European Railroad Discussion > The Boys in the Boat

Apparently George Clooney filmed the entire movie in England because of the changes in the landscapes around Lake Washington and the Hudson River.
Can anyone give more information on the "Great Northern" the UW crew rode to Poughkeepsie and the "New Haven" spectator train?

The New Haven used to run spectator trains on the Norwich and Worcester line when collegiate regattas were held on the Thames River.

Dave

Got a horse laff outa them subbing Kings Cross London for King Street Seattle, and an LMS Duchess for a GN P-2. Leave it to Hollywood! I s'pose the "Great Northern" name plate on the boiler was a sop to verisimilitude, and that the crew actually rode the GN east from Seattle. (Ironical though it was to have "Great Northern" on an LMS engine!) Pity the scene could not have been filmed in the States, but can't have everything. I b'lieve NP ran at least one spectator train along Lake Washington in the late thirties, but don't know details. "Boys" is a nice, uplifting, grownup movie.

kurtarmbruster Wrote:
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> Got a horse laff outa them subbing Kings Cross
> London for King Street Seattle, and an LMS Duchess
> for a GN P-2. Leave it to Hollywood! I s'pose the
> "Great Northern" name plate on the boiler was a
> sop to verisimilitude, and that the crew actually
> rode the GN east from Seattle. (Ironical though it
> was to have "Great Northern" on an LMS engine!)

There was a British steam locomotive named Great Northern, built by GN in 1922 as No. 1470, the first of the A1 class, shortly before the Grouping of 1923 and the absorption of the GN into the newly formed LNER, which would renumber it as 4470. It was the first of the Gresley Pacifics.  In 1945 it was rebuilt by Gresley's successor and would become designated as an A1/1, the only one of that kind (the other A1 types were rebuilt to different specifications and designated A3, including the famous Flying Scotsman). Under British Railways ownership, Great Northern was renumbered 60113 and lasted until 1962.

In the book THE BOYS IN THE BOAT the author talks about the trains on the Hudson River as the boats moved south.  The book is a good read and the train stories are a bonus.