Eastern Railroad Discussion > Runaway Train The Movie

I was watching this movie just the other night and I have a couple of questions. Since the movie was made in 1985, were MU cables permanently connected to locomotives? In every scene when they were trying to get the train stopped, they would hack at the ice covered cable and it would eventually come apart in the middle along with the sound of the prime mover on the loco throttling down. Another question is arent all locos equipped with dead man pedals? I always thought that if you got up out of the seat and took your foot off the pedal the electrical connection to the traction motors would be severed, bringing the locomotives to a stop.

Ok, lets just say this. It was a movie, much like Star Wars and Forrest Gump and The Terminator. Movie writers usually don;t know jack about trains and even if the guy that wrote Runaway Train knew every function on a locomotive, he took creative liecense so the movie wouldn;t be 3 minutes long. Also, Mu hose have never been permantly attached (except maybe on one end but, not between locos) and most locomotive today have an alertor system which, basically puts the train brakes on (not in emergency) if the engineer doesn't respond to it within a certain time.HOTSHOT wrote:
>
> I was watching this movie just the other night and I have a
> couple of questions. Since the movie was made in 1985, were MU
> cables permanently connected to locomotives? In every scene
> when they were trying to get the train stopped, they would hack
> at the ice covered cable and it would eventually come apart in
> the middle along with the sound of the prime mover on the loco
> throttling down. Another question is arent all locos equipped
> with dead man pedals? I always thought that if you got up out
> of the seat and took your foot off the pedal the electrical
> connection to the traction motors would be severed, bringing
> the locomotives to a stop.

HOTSHOT wrote:
> Another question is arent all locos equipped
> with dead man pedals? I always thought that if you got up out
> of the seat and took your foot off the pedal the electrical
> connection to the traction motors would be severed, bringing
> the locomotives to a stop.

Didnt you see in the beginning before the engineer died, he put his lunchbox on the dead man pedal, thus negating its effect...

Must have missed it. Then again trying to watch a movie and keeping my kids from destroying the house caused me to miss some parts of the movie. Thanks for pointing that out though.

HOTSHOT out.

I liked the movie, even though I was an engineer and knew all of the inaccuracies portrayed in the movie. If they wanted to kill an engine but could not get to a kill button inside the engine, all they had to do was open the hood door where the governor is located, and pull out the governor shutdown button (or, if you didn't want to get grease on your shirtsleeve, just pull on the layshaft lever until the engine died.) Of course, they could have put the engine consist in emergency at any time from any unit, including the one they were riding in. It has been a while since I have seen the movie, but I would watch it again just to count the number of errors. Another inaccurate runaway movie was the one made by Ben Johnson (the ski train). Life imitated art when there was a real runaway train earlier this year, and the train was stopped by being chased by an engine which coupled into it and slowed it enough so that someone could climb aboard the unmanned engine.

I don't know about other engineers, but every once in a while I would have a dream that I was at the throttle of a runaway. Luckily, it never happened!

Bob Currie

I'm also a locomotive engineer, I couldn't force myself to watch after the first ten minutes because of all the inaccuracy. However I sometimes think that Hollywood is dumb or maybe smart not to give anyone ideas if they showed the real way to really run a loco.?

During the beginning of the movie the brake shoes also burned right off the engine.
As for the deadman, case in point the CSX runaway the other month. A deadman was not on that engine. So lunch box or not the engine may have not had that benefit. Also don't forget they were convicts and did not want to get caught for a the first 3/4 of the movie and thus did not want to stop the train. But also the drama of it all.

Not as good as the taking of Pelham 123, the original not the recent remake.

Ah, lighten up! Do you quit watching everything because something isn't technically correct? Despite the inaccuracies, the movie was pretty good. What about Steven Segal's Under Seige II? What about Robert Urich's movie with a ski train running down a mountain out of control? It supposedly would take over two miles to stop, even though it didn't seem to be going over 20mph or so.

Either way, they are not documentaries about railroads. They are entertainment. When 60 Minutes, Dateline or the like starts spewing crap, then it is time to say something. For now, just enjoy the show.

Anyone see the movie with Danny Glover called "Switchback"? Not sure if it was an HBO Production, or a 'mainstream' movie, but I saw it on HBO a few years ago.

Some pretty good shots of D&RGW trains in there. Been awhile since I've seen it, but it seemed fairly realistic, though the story line a wee bit far fetched.

Anyone know if this movie is available on DVD? May need to add it to my collection.

Pratice Safe CSX

Despite it's faults it isn't to bad a trainmovies go. Especially the bit where someone in the depot says old Jack (or whoever it was) was crazy to keep those F units around.

On the subject of railroad movies, don't forget "Narrow Margin" with Gene Hackman and Anne Archer. Believe it was filmed somwhere in Canada. Railroad scenes looked fairly accuate. Some good dialoge in the dining car featuring Gene Hackman and the "Bad Guys."

Yeah -the scene where Gene Hackman gets a beer (Labatt Blue - UGH)
in a tall Pilsner glass in the diner - and it doesn't even *Ripple* -
is very realistic :^P

BUT - nice footage of the Rocky Mountaineer equipment - and of Anne
Archer!

B-Dubya

As someone who works in both industries, I would be remiss not to point out that many of what we would cite as inaccuracies are intentional errors. They exist not because someone didn't "know" or was "dumb" (especially as many film companies hire railroad consultants to help establish the guardrails or coordinate productions.)

These types of films feature plot and narrative devices. They are not documentaries. Suspension of belief is perhaps harder when your craft, vocation, or subject matter are at hand, but what you're seeing, hearing, and watching, more often than not, are entirely intentional choices made for very specific reasons.

Ah but there was the runaway CSX loco in Ohio some years ago...which included a state trooper shooting at the fuel tank to disable it.

Little House on the Prairie some years ago had a suspenseful episode with a runaway train with the poor kids on it... <G> I didn't watch the whole thing. I never liked the show--too much drama on every episode.

Victor



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/21 12:37 by wabash2800.

I have to add my words to what has been said, "it's a movie!".

It was made to entertain, not document real life and we need to view it that way, even if we know something is clearly "wrong".

DaleR