Last shot is San Francisco--Mission Bay. This is the Potrero wye. Just budging into the right side of the frame is Potrero tower which can be seen in the footage of 7th St. The switcher is pulling those cars toward tunnel 1. Tracks in the foreground are the main lines, seen in the 7th St. footage. Camera is probably right on the edge of 7th St. Great stuff! The thing that gives this one away is that huge plant that forms the back drop with those five peaked rooflines. "Pacific Metals" was painted on there in later years.
The advantage of being the railroad that serves Hollywood meant that we get to see rare & creative scenes like an SP commuter train in the rain. How many other videos from this era can you think of that show steam trains operating in the rain? I legitimately cannot think of one. Also worth noting, a lot of these scenes are a lot earlier and a lot higher quality than your typical early railfan videos - most of these were shot in the 1920s and 30s by the looks of things, maybe into the early 40s, meaning _most_ other railroads don't even have _any_ kind of surviving footage from this era, let alone high quality staged shots like this.
I love that we have all this amazing cinema quality footage of the SPs golden years. And what's best is that it's all just a railroad at work, with no particular direction or highlights. There's something so serene and peaceful about it.
I believe this scene at Suisun-Fairfield (1:34) is the eastbound Oakland to Sacramento "Senator" led by one of three SP 4-6-2's that were modified with skyline casing to give it a semi-streamlined look. This station is still serviced by Amtrak and Capitol Corridor to this day, but a bridge goes over the tracks now.
What an interesting group of film clips and thanks for putting them together. Interesting that in the first scene "Southern" appears to have been painted out on the tender side. I also enjoyed the musical selection you chose to add. Thanks for all your efforts.
I suspect the opening scene is special effects rain. One can't run out to stage a scene when it begins to rain. Easy enough to create the effect when wanted. Done all the time for movies. Note the limited area shown. It would be great is someone recognized the movie this was shot for.
Notice how toe-to-line perfectly the car door step well was placed for the benefit of the static camera. Even a foot off either way would have been too much. Th e scene was definitely not shot just one time! In the Mountside clip notice how the size of the lettering is greatly magnified over the normal size that the SP normally used, for our benefit, of course.
Hollywood knew how to do it in the old days before CGI. How beautiful that first shot looks. It probably wasn't used because you can just see someone ducking in front of the camera. "CUT!!!" 🙄
2:03: That might also be from the movie "Wild Boys of the Road" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Boys_of_the_Road). If I remember correctly, there were a lot of shots of people riding icebox reefers just like those ones on the right side rail with their ice doors open.
Great stuff The subject..is the message...not the crap they have turned out for the past 20 years. The inferior photography of today just tries to hide poor skills.
I get so annoyed when the movie studio partially or fully obscures the railroad's name on headend power, as done in the film noire depot scene. What, there wasn't enough money in the budget for the "ain" in "Mountainside"? Given the topographic backdrop and the water tower seen in the distance, I say this was filmed at the Chatsworth, California station. A rare appearance of Diesel-electric motive power in the final sequence. Either a junction or possibly an interchange with a foreign road at a line crossing.
@@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo It's just my opinion, Speed Graphic, but, yes, remembering your recent video, the highway visible in the background (which I should have mentioned above), and learning from personal on-line research that the station area was a favorite locale for the studios (with numerous film "appearances"), I'm willing to bet on Chatsworth. Don't come anywhere close to knowing enough about the Southern Pacific to wager a legitimate guess as to location of the closing scene, but that shop-like structure in the background IS intriguing, isn't it? There are plenty of roof ventilators as one would expect to see on a steam (and later, Diesel) locomotive maintenance or back-shop building, so it is certainly possible. When that Diesel-electric was passing the camera's lens my feeble mind was screaming, "Pan right! Pan right!" Would have loved a panoramic of the area. No caboose means that's definitely NOT a freight TRAIN and, with the little steamer on the wye or interchange track, I would say this place sees quite a bit of switching maneuvers. Perhaps one of Espee's historian-railfans will see our thread and provide a definitive answer.
Could be that the railroad requested it, if the footage did not show the operation in a good light. Nigel Gresley insisted on a disclaimer at the opening of one movie showing the railway (his LNER) doing things that would never be allowed to happen in practice. 'Dramatic licence' had been stretched way too far!
@@EllieMaes-Grandad You may very well be right about optics, though I don't know what the SP could possibly find objectionable at the filming of one of its passenger trains stopping at a rural station on a rainy night. As far as "dramatic licence" by movie producers/directors is concerned, you could not be more CORRECT. I have seen some of the most ridiculous, nonsensical, absolutely just-can't-happen scenes involving railroad train action in movies--particularly productions made during what I term the CGI era--that simply leave me groaning in disgust.
Last shot is San Francisco--Mission Bay. This is the Potrero wye. Just budging into the right side of the frame is Potrero tower which can be seen in the footage of 7th St. The switcher is pulling those cars toward tunnel 1. Tracks in the foreground are the main lines, seen in the 7th St. footage. Camera is probably right on the edge of 7th St. Great stuff! The thing that gives this one away is that huge plant that forms the back drop with those five peaked rooflines. "Pacific Metals" was painted on there in later years.
Thanks! I'll update the info.
The advantage of being the railroad that serves Hollywood meant that we get to see rare & creative scenes like an SP commuter train in the rain.
How many other videos from this era can you think of that show steam trains operating in the rain? I legitimately cannot think of one.
Also worth noting, a lot of these scenes are a lot earlier and a lot higher quality than your typical early railfan videos - most of these were shot in the 1920s and 30s by the looks of things, maybe into the early 40s, meaning _most_ other railroads don't even have _any_ kind of surviving footage from this era, let alone high quality staged shots like this.
I love that we have all this amazing cinema quality footage of the SPs golden years. And what's best is that it's all just a railroad at work, with no particular direction or highlights. There's something so serene and peaceful about it.
What a fantastic films collection, plus the magnificent music of Aaron Copland!
The overall mood of that first clip is absolutely perfect 👌
4:40 has to be Chatsworth, CA. I've waited at the Amtrak station there far too many times not to recognize the topography in the background.
I believe this scene at Suisun-Fairfield (1:34) is the eastbound Oakland to Sacramento "Senator" led by one of three SP 4-6-2's that were modified with skyline casing to give it a semi-streamlined look. This station is still serviced by Amtrak and Capitol Corridor to this day, but a bridge goes over the tracks now.
Thanks for the info!
What an interesting group of film clips and thanks for putting them together. Interesting that in the first scene "Southern" appears to have been painted out on the tender side. I also enjoyed the musical selection you chose to add. Thanks for all your efforts.
I suspect the opening scene is special effects rain. One can't run out to stage a scene when it begins to rain. Easy enough to create the effect when wanted. Done all the time for movies. Note the limited area shown. It would be great is someone recognized the movie this was shot for.
Notice how toe-to-line perfectly the car door step well was placed for the benefit of the static camera. Even a foot off either way would have been too much. Th e scene was definitely not shot just one time! In the Mountside clip notice how the size of the lettering is greatly magnified over the normal size that the SP normally used, for our benefit, of course.
Hollywood knew how to do it in the old days before CGI. How beautiful that first shot looks. It probably wasn't used because you can just see someone ducking in front of the camera. "CUT!!!" 🙄
2:03: That might also be from the movie "Wild Boys of the Road" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Boys_of_the_Road). If I remember correctly, there were a lot of shots of people riding icebox reefers just like those ones on the right side rail with their ice doors open.
I'll check it out. Thanks!
Yup, you are correct. Here's a clip from the film: ua-cam.com/video/Mf7PGmruCmI/v-deo.html I've updated the description accordingly.
Left of picture at 2:30 - is that wheel so worn as to be 'grooved'?
Great stuff
The subject..is the message...not the crap they have turned out for the past 20 years. The inferior photography of today just tries to hide poor skills.
❤❤❤❤❤❤
I get so annoyed when the movie studio partially or fully obscures the railroad's name on headend power, as done in the film noire depot scene.
What, there wasn't enough money in the budget for the "ain" in "Mountainside"?
Given the topographic backdrop and the water tower seen in the distance, I say this was filmed at the Chatsworth, California station.
A rare appearance of Diesel-electric motive power in the final sequence. Either a junction or possibly an interchange with a foreign road at a line crossing.
I wondered if that was Chatsworth, the same station in my "Ghost Train" video. I'll add it to the description.
You don't suppose the last scene was filmed outside SP's shops?
@@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo It's just my opinion, Speed Graphic, but, yes, remembering your recent video, the highway visible in the background (which I should have mentioned above), and learning from personal on-line research that the station area was a favorite locale for the studios (with numerous film "appearances"), I'm willing to bet on Chatsworth.
Don't come anywhere close to knowing enough about the Southern Pacific to wager a legitimate guess as to location of the closing scene, but that shop-like structure in the background IS intriguing, isn't it? There are plenty of roof ventilators as one would expect to see on a steam (and later, Diesel) locomotive maintenance or back-shop building, so it is certainly possible. When that Diesel-electric was passing the camera's lens my feeble mind was screaming, "Pan right! Pan right!" Would have loved a panoramic of the area. No caboose means that's definitely NOT a freight TRAIN and, with the little steamer on the wye or interchange track, I would say this place sees quite a bit of switching maneuvers. Perhaps one of Espee's historian-railfans will see our thread and provide a definitive answer.
Could be that the railroad requested it, if the footage did not show the operation in a good light. Nigel Gresley insisted on a disclaimer at the opening of one movie showing the railway (his LNER) doing things that would never be allowed to happen in practice. 'Dramatic licence' had been stretched way too far!
@@EllieMaes-Grandad You may very well be right about optics, though I don't know what the SP could possibly find objectionable at the filming of one of its passenger trains stopping at a rural station on a rainy night.
As far as "dramatic licence" by movie producers/directors is concerned, you could not be more CORRECT. I have seen some of the most ridiculous, nonsensical, absolutely just-can't-happen scenes involving railroad train action in movies--particularly productions made during what I term the CGI era--that simply leave me groaning in disgust.