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We were just re-watching Marnie the other day, and I noticed 30th Street Station, Philadelphia, in its glamorous heyday. My favorite 30th Street Station film is Witness, with the famous statue, although the toilet scene is not conducive to glamor!
Two other films I associate with good train station scenes:
Superman, with Grand Central Station (though of course that is not an Amtrak station)
The Untouchables, with Union Station, Chicago (quite glamorous too--and the train the bookkeeper is leaving on is going to Miami, would there were such a beast now!)
What are your favorites?
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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Hi Sojourner!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! We have discussed this topic before, about a year ago -- the movies which come to mind for me are "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," which has several scenes from Chicago Union Station, plus that 1980's(?) "B" film starring Gary Coleman -- I think it was called "On the Right Track." There are several scenes from CUS in that film too, and while Gary was filming that movie, I was actually on one of my train trips, and saw Gary as well as the filming taking place at CUS between trains!!
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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The Del Monte was shown briefly at the Monterey station in A Summer Place which was filmed on my native turf and released the same year I was born.
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Do trains still stop in Buffalo Central TErminal? When I take the Lakeshore Ltd, I don't think we stop there, or see it.
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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When headed west on the Lake Shore Limited, you can see Buffalo Central Terminal, on the right, a few moments after the train leaves Depew, NY. Naturally, when you're traveling eastbound, the Terminal appears to your left shortly before Depew.
The huge complex was built by the New York Central Railroad in 1929, and it was used by Amtrak from 1971 until October 28, 1979. The Terminal was more or less abandoned after that, fell into ruin, and has only recently been "stabilized" by a local preservation group, which runs tours of the beautiful old station during several weekends each summer.
For my money, Buffalo Central Terminal is one of America's most spectacular urban ruins. Here's a link to one of many web sites devoted to it:
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"Best Friends" really caught the spitit of Buffalo in Winter, COLD! That movie must have been filmed after the Terminal had been closed but not yet unsafe.
Doesn't the Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor movie Streak climax with the train crashing into Chicago's Union Stations Waiting Room.
I think Amtak gets alot of product placement in movies, from James Bond, Live and Let Die, Trading Places remake of the Manchurian Candidate.
Posts: 516 | From: New Haven, CT USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Doesn't the Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor movie Streak climax with the train crashing into Chicago's Union Stations Waiting Room.
Silver Streak, not Streak. In the movie, they were supposed to be travelling to Central Station; however, the tower scenes were filmed on the approach to Union Station and the scenes from the tracks were filmed on the approach to Northwestern Station (or vice versa). Also, the scene where the train crashes into the station was filmed at Toronto Union Station.
Posts: 76 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I'm watching a 1996 movie on Cinemax titled "Extreme Measures" with Hugh Grant, Gene Hackman, and Sarah Jessica Parker. Some interesting GCT shots, including track scenes and underground scenes.
Not sure about the realism involved; some of it at least looks like it was filmed at GCT.
-------------------- Ocala Mike Posts: 1530 | From: Ocala, FL | Registered: Dec 2006
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Tanner - I don't recall any train scene in James Bond's "Live and Let Die." (I'll have to watch the video again) -- even if there is a scene, it would not have been AMTRAK, since AMTRAK wasn't even around when "Live and Let Die" came out!!
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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How about Willy Nelson in "Honeysuckle Rose?" I believe there was a shot of the Texas Eagle rolling across the Texas prairie in that film.
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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I recall a WWII movie with John Garfield "Pride of The Marines". There was a scene with 30th Street Station in Philly. John Garfield was waiting on the upper level platform and a PRR train pulled by a GG-1 arrived.
Posts: 57 | From: Huntersville, NC USA | Registered: Nov 2001
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Live and Let Die came out in 1973 don't know exact year when it was filmed funny's thing in this movie..Car chase along the East River Drive in New York City all the cars except for the pimp mobile is a Chevrolet Sedan, only cars crashed into is a Ford Van, early product placement. I do believe it was an Amtrak train they board near the end of the movie.
Oh and yes it was "Silver Streak" a Streak (Streaking) was another popular fad of the '70,they still do it in England.
Posts: 516 | From: New Haven, CT USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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there actually is a movie called union station with william holden i beleive. the whole movie takes place at the station.
-------------------- The Copper Country Limited [Milwaukee Road-Soo Line] and the Peninsula 400 [CNW} still my favorites Posts: 175 | From: FENCE WI USA | Registered: Oct 2000
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Arguably Jim Carrey's biggest flop was The Majestic . But, as I'm sure is no surprise, I liked it.
It's this tale that takes place in the 50's. A young screenwriter is accused of being a Commie (yeh right, a lefty in Hollywood?--get real!). So, you see, he gets drunk (wouldn't you, if you've had a bad hair day before a Congressional hearing?), gets in a car wreck, and get's amnesia. The folks in a nearby small town rescue him, and thinks he's a long lost local war hero who everyone thunk was KIA in WWII. And since he's got amnesia, he can't set'em straight. So, by group-think wishful thinking, we have the returning long lost local war hero. The plot goes this way and that, but he's instrumental in restoring the small town's movie theater, The Majestic, to it's former glory. Check out the movie, and then how we get to restoring a theater might make sense.
What's this have to do with train stations in movies? Well, the California Western (aka Skunk Train) train station in Fort Bragg (that be CA) has a mega-cameo appearance.
I happened to be in Fort Bragg when they were filming this movie. I hang out in Fort Bragg often, but I was amazed how the set crew was able to transform the Skunk station into one that was unrecognizable to my seasoned eyes.
Posts: 445 | Registered: May 2002
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My favorite Judy Garland Movie is "The Clock" set during World War II and opens in the Old Pennsylvania Station though turns out it was only a back screen of the station the actors where in L.A.
Posts: 516 | From: New Haven, CT USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Does the final scene of THE ITALIAN JOB (2003 version) qualify? The group's leaders (Mark Wahlberg, Seth Green and Charlize Theron) have just stolen the gold bullion back from bad guy Ed Norton; it's packed in several mini-Coopers stashed in freight cars, and the cast is last seen in a Pacific Parlour Car leaving LA on the Coast Starlight, toasting each other and the success of their endeavor. Unfortunately, no shots of the station -- only the yards.
Posts: 87 | From: Snowmass, CO USA | Registered: Jun 2003
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1) The train at the end of Live and Let Die was either a Union Pacific or Santa Fe passenger train. RRRich, remember the fight scene between Bond and the guy with the metal claw in the roomette? And the voodoo guy(Baron Samedi) riding on the front of the engine laughing it up?
2) Jim Carrey's biggest flop was probably The Cable Guy.
-------------------- Heros get remembered, but Legends never die. Follow your heart and you'll never go wrong. Posts: 547 | From: St. Louis, MO, USA | Registered: Nov 2002
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Not a train station, but I was surprised to find a train in a movie I just watched.
Tootsie...yep the Dustin Hoffman classic.
When he or I should say she…or maybe...anyway traveling to the farm in upstate New York, the (I'm assuming Adirondack) is shown. First with a classy FL9, and then coming back with a Rohr Turbo Liner. Brief clips of seemingly file footage, but accurate and neat Amtrak shots nonetheless.
-------------------- Matt Visit gallery for photos of our train layouts Posts: 579 | From: San Bernardino Subdivison | Registered: Dec 2001
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Now that Uncle Buck mentioned James Bond, how about "From Russia With Love," which has a LONG scene on the Orient Express? (or have I already mentioned that previously?)
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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Los Angeles Union Station still has the original ticket area which is in many movies. However you cannot go in that area as it is closed off, only for special events, and media productions.
Posts: 1082 | From: Los Angeles, CA. USA | Registered: Aug 2003
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The movie Rain man where some of the scenes were filmed at the Amtrak station in Santa Ana CA. The location of this Station is where the old town of Logan used to be and where the Logan gang still calls home. They are reputed to be the oldest street gang in Orange Co.
Posts: 229 | From: Long Beach CA | Registered: Jan 2007
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Grand Central Terminal in NYC and Union Station in LA are the most used stations in hollywood movies.
Posts: 287 | From: Palatka, FL, USA | Registered: Feb 2004
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SW Chief--I'm not sure where the farm in Tootsie is precisely located, but I imagine it's south of Albany, because the restaurant/bar where Dustin Hoffman later meets Charles Durning to give back the engagement ring or something (I forget the film details) was the Hurley Mountain Inn (not far from Woodstock, NY). To get there, you could take the Adirondack, the Maple Leaf, the Ethan Allen, the Niagara-Falls-bound Empire Service trains, the local Empire Service trains that run between NYP and Albany-Rensselaer, or perhaps even the Lakeshore Ltd (though I believe that only makes the appropriate stops northbound) up the Hudson River to Rhinecliff station and then a taxi across the river (crossing the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge), assuming the farm is located near Hurley. If the farm is further north, you might take the train one more stop to Hudson and cross the river on the Rip Van Winkle Bridge (assuming the farm is on that side of the river). Either way, there is pretty good service between Albany and New York City, many trains a day, and quite a few people including with weekend homes use them. This is the same scenic ride up the Hudson River shown in North by Northwest etc etc. . . .
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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Then there's "Flashback," the 1990 movie with Dennis Hopper as an unrepentant hippie and Kiefer Sutherland as the FBI agent. One of the movie sets was the picturesque station at Glenwood Springs, Colorado, on the California Zephyr route.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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I just watched "A River Runs Through It" on TV, -Robert Redford's first stint as a director and starring Brad Pitt. There were at least 3 prominent scenes on the platform at the Missoula, MT depot set in the 1920's.
The Northern Pacific North Coast Limited was the train running through and everything looked very authentic. Except that in the movies they always seem to wait for the train to be moving before they hop on.
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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The closing scene in the original Death Wish (1974) movie with Charles Bronson shows him relocating to Chicago and arriving at Union Station. An Amtrak train is shown zipping by. However, the scene in the station was clearly shot at Los Angeles Union Station.
Posts: 255 | Registered: Nov 2001
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"The Northern Pacific North Coast Limited was the train running through and everything looked very authentic. Except that in the movies they always seem to wait for the train to be moving before they hop on."
Yup, to to best train cliche's are one, hopping on to the moving train, and two woman running along the platform shouting at the departing man. Wonderfully paradied in "Airplane."
Anyone remember the movie "Pearl Harbor" There are scenes in New York City, where the pilots and the nurses go to Manhatten, they arrive from Long Island and they are sitting in the front of "Penn Station". In order to stay within the period they could not use the current Penn Station so but rather used the Moniyihan Post Office next store, which was the sister building of the origional Pennyslvania Station and until a local politician killed it, was suppose to be the next Pennsylvania Station.
Posts: 516 | From: New Haven, CT USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Was watching the show "The District" the other day, its a TV show from a few years back. set in Washington DC. In this episode the Police Chief is chasing a professional assasin through the platforms and double decker Amtrak trains in the back of Washington's Union Station. The end of the show concludes with the Chief having lunch on the upper balcony inside the Station you can tell it is Washingtons station not LA's.
Posts: 516 | From: New Haven, CT USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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TMC has added "The Naked City" a great lost classic starring Barry Fitzgerald as an old NY Irish police detective. I think this movie came out in the early 50's or late 40's. First for the Train web there is a quick shot of the old carriage/taxi way with pedestrian crossing bridge at the Late Great Pennsylvania Station. Second, Its amazing how crime really hasn't changed much in the city. Change the names from Detective Muldoon to Detective Briscoe only the years have changed.
Posts: 516 | From: New Haven, CT USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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"The Last Detail" (1973), with Jack Nicholson and Randy Quaid. A few seconds of Richmond, VA's Broad Street Station.
Posts: 510 | From: Richmond VA USA | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote:Originally posted by BonePanzer: Anyone seen 'Coal Miners Daughter'? What was the station and the train in that one?
Months after the fact -
The steam locomotive in 'Coal Miners Daughter' was a former Canadian Pacific Royal Hudson numbered 2839. At the time the movie was filmed (late 70's I think) that locomotive was under lease to the Southern Railway hauling steam excursions throughout the southeast. (I rode it's final excursion on the Southern in November 1981 from Salisbury, NC to Alexandria, VA.)
The train scenes were filmed around and near the famed Natural Tunnel in southwestern Virginia...not far from Eastern Kentucky.
The 2839 no longer operates but is on display at a museum in California. Chris Guenzler has seen it and could provide details.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Recently I saw the new Bruce Willis movie "Live Free or Die Hard." A good action thriller but I felt I'd seen this plot before. Well some one at TNT must have felt the same thing. A Stephan Segal film set on an Amtrak train which departs from Denver CO's Union Station. The train is hijacked by merceneries led by a fired CIA computer genious who wrote a software program to control a laser satalite. The Willis film has the same plot including a cute relative foil and a government mad genius software programmer threatening the US. No trains in the Willis film.
Posts: 516 | From: New Haven, CT USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Opening shot is someplace on the SP Coast Line, possibly Salinas.
The next morning, when the train (Harriman coaches under a black GS-4, definitely a movie special, the markers were for X4443) arrived at the Oakland Mole station!
Frank took an SP Ferry to The City!
Posts: 1404 | Registered: Oct 2001
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