Haythornthwaite.
Generally regarded as Australia’s finest railway film and winner of many awards the world over, A Steam Train Passes is a nostalgic, imaginative
essay on one of the majestic C38 class steam locomotives.
This fine locomotive has been restored at the Newcastle State Dockyard.
The film follows the 3801 on a journey through country New South Wales as it seemingly moves back in time with each stop at a railway station."

Here’s the link for you:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5VC_RcNyF_g

I would agree that it is a very well done “slice of life” short with excellent photography and sound. It gives a wonderful glimpse into the time and place.

I saw this several years ago, I believe on Turner Classic Movies. They have a show called TCM imports on Sunday nights hosted by Alicia Malone, herself from Oz. I also saw another film from down under, unrelated to trains, but a well-done portrayal of the results of the Aboriginal policies in the first half of the 20th century. It’s called Rabbit-proof Fence, and I highly recommend it.

I’m going to have another watch of this short. The things I remember most, and this was well over a decade ago, are the sights of the steam and smoke plumes in various shots. I particularly remember one through a ravine that absolutely fills the screen as the train disappears. I also enjoyed seeing them cook their breakfast using the boiler while they refilled the water tank.

This reminds me of a Top Gear episode from several years ago where the three hosts race each other from London north to Edinburgh using three types of period transportation, from the late 40’s if I recall. One drives an open top Jaguar, another a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle, and the third is in a steam engine with the engineer and is the fireman. It gives a pretty good technical view of operating the locomotive, and they cook some food too!

Here’s links to all the parts.

https://www.topgear.com/videos/top-gear ... -episode-1

https://www.topgear.com/videos/top-gear ... -episode-1

https://www.topgear.com/videos/top-gear ... -episode-1

https://www.topgear.com/videos/top-gear ... -episode-1

[Pahonu]

Thanks a lot for this one, Dobe.

Checked it out and really enjoyed it. As a train buff I love everything that has to do with trains. My 3 year old son is also crazy about them. Wonder where he gets it from, eh? In fact he watched "A Steam Train Passes" last night and tonight again on YouTube before being put to bed.

I just love the gritty and realistic feel of the whole thing. Really puts you right there in the middle of it all. You can almost smell the whole thing. The train yard, the puffing smoke, the squeaking of the wheels. All very genuine - the real thing! There's something really special about steam trains. I'm a big fan of train films in general. John Frankenheimer's THE TRAIN, Mark Robson's VON RYAN'S EXPRESS, Robert Aldrich's EMPEROR OF THE NORTH. All great films! Even as recent as 2010 we had Tony Scott's UNSTOPPABLE (actually based on a real event) which I also enjoyed. But especially train films from the 60s and 70s are something really special for me.

Hey Ivan,

I had no idea you were a train buff. So am I and my wife. She just loves train travel, though less interested than me in the historical steam engines. However we have ridden several, including one last spring that goes into the Santa Cruz mountains.

https://roaringcamp.com/

Have you taken your son on any train trips? I know your in Philly, but if you’re ever in CA, he would love that train ride! It’s about an hour and a half, with open cars.

I also just happened to watch The Great Train Robbery with Sean Connery over the holiday.

I really don’t know why I became fascinated with trains. My father wasn’t. He was a big airplane fan and I went to lots of air shows and historic plane museums as a kid. Historic aviation still interests me though. My father was a kid during WWII and loved all the fighter pilot stories he would see in the newsreels. He had his private pilots license in Canada before moving to CA and starting a family.

We have done many train journeys over the years. Our biggest was a three and half week around the US counterclockwise trip, stopping in multiple cities in the winter of 2016/2017. We left historic Union Station in LA at night with stays for a varying number of nights in NOLA, Atlanta, Greensboro (her extended family), DC, Baltimore, Philly, and NY (for a wedding) The trip back included Chicago, which had no snow In January! though NY was beautiful and snowy. It was our first time in a white Central Park. Several legs were overnight in sleeper cars, including two nights on the first to NOLA and the last from Chicago back to LA. The NY to Chicago leg was all at night. We grabbed dinner at Grand Central, boarded and woke up the next day outside of Chicago. We met so many interesting people in the dining cars too, as it’s communal. One porter on the first leg was hilarious when he would make announcements.

Just before the pandemic we did a winter Pacific coast trip from LA to Vancouver, with stays in Oakland and the Bay Area, Portland, Seattle, and Victoria. We have also used the train many times to visit nearby San Diego, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo. We’ve currently saving miles for another trip, a loop through the Rockies.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

I particularly remember one through a ravine that absolutely fills the screen as the train disappears. I also enjoyed seeing them cook their breakfast using the boiler while they refilled the water tank.

Yep, the ride through the ravine with the smoke completely disappearing the train is really cool! Same with cooking bacon and eggs in the boiler using a shovel. Made me hungry.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Thanks a lot for this one, Dobe.

Checked it out and really enjoyed it. As a train buff I love everything that has to do with trains. My 3 year old son is also crazy about them. Wonder where he gets it from, eh? In fact he watched "A Steam Train Passes" last night and tonight again on YouTube before being put to bed.

I just love the gritty and realistic feel of the whole thing. Really puts you right there in the middle of it all. You can almost smell the whole thing. The train yard, the puffing smoke, the squeaking of the wheels. All very genuine - the real thing! There's something really special about steam trains. I'm a big fan of train films in general. John Frankenheimer's THE TRAIN, Mark Robson's VON RYAN'S EXPRESS, Robert Aldrich's EMPEROR OF THE NORTH. All great films! Even as recent as 2010 we had Tony Scott's UNSTOPPABLE (actually based on a real event) which I also enjoyed. But especially train films from the 60s and 70s are something really special for me.

Hey Ivan,

I had no idea you were a train buff. So am I and my wife. She just loves train travel, though less interested than me in the historical steam engines. However we have ridden several, including one last spring that goes into the Santa Cruz mountains.

https://roaringcamp.com/

Have you taken your son on any train trips? I know your in Philly, but if you’re ever in CA, he would love that train ride! It’s about an hour and a half, with open cars.

I also just happened to watch The Great Train Robbery with Sean Connery over the holiday.

I really don’t know why I became fascinated with trains. My father wasn’t. He was a big airplane fan and I went to lots of air shows and historic plane museums as a kid. Historic aviation still interests me though. My father was a kid during WWII and loved all the fighter pilot stories he would see in the newsreels. He had his private pilots license in Canada before moving to CA and starting a family.

We have done many train journeys over the years. Our biggest was a three and half week around the US counterclockwise trip, stopping in multiple cities in the winter of 2016/2017. We left historic Union Station in LA at night with stays for a varying number of nights in NOLA, Atlanta, Greensboro (her extended family), DC, Baltimore, Philly, and NY (for a wedding) The trip back included Chicago, which had no snow In January! though NY was beautiful and snowy. It was our first time in a white Central Park. Several legs were overnight in sleeper cars, including two nights on the first to NOLA and the last from Chicago back to LA. The NY to Chicago leg was all at night. We grabbed dinner at Grand Central, boarded and woke up the next day outside of Chicago. We met so many interesting people in the dining cars too, as it’s communal. One porter on the first leg was hilarious when he would make announcements.

Just before the pandemic we did a winter Pacific coast trip from LA to Vancouver, with stays in Oakland and the Bay Area, Portland, Seattle, and Victoria. We have also used the train many times to visit nearby San Diego, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo. We’ve currently saving miles for another trip, a loop through the Rockies.

That's cool that you took so many train trips. We haven't taken as many as you. As a kid in Ukraine we took a few (not on steam trains though) but they were the cool overnight types where you have double bunks for sleeping. Really cool to fall asleep to the sound of train wheels. One we took a trip from Lviv to Odesa for a summer holiday on the Black Sea. Another from Lviv to Moscow for when we flew out to the states in 1991. Another a few years back from Kyiv to Lviv for when we visited our hometown. Always loved train travel.

As for steam train travel I did take my wife and son this past summer to Lancaster (Amish country) just outside of Philly and we took a cool little ride through Lancaster on a steam engine. Really cool. My son also loves railroad crossing gates - I often take him close to our house to railroad crossings where we see trains passing and the gates closing. I have the schedule for when these trains pass through.

I also like airplanes (especially old vintage ones) and helicopters. That's probably a Bellisario influence - via AIRWOLF and MPI. I learned the names of many of them via these shows. But classic trains are something really special for me.

Forgot about THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY. That's really Connery up there on the roof doing some of the hair-raising stuff that would probably make a stuntman squirm. Great Jerry Goldsmith score too, as always.

[Pahonu]

Thanks a lot for this one, Dobe.

Checked it out and really enjoyed it. As a train buff I love everything that has to do with trains. My 3 year old son is also crazy about them. Wonder where he gets it from, eh? In fact he watched "A Steam Train Passes" last night and tonight again on YouTube before being put to bed.

I just love the gritty and realistic feel of the whole thing. Really puts you right there in the middle of it all. You can almost smell the whole thing. The train yard, the puffing smoke, the squeaking of the wheels. All very genuine - the real thing! There's something really special about steam trains. I'm a big fan of train films in general. John Frankenheimer's THE TRAIN, Mark Robson's VON RYAN'S EXPRESS, Robert Aldrich's EMPEROR OF THE NORTH. All great films! Even as recent as 2010 we had Tony Scott's UNSTOPPABLE (actually based on a real event) which I also enjoyed. But especially train films from the 60s and 70s are something really special for me.

Hey Ivan,

I had no idea you were a train buff. So am I and my wife. She just loves train travel, though less interested than me in the historical steam engines. However we have ridden several, including one last spring that goes into the Santa Cruz mountains.

https://roaringcamp.com/

Have you taken your son on any train trips? I know your in Philly, but if you’re ever in CA, he would love that train ride! It’s about an hour and a half, with open cars.

I also just happened to watch The Great Train Robbery with Sean Connery over the holiday.

I really don’t know why I became fascinated with trains. My father wasn’t. He was a big airplane fan and I went to lots of air shows and historic plane museums as a kid. Historic aviation still interests me though. My father was a kid during WWII and loved all the fighter pilot stories he would see in the newsreels. He had his private pilots license in Canada before moving to CA and starting a family.

We have done many train journeys over the years. Our biggest was a three and half week around the US counterclockwise trip, stopping in multiple cities in the winter of 2016/2017. We left historic Union Station in LA at night with stays for a varying number of nights in NOLA, Atlanta, Greensboro (her extended family), DC, Baltimore, Philly, and NY (for a wedding) The trip back included Chicago, which had no snow In January! though NY was beautiful and snowy. It was our first time in a white Central Park. Several legs were overnight in sleeper cars, including two nights on the first to NOLA and the last from Chicago back to LA. The NY to Chicago leg was all at night. We grabbed dinner at Grand Central, boarded and woke up the next day outside of Chicago. We met so many interesting people in the dining cars too, as it’s communal. One porter on the first leg was hilarious when he would make announcements.

Just before the pandemic we did a winter Pacific coast trip from LA to Vancouver, with stays in Oakland and the Bay Area, Portland, Seattle, and Victoria. We have also used the train many times to visit nearby San Diego, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo. We’ve currently saving miles for another trip, a loop through the Rockies.

That's cool that you took so many train trips. We haven't taken as many as you. As a kid in Ukraine we took a few (not on steam trains though) but they were the cool overnight types where you have double bunks for sleeping. Really cool to fall asleep to the sound of train wheels. One we took a trip from Lviv to Odesa for a summer holiday on the Black Sea. Another from Lviv to Moscow for when we flew out to the states in 1991. Another a few years back from Kyiv to Lviv for when we visited our hometown. Always loved train travel.

As for steam train travel I did take my wife and son this past summer to Lancaster (Amish country) just outside of Philly and we took a cool little ride through Lancaster on a steam engine. Really cool. My son also loves railroad crossing gates - I often take him close to our house to railroad crossings where we see trains passing and the gates closing. I have the schedule for when these trains pass through.

I also like airplanes (especially old vintage ones) and helicopters. That's probably a Bellisario influence - via AIRWOLF and MPI. I learned the names of many of them via these shows. But classic trains are something really special for me.

Forgot about THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY. That's really Connery up there on the roof doing some of the hair-raising stuff that would probably make a stuntman squirm. Great Jerry Goldsmith score too, as always.

Those train trips in Europe sound great! My kids are adults now, but you have lots of time with your son for some great adventures. My wife and I both love falling asleep in those bunks to the clickety-clack of the rails. I sleep so well on the train. Of course, I also sleep great on the water aboard our sailboat or with friends on their’s. I sometimes just go down and take a nap in the V-birth right at the dock! I guess it must be the motion in general. I also fall asleep easily on roadtrips when my wife is driving! LOL

I love that your son likes trains and the crossings! I have two train crossings on my commute to work. One is actually the line connecting San Diego to Union Station in LA for passenger service I’ve crossed it every work day for the last 28 years and frequently see it. Luckily it’s not a long freight train and passes quickly. There’s another freight line crossing that I get caught up at a few times a year. They can be looong! Most people just shut off their engines and wait. It actually runs diagonally through an intersection so traffic is stopped in every direction. Your son could watch excitedly for 5-10 minutes! There’s also a freight line that runs less than half a block from my high school and we can hear the trains during the day at the crossing on the street that my school is located on. I don’t cross that one, but hear them all the time as they whistle.

I have a bunch of old books on planes my dad had collected over the years before he died. They’re mostly about WWII planes, of all types, but there are some about the old WWI biplanes. When my father was an apprentice electrician in Canada in the early 50’s, one of the journeyman teaching him was actually a veteran of WWI as a fighter pilot for the Royal Canadian Flying Corps. He was already near retirement and told my father all kinds of cool stories that he passed on to me. I use the books and the stories in my history classes.

The finale with Connery on the train roof was the highlight of the film! I’m sure the producers were at least a little leery. I saw Goldsmith’s name in the credits. He was always so good.

Did you see the Top Gear videos I posted? They cook eggs on the shovel!

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Hi Guys,
A friend in Tamworth, New South Wales - that's Down Under - sent me this 20 minute short.
I was skeptical at first as she had so lauded it, when that happens I go in thinking "yeah, show me" but 5 minutes in I was a believer.
As were the many experts at all the film festivals where it has been honored.
This is one of the finest films that I have seen in a long time, you don't have to be a train aficionado to appreciate it.

I would stress it would be a crime to watch this on a phone, no way no how, it needs a good sized screen.

For some reason known only to the computer gods every time I copy and paste a link, it doesn't work.
So if the below link doesn't work, just copy it and put in your search engine of course:

A Steam Train Passes | National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

"From the Film Australia Collection of the National Film and Sound Archive. Made by Film Australia 1974. Directed by David Haythornthwaite.
Generally regarded as Australia’s finest railway film and winner of many awards the world over, A Steam Train Passes is a nostalgic, imaginative
essay on one of the majestic C38 class steam locomotives.
This fine locomotive has been restored at the Newcastle State Dockyard.
The film follows the 3801 on a journey through country New South Wales as it seemingly moves back in time with each stop at a railway station."

Here’s the link for you:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5VC_RcNyF_g

I would agree that it is a very well done “slice of life” short with excellent photography and sound. It gives a wonderful glimpse into the time and place.

I saw this several years ago, I believe on Turner Classic Movies. They have a show called TCM imports on Sunday nights hosted by Alicia Malone, herself from Oz. I also saw another film from down under, unrelated to trains, but a well-done portrayal of the results of the Aboriginal policies in the first half of the 20th century. It’s called Rabbit-proof Fence, and I highly recommend it.

I’m going to have another watch of this short. The things I remember most, and this was well over a decade ago, are the sights of the steam and smoke plumes in various shots. I particularly remember one through a ravine that absolutely fills the screen as the train disappears. I also enjoyed seeing them cook their breakfast using the boiler while they refilled the water tank.

This reminds me of a Top Gear episode from several years ago where the three hosts race each other from London north to Edinburgh using three types of period transportation, from the late 40’s if I recall. One drives an open top Jaguar, another a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle, and the third is in a steam engine with the engineer and is the fireman. It gives a pretty good technical view of operating the locomotive, and they cook some food too!

Here’s links to all the parts.

https://www.topgear.com/videos/top-gear ... -episode-1

https://www.topgear.com/videos/top-gear ... -episode-1

https://www.topgear.com/videos/top-gear ... -episode-1

https://www.topgear.com/videos/top-gear ... -episode-1

Ivan,
I got a kick out of it when you wrote -
"As a train buff I love everything that has to do with trains. My 3 year old son is also crazy about them. Wonder where he gets it from, eh?  In fact he watched "A Steam Train Passes" last night and tonight
again on YouTube before being put to bed."

I can just see your son in 70 years going on a steam train with his grandchildren, talking how his dad got him interested in them. It's not that far off, really. My grandfather went to the first game at Wrigley
in 1914 with his dad, later took his kids in the 30's, I went in the 80's and since my niece moved there to work at the Veterans Hospital she goes to Cub games, 100 plus years later.

Pahonu,
Thank you for the link! And you did a solid providing the Top Gear links, those episodes sound very cool, I am going to send them on to other friends including my amiga in Tamworth, NSW.
I am going to have to get TCM again, it had irked me when Comcast demanded a monthly fee for it. "Rabbit-proof Fence" is now on my to watch list.
"Charlie & Boots", one of the 4 gems out of all the bad Paul Hogan movies, is a comedic road trip about a dad and son traveling from southern Australia to the top end, beautiful landscapes.
Oh and they just happen to visit the above mentioned Tamworth, the Nashville of Australia.
Great escape from the cold months here. After the end credits, there is a out take of Hogan and son driving on the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge,Hogan marvels at it's size and says, "How'd
you like to have to paint that bastard?" That was Hogan's job for years before he found fame, he also talked/saved would be suicides from jumping.
Free on You Tube and elsewhere.

Nice to see some fellow travelers here when it comes to trains. Suddenly I have a yen for Good 'N' Plenty, though you guys may all be too young to remember it's cartoon mascot
Choo Choo Charlie.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Thanks a lot for this one, Dobe.

Checked it out and really enjoyed it. As a train buff I love everything that has to do with trains. My 3 year old son is also crazy about them. Wonder where he gets it from, eh? In fact he watched "A Steam Train Passes" last night and tonight again on YouTube before being put to bed.

I just love the gritty and realistic feel of the whole thing. Really puts you right there in the middle of it all. You can almost smell the whole thing. The train yard, the puffing smoke, the squeaking of the wheels. All very genuine - the real thing! There's something really special about steam trains. I'm a big fan of train films in general. John Frankenheimer's THE TRAIN, Mark Robson's VON RYAN'S EXPRESS, Robert Aldrich's EMPEROR OF THE NORTH. All great films! Even as recent as 2010 we had Tony Scott's UNSTOPPABLE (actually based on a real event) which I also enjoyed. But especially train films from the 60s and 70s are something really special for me.

Hey Ivan,

I had no idea you were a train buff. So am I and my wife. She just loves train travel, though less interested than me in the historical steam engines. However we have ridden several, including one last spring that goes into the Santa Cruz mountains.

https://roaringcamp.com/

Have you taken your son on any train trips? I know your in Philly, but if you’re ever in CA, he would love that train ride! It’s about an hour and a half, with open cars.

I also just happened to watch The Great Train Robbery with Sean Connery over the holiday.

I really don’t know why I became fascinated with trains. My father wasn’t. He was a big airplane fan and I went to lots of air shows and historic plane museums as a kid. Historic aviation still interests me though. My father was a kid during WWII and loved all the fighter pilot stories he would see in the newsreels. He had his private pilots license in Canada before moving to CA and starting a family.

We have done many train journeys over the years. Our biggest was a three and half week around the US counterclockwise trip, stopping in multiple cities in the winter of 2016/2017. We left historic Union Station in LA at night with stays for a varying number of nights in NOLA, Atlanta, Greensboro (her extended family), DC, Baltimore, Philly, and NY (for a wedding) The trip back included Chicago, which had no snow In January! though NY was beautiful and snowy. It was our first time in a white Central Park. Several legs were overnight in sleeper cars, including two nights on the first to NOLA and the last from Chicago back to LA. The NY to Chicago leg was all at night. We grabbed dinner at Grand Central, boarded and woke up the next day outside of Chicago. We met so many interesting people in the dining cars too, as it’s communal. One porter on the first leg was hilarious when he would make announcements.

Just before the pandemic we did a winter Pacific coast trip from LA to Vancouver, with stays in Oakland and the Bay Area, Portland, Seattle, and Victoria. We have also used the train many times to visit nearby San Diego, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo. We’ve currently saving miles for another trip, a loop through the Rockies.

That's cool that you took so many train trips. We haven't taken as many as you. As a kid in Ukraine we took a few (not on steam trains though) but they were the cool overnight types where you have double bunks for sleeping. Really cool to fall asleep to the sound of train wheels. One we took a trip from Lviv to Odesa for a summer holiday on the Black Sea. Another from Lviv to Moscow for when we flew out to the states in 1991. Another a few years back from Kyiv to Lviv for when we visited our hometown. Always loved train travel.

As for steam train travel I did take my wife and son this past summer to Lancaster (Amish country) just outside of Philly and we took a cool little ride through Lancaster on a steam engine. Really cool. My son also loves railroad crossing gates - I often take him close to our house to railroad crossings where we see trains passing and the gates closing. I have the schedule for when these trains pass through.

I also like airplanes (especially old vintage ones) and helicopters. That's probably a Bellisario influence - via AIRWOLF and MPI. I learned the names of many of them via these shows. But classic trains are something really special for me.

Forgot about THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY. That's really Connery up there on the roof doing some of the hair-raising stuff that would probably make a stuntman squirm. Great Jerry Goldsmith score too, as always.

Those train trips in Europe sound great! My kids are adults now, but you have lots of time with your son for some great adventures. My wife and I both love falling asleep in those bunks to the clickety-clack of the rails. I sleep so well on the train. Of course, I also sleep great on the water aboard our sailboat or with friends on their’s. I sometimes just go down and take a nap in the V-birth right at the dock! I guess it must be the motion in general. I also fall asleep easily on roadtrips when my wife is driving! LOL

I love that your son likes trains and the crossings! I have two train crossings on my commute to work. One is actually the line connecting San Diego to Union Station in LA for passenger service I’ve crossed it every work day for the last 28 years and frequently see it. Luckily it’s not a long freight train and passes quickly. There’s another freight line crossing that I get caught up at a few times a year. They can be looong! Most people just shut off their engines and wait. It actually runs diagonally through an intersection so traffic is stopped in every direction. Your son could watch excitedly for 5-10 minutes! There’s also a freight line that runs less than half a block from my high school and we can hear the trains during the day at the crossing on the street that my school is located on. I don’t cross that one, but hear them all the time as they whistle.

I have a bunch of old books on planes my dad had collected over the years before he died. They’re mostly about WWII planes, of all types, but there are some about the old WWI biplanes. When my father was an apprentice electrician in Canada in the early 50’s, one of the journeyman teaching him was actually a veteran of WWI as a fighter pilot for the Royal Canadian Flying Corps. He was already near retirement and told my father all kinds of cool stories that he passed on to me. I use the books and the stories in my history classes.

The finale with Connery on the train roof was the highlight of the film! I’m sure the producers were at least a little leery. I saw Goldsmith’s name in the credits. He was always so good.

Did you see the Top Gear videos I posted? They cook eggs on the shovel!

We also have a freight train crossing nearby. Problem is I don't know its schedule or when it crosses. It's not very often. I think I've stopped only twice when a train crossed and both times I was without my son. He has yet to see a long freight train crossing so I'm hoping we get lucky one of these days. Last time I recall that train was pretty loooong too.

Really cool that your dad actually interacted with a WWI vet! WWII vets are unfortunately almost all gone too. Seems like just a few years ago there were still so many of them around. But time marches on and waits for no one. In a few years WWII vets will be just like WWI vets - just a historical memory.

I haven't checked out the Top Gear links but certainly plan to. Thanks!

Oh, and I also forgot the underrated 1990 suspense train gem from the very underrated Peter Hyams - NARROW MARGIN. One of my favorite suspense films and almost all of it takes place on a train traveling through the Canadian Rockies. Gene Hackman for my money has never been better!! He's a prosecutor who needs to get a scared murder witness (Anne Archer) to trial as killers pursue and shadow them aboard the train. James Sikking is one of the killers - a well-spoken man who tries to bargain with Hackman to hand over Archer in one of the best scenes in the film. Their civil back-and-forth behind a table in a train compartment is just priceless and Hackman is sooo good there! Between this film and CAPRICORN ONE I think Hyams really delivered 2 of my favorite suspense films. I recommend both if you guys haven't see either. Also there was the original NARROW MARGIN film noir from 1952 with Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor (also on a train) and while most tend to prefer that version I guess I'm in the minority in vastly preferring the 1990 version. The suspense is so thick you could cut it with a knife! At least that's how I feel every time I see it.

[Pahonu]

Thanks a lot for this one, Dobe.

Checked it out and really enjoyed it. As a train buff I love everything that has to do with trains. My 3 year old son is also crazy about them. Wonder where he gets it from, eh? In fact he watched "A Steam Train Passes" last night and tonight again on YouTube before being put to bed.

I just love the gritty and realistic feel of the whole thing. Really puts you right there in the middle of it all. You can almost smell the whole thing. The train yard, the puffing smoke, the squeaking of the wheels. All very genuine - the real thing! There's something really special about steam trains. I'm a big fan of train films in general. John Frankenheimer's THE TRAIN, Mark Robson's VON RYAN'S EXPRESS, Robert Aldrich's EMPEROR OF THE NORTH. All great films! Even as recent as 2010 we had Tony Scott's UNSTOPPABLE (actually based on a real event) which I also enjoyed. But especially train films from the 60s and 70s are something really special for me.

Hey Ivan,

I had no idea you were a train buff. So am I and my wife. She just loves train travel, though less interested than me in the historical steam engines. However we have ridden several, including one last spring that goes into the Santa Cruz mountains.

https://roaringcamp.com/

Have you taken your son on any train trips? I know your in Philly, but if you’re ever in CA, he would love that train ride! It’s about an hour and a half, with open cars.

I also just happened to watch The Great Train Robbery with Sean Connery over the holiday.

I really don’t know why I became fascinated with trains. My father wasn’t. He was a big airplane fan and I went to lots of air shows and historic plane museums as a kid. Historic aviation still interests me though. My father was a kid during WWII and loved all the fighter pilot stories he would see in the newsreels. He had his private pilots license in Canada before moving to CA and starting a family.

We have done many train journeys over the years. Our biggest was a three and half week around the US counterclockwise trip, stopping in multiple cities in the winter of 2016/2017. We left historic Union Station in LA at night with stays for a varying number of nights in NOLA, Atlanta, Greensboro (her extended family), DC, Baltimore, Philly, and NY (for a wedding) The trip back included Chicago, which had no snow In January! though NY was beautiful and snowy. It was our first time in a white Central Park. Several legs were overnight in sleeper cars, including two nights on the first to NOLA and the last from Chicago back to LA. The NY to Chicago leg was all at night. We grabbed dinner at Grand Central, boarded and woke up the next day outside of Chicago. We met so many interesting people in the dining cars too, as it’s communal. One porter on the first leg was hilarious when he would make announcements.

Just before the pandemic we did a winter Pacific coast trip from LA to Vancouver, with stays in Oakland and the Bay Area, Portland, Seattle, and Victoria. We have also used the train many times to visit nearby San Diego, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo. We’ve currently saving miles for another trip, a loop through the Rockies.

That's cool that you took so many train trips. We haven't taken as many as you. As a kid in Ukraine we took a few (not on steam trains though) but they were the cool overnight types where you have double bunks for sleeping. Really cool to fall asleep to the sound of train wheels. One we took a trip from Lviv to Odesa for a summer holiday on the Black Sea. Another from Lviv to Moscow for when we flew out to the states in 1991. Another a few years back from Kyiv to Lviv for when we visited our hometown. Always loved train travel.

As for steam train travel I did take my wife and son this past summer to Lancaster (Amish country) just outside of Philly and we took a cool little ride through Lancaster on a steam engine. Really cool. My son also loves railroad crossing gates - I often take him close to our house to railroad crossings where we see trains passing and the gates closing. I have the schedule for when these trains pass through.

I also like airplanes (especially old vintage ones) and helicopters. That's probably a Bellisario influence - via AIRWOLF and MPI. I learned the names of many of them via these shows. But classic trains are something really special for me.

Forgot about THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY. That's really Connery up there on the roof doing some of the hair-raising stuff that would probably make a stuntman squirm. Great Jerry Goldsmith score too, as always.

Those train trips in Europe sound great! My kids are adults now, but you have lots of time with your son for some great adventures. My wife and I both love falling asleep in those bunks to the clickety-clack of the rails. I sleep so well on the train. Of course, I also sleep great on the water aboard our sailboat or with friends on their’s. I sometimes just go down and take a nap in the V-birth right at the dock! I guess it must be the motion in general. I also fall asleep easily on roadtrips when my wife is driving! LOL

I love that your son likes trains and the crossings! I have two train crossings on my commute to work. One is actually the line connecting San Diego to Union Station in LA for passenger service I’ve crossed it every work day for the last 28 years and frequently see it. Luckily it’s not a long freight train and passes quickly. There’s another freight line crossing that I get caught up at a few times a year. They can be looong! Most people just shut off their engines and wait. It actually runs diagonally through an intersection so traffic is stopped in every direction. Your son could watch excitedly for 5-10 minutes! There’s also a freight line that runs less than half a block from my high school and we can hear the trains during the day at the crossing on the street that my school is located on. I don’t cross that one, but hear them all the time as they whistle.

I have a bunch of old books on planes my dad had collected over the years before he died. They’re mostly about WWII planes, of all types, but there are some about the old WWI biplanes. When my father was an apprentice electrician in Canada in the early 50’s, one of the journeyman teaching him was actually a veteran of WWI as a fighter pilot for the Royal Canadian Flying Corps. He was already near retirement and told my father all kinds of cool stories that he passed on to me. I use the books and the stories in my history classes.

The finale with Connery on the train roof was the highlight of the film! I’m sure the producers were at least a little leery. I saw Goldsmith’s name in the credits. He was always so good.

Did you see the Top Gear videos I posted? They cook eggs on the shovel!

We also have a freight train crossing nearby. Problem is I don't know its schedule or when it crosses. It's not very often. I think I've stopped only twice when a train crossed and both times I was without my son. He has yet to see a long freight train crossing so I'm hoping we get lucky one of these days. Last time I recall that train was pretty loooong too.

Really cool that your dad actually interacted with a WWI vet! WWII vets are unfortunately almost all gone too. Seems like just a few years ago there were still so many of them around. But time marches on and waits for no one. In a few years WWII vets will be just like WWI vets - just a historical memory.

I haven't checked out the Top Gear links but certainly plan to. Thanks!

Oh, and I also forgot the underrated 1990 suspense train gem from the very underrated Peter Hyams - NARROW MARGIN. One of my favorite suspense films and almost all of it takes place on a train traveling through the Canadian Rockies. Gene Hackman for my money has never been better!! He's a prosecutor who needs to get a scared murder witness (Anne Archer) to trial as killers pursue and shadow them aboard the train. James Sikking is one of the killers - a well-spoken man who tries to bargain with Hackman to hand over Archer in one of the best scenes in the film. Their civil back-and-forth behind a table in a train compartment is just priceless and Hackman is sooo good there! Between this film and CAPRICORN ONE I think Hyams really delivered 2 of my favorite suspense films. I recommend both if you guys haven't see either. Also there was the original NARROW MARGIN film noir from 1952 with Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor (also on a train) and while most tend to prefer that version I guess I'm in the minority in vastly preferring the 1990 version. The suspense is so thick you could cut it with a knife! At least that's how I feel every time I see it.

You’re spot on about WWII vets. When I started teaching there were still WWI vets. Maybe 15-20 years ago there began to be obituaries about the last British Tommy (Harry Patch) passing away, then the last American (Frank Buckles), and so on. I used them and some of the memories they described in my lessons. Today as I close in on retirement, I make reference to the WWII vets as they are disappearing. It won’t be much longer as the ends of the wars were only 27 years apart, just one generation. When I was a kid, all the old timers on the block were vets. It seemed like they all were, there were so many. There were almost 5x the number who served in WWII than WWI. It will probably be the first few years of my retirement when those “last” obituaries begin appearing.

I’ve never noticed any kind of schedule for the freight trains I see. It’s very different than commuter rail. Hopefully your son will see one soon!

I didn’t even realize they had remade Narrow Margin. I’ve seen the original and it’s a classic B-movie noir that really surpassed its tight budget. I read that it was shot in just two weeks! The little detail I remember most is that they were supposed to be traveling from Chicago TO LA but the early scenes at the Chicago train station were actually LA’s Union Station. It’s a beautiful Spanish Revival structure that went through a superb restoration about ten years ago. I’ll have to give the new version a look and see what I think, but the original is really good, so…

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

By the way, I just saw that train-car-bike race that you posted. Pretty interesting, although you kind of had to guess that the car would win. Also for some reason I thought the race would be more or less side-by-side so that they could see each other. If not the entire way then at least for a good chunk of it, to make it more interesting and more accurate (though I suppose the roads don't exactly follow the railroad tracks). But it looks like they each took different routes. Not sure why the bike couldn't be on the same road as the car. Another thing is that you can't accurately recreate this race as if it was the 1940s because these are modern roads and not 1940s roads. And modern traffic, not 1940s traffic (which I'm sure there was none). Still, it was a nice watch and the 3 guys interacting with each other was fun. I really felt sorry for the guy riding the bike. Ouch! But then shoveling coal was no picnic either. The guy in the car seriously lucked out!!

But back to "A Steam Train Passes"... my son and I watched it again last night before bed. Actually just small clips of it. He really likes the scene where the guy at night lights a lamp outside the guard house just before the train passes. Beautiful cinematography there! But I have a question - what is that triangular thing that he's holding up as the train passes him. What's he doing? It's around the 17:40 mark.

[Pahonu]

By the way, I just saw that train-car-bike race that you posted. Pretty interesting, although you kind of had to guess that the car would win. Also for some reason I thought the race would be more or less side-by-side so that they could see each other. If not the entire way then at least for a good chunk of it, to make it more interesting and more accurate (though I suppose the roads don't exactly follow the railroad tracks). But it looks like they each took different routes. Not sure why the bike couldn't be on the same road as the car. Another thing is that you can't accurately recreate this race as if it was the 1940s because these are modern roads and not 1940s roads. And modern traffic, not 1940s traffic (which I'm sure there was none). Still, it was a nice watch and the 3 guys interacting with each other was fun. I really felt sorry for the guy riding the bike. Ouch! But then shoveling coal was no picnic either. The guy in the car seriously lucked out!!

But back to "A Steam Train Passes"... my son and I watched it again last night before bed. Actually just small clips of it. He really likes the scene where the guy at night lights a lamp outside the guard house just before the train passes. Beautiful cinematography there! But I have a question - what is that triangular thing that he's holding up as the train passes him. What's he doing? It's around the 17:40 mark.

It’s never going to be a perfect recreation but it was fun. They had a rule that they couldn’t use the A1 highway, which is the modern high-speed route between the two cities, as nothing like it existed then. They had to use smaller roads. Apparently the car won by just ten minutes after all that!

I took note too of that object he held on my rewatch. I have no idea what the thing is. I know the lights are signals, perhaps that is another kind of signal?

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Ivan wrote -
"Oh, and I also forgot the underrated 1990 suspense train gem from the very underrated Peter Hyams - NARROW MARGIN. One of my favorite suspense films and almost all of it takes place on a train traveling through the Canadian Rockies. Gene Hackman for my money has never been better!! He's a prosecutor who needs to get a scared murder witness (Anne Archer) to trial as killers pursue and shadow them aboard the train.
James Sikking is one of the killers - a well-spoken man who tries to bargain with Hackman to hand over Archer in one of the best scenes in the film.
Their civil back-and-forth behind a table in a train compartment is just priceless and Hackman is sooo good there! Between this film and CAPRICORN ONE I think Hyams really delivered 2 of my favorite suspense films.
I recommend both if you guys haven't see either. Also there was the original NARROW MARGIN film noir from 1952 with Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor (also on a train) and while most tend to prefer that version I guess I'm in the minority in vastly preferring the 1990 version. The suspense is so thick you could cut it with a knife! At least that's how I feel every time I see it."

Hi Ivan,
I confess I have yet to see - or forgot - the Gene Hackman remake but it does have a good reputation, and after your review I am determined to go see it.
By the way Dick Van Dyke is Hackman's cousin.
I'm curious if the remake features the same bit of sly business that escapes almost everyone who sees the original movie, though it is a vital part of McGraw's own journey.
Mobster Yost is on board the train with 2 other hoods, he gives McGraw a 5 grand bribe - down payment on 30 grand - to ponder on before deciding to throw in with the
bad guys. Cut to a 5 minute stop at a station where McGraw is writing a wire to HQ, at the Western Union office, informing them there are 3 hoods on the train, and naming them.
Yost appears beside him, reminding him of the 30 grand, how it could help his partner's widow, then leaves.
McGraw then scratches Yost the briber's name off the wire, leaving the names only of the 2 musclemen. At that moment, he indeed has gone over or is about to. Which makes it a better picture,
he is human not a Joe Friday automation, as everything is seldom black and white in Noir. He rights himself eventually, but he was tempted.
Do you happen to recall if Hackman's version has that bit of business? I never noticed till I saw the film several times, but it looms large in the story.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

This reminds me of a Top Gear episode from several years ago where the three hosts race each other from London north to Edinburgh using three types of period transportation, from the late 40’s if I recall.
One drives an open top Jaguar, another a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle, and the third is in a steam engine with the engineer and is the fireman. It gives a pretty good technical view of operating the
locomotive, and they cook some food too!

Here’s links to all the parts.

https://www.topgear.com/videos/top-gear ... -episode-1

https://www.topgear.com/videos/top-gear ... -episode-1

https://www.topgear.com/videos/top-gear ... -episode-1

https://www.topgear.com/videos/top-gear ... -episode-1

Pahonu,
I just watched the Top Gear videos, wonderful! Jeremy got the best of the deal, being a stoker on that train, roaring thru the countryside. Then the bit at the bar at the end, I loved it!
Thank you, thank you.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Ivan wrote -
"Oh, and I also forgot the underrated 1990 suspense train gem from the very underrated Peter Hyams - NARROW MARGIN. One of my favorite suspense films and almost all of it takes place on a train traveling through the Canadian Rockies. Gene Hackman for my money has never been better!! He's a prosecutor who needs to get a scared murder witness (Anne Archer) to trial as killers pursue and shadow them aboard the train.
James Sikking is one of the killers - a well-spoken man who tries to bargain with Hackman to hand over Archer in one of the best scenes in the film.
Their civil back-and-forth behind a table in a train compartment is just priceless and Hackman is sooo good there! Between this film and CAPRICORN ONE I think Hyams really delivered 2 of my favorite suspense films.
I recommend both if you guys haven't see either. Also there was the original NARROW MARGIN film noir from 1952 with Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor (also on a train) and while most tend to prefer that version I guess I'm in the minority in vastly preferring the 1990 version. The suspense is so thick you could cut it with a knife! At least that's how I feel every time I see it."

Hi Ivan,
I confess I have yet to see - or forgot - the Gene Hackman remake but it does have a good reputation, and after your review I am determined to go see it.
By the way Dick Van Dyke is Hackman's cousin.
I'm curious if the remake features the same bit of sly business that escapes almost everyone who sees the original movie, though it is a vital part of McGraw's own journey.
Mobster Yost is on board the train with 2 other hoods, he gives McGraw a 5 grand bribe - down payment on 30 grand - to ponder on, before he decides to throw in with the
bad guys. Cut to a 5 minute stop at a station where McGraw is writing a wire to HQ, at the Western Union office, informing them there are 3 hoods on the train, and naming them.
Yost appears beside him, reminding him of the 30 grand, how it could help his partner's widow, then leaves.
McGraw then scratches Yost the briber's name off the wire, leaving the names only of the 2 musclemen. At that moment, he indeed has gone over or is about to. Which makes it a better picture,
he is human not a Joe Friday automation, as everything is seldom black and white in Noir. He rights himself eventually, but he was tempted.
Do you happen to recall if Hackman's version has that bit of business? I never noticed till I saw the film several times, but it looms large in the story.

Oh no, Hackman never for a second ponders going over to the "dark" side. He makes a point to Sikking that he loves his job. The pay is lousy but he loves seeing the baddie start squirming and sweating in his seat in the courtroom as the noose gets tighter and tighter around his neck as he's about to be sent down the river for a long, long time. You just can't bribe Hackman in this one. He takes his job very personally and gets extreme satisfaction from prosecuting scumbags and killers. I don't get the feeling that he's squeaky clean and does everything by the book but he's definitely someone who hates the criminal element and takes it upon himself personally to put them away. And he goes about it with a great sense of humor as well. That's what makes his performance a standout for me! Forget Popeye Doyle. Robert Caulfield is Hackman's signature role!