Railroad Consultants Bring Movie Trains to Life
Movie Trains and "Train Wranglers" help filmmakers bring the railroad industry to life with authenticity, accuracy and above all – safety
Written By Kelly Lynch, Director of Special Projects | Railroad Technical Consultant & Coordinator
In recent years, the infusion of railroad culture and imagery to the motion picture industry has visibly increased, as historic steam locomotives, passenger cars, stations, and more have woven their way onto the screen for films like 3:10 to Yuma, There Will Be Blood, Indiana Jones, Leathernecks, Appaloosa, Reservation Road, and of course the AMC television series Hell on Wheels. The railroad – or at least a reasonable facsimile of one – was the main character in the runaway train action film Unstoppable and in Disney’s The Lone Ranger, where full-size steam locomotive replicas, a 1:1 scale model railroad, and a five-mile loop were constructed to become the centerpiece for a number of sequences.
In an industry where a digital artist can recreate entire worlds from nothing, filmmakers are finding it easier and more satisfying to rely on the “movie train.”
Milwaukee Road No. 261’s brief cameo in Public Enemies. Shot on Metra’s commuter platforms in Chicago’s Union Station, the locomotive is accompanied by former Montreal commuter cars painted in Pullman green which were staged at camera left and right to block out modern surroundings. Universal Pictures.
THE REBIRTH OF THE MOVIE TRAIN
In the Golden Age of Hollywood, many motion picture back lots corralled their own stable of railroad equipment for use, but today when productions require railroad elements, they turn directly to museums, short lines, or tourist railroad operators, or call upon a small group of insiders known as railroad coordinators, or train wranglers, who specialize in liaison work between the two industries.
“It’s a niche vocation now since the studios disbanded their equipment and their knowledgeable personnel,” explains railroad coordinator Stan Garner, a now-retired industry veteran who helped orchestrate the railroad scenes for 3:10 to Yuma and There Will Be Blood.
“Now you have people that want to use the train and they don’t know the first thing about them. Class 1’s don’t have the time to deal with studios and museums normally don’t have any idea. Having someone with experience on both sides goes a long way.”
J. David Conrad of the Valley Railroad in Essex, Connecticut explains that railroad coordinators “understand both sides of the equation. They are the liaison to make things authentic, but to understand the wants and needs of everyone involved.”
Often the wrangler will work with every department of the production and in tandem with railroad personnel, with special focus on budget, production, and equipment needs. “I spend more time doing that than I do on set,” jokes Garner.
Like railroading, film can be filled with a variety of challenging unknowns, he explains. “You can’t turn the production company loose. You have to be ready for anything to happen because if a director changes his mind, the weather might. Plan for every contingency.”
Garner and his crew survived a sudden 38-inch snowfall the night before the climactic shootout and subsequent arrival of the title train in 3:10 that delayed filming for over a week.
HBO repurposed one of The Lone Ranger locomotive props for scenes in Westworld. These million-dollar props leave a little to be desired for purists, and cost almost as much as a historic steam locomotive restoration – but they are easily transportable, cost-effective solutions for productions in the Western-genre. HBO Television.
NOT ALWAYS A DOCUMENTARY
The inclusion of historic rail equipment into a film’s period setting seems like a perfectly fitted glove, but that isn’t always the case.
“Museums need to know that something may be one way historically, but it can have nothing to do with what things need to look like for the film,” asserts Conrad.
In addition to wrangling the necessary equipment, railroad coordinators are there to help present filmmakers with the available options, information and research available to help tell their story and help achieve a particular look, a feel, and a vision. While some creative choices may cause purists or railroad forums to object, ultimately they are deliberate choices being made in service of the narrative.
The relationship between filmmaker and railroader/preservationist can be tenuous for this reason, but Conrad offers that the two trades are not all that dissimilar, “It’s hard work to create a vision and authenticity will give way to art, which for some in railroading can be hard to appreciate, but many are surprised at how much work goes into creating a few seconds of film, just like many on the film side have very little understanding of the craftsmanship required on this side to keep up steam.”
For instance, history advocates decried the grungy, weathered look of the locomotive props created for Hell on Wheels, but the production intentionally set out to create a rough-and-tumble, lived-in world where few things looked as good as the proudly gleaming, spit-and-polished real-life and traditionally spotless steam engine Jupiter. In other words, the historically appropriate look would have not fit the established production and art design.
Constructed largely from styrofoam and wood and powered by a railcar mover, the Hell on Wheels props did their part, but to anyone who has spent time around a real steam locomotive, it’s obviously missing some of the dynamic presence, movement, and weight of the real thing, and whereas a real locomotive would exhaust powerful vapor plumes from its smokestack, these props only emit lazy wafts into the frame – hardly the stuff Henry David Thoreau would write home about. For an expensive television series constantly on the move, the props were a cost-effective solution – and this approach also meant that no historic 1800s locomotive would be subjected to arduous television service for years on end and the production could easily relocate their section of track from location to location. Nevertheless, the sound design of Hell on Wheels was delightfully full of a near-constant swooning bellow of locomotive whistles and steam exhaust even when the props were off-screen – another way railroad preservationists can ensure the real things can still bring life to a film set, even if only via sound effects.
Railroad film work is full of spectacle – but can be as hazardous and logistically challenging as stunt work.
CREATING A CULTURE OF SAFETY ONBOARD – AND ON SET
The gap of misunderstanding between filmmakers and railroaders is one that must be covered quickly, especially where safety is concerned. This stark reality was highlighted in the tragic death of camera assistant Sarah Jones during the attempted filming of Midnight Rider in 2014.
Jones, a tireless and talented crew member, was killed by debris when the film crew trespassed on an active, Class 1 railroad line, and a freight train crashed through their illegal attempt to stage a scene. The incident, which also injured other crew members, invigorated calls for a renewed safety culture and revised practices within the film industry, but it is not the only fatality as a result of filmmakers, vloggers, and photographers “stealing” a shot on railroad property without permission or supervision from industry professionals.
In addition to senselessly exposing artists and crew members to unnecessary dangers, incidents like these also have the onerous distinction of placing the railroad industry in a tremendously negative light and increasing the likelihood that railroad entities will not participate in film or television production and have undue effects on the costs of liability insurance for motion picture companies. In the case of Midnight Rider, the production company, the director, the railroad, and even the adjoining property owners were all part of an intense and lengthy lawsuit. The director was sentenced to two years in prison and fined $20,000.
Scenes with operating railroad equipment are no different than stunts or action sequences. Because of this, railroad coordinators will work with the production’s safety director to inform them of the unique dangers inherent with railroading, and safety meetings should be held regarding different camera setups and scenes.
Garner’s method on There Will Be Blood afforded all departments a blue flag for whenever they worked on the train, “They knew the train would not move unless their department’s blue flag was taken down.”
“Make it so you are contractually obligated to stop or alter a scene only if it’s unsafe,” informs Nick Kallas of the Illinois Railway Museum.
Photographers, marketing agencies, and film shoots are frequently looking for industrial or historical settings, and railroad museums and tourist operations can easily fit the bill – but the productions must be coordinated and supervised by professionals who understand both worlds.
GETTING THE SHOT – AND PROTECTING THE ASSETS
Kallas’ experience ranges from the simple on-site shoot to moving entire train sets across the mainline to meet a production’s needs. He maintains that the safety of your personnel and the equipment are top priorities, as is ensuring the contract favors your operation.
“Protect yourself and don’t get starry-eyed,” he warns, recalling that after the filming of Flags Of Our Fathers, a Louisville & Nashville diner which had been dressed as a Boston and Maine passenger car, was damaged when a contractor tried to remove vinyl appliqués with a hairdryer on a cold day. $25,000 later the entire car was repainted at the studio’s expense.
FOR WHEN HOLLYWOOD COMES CALLING
While the Illinois Railway Museum and other operations like California’s Filmore & Western Railway are known entities to the industry, a location scout or production company can’t locate a railroad organization if they don’t know it exists. Museums and railroads open to this line of work should contact their state film office to make sure they’re listed as a resource or location.
As productions seek out states with tax incentives and multiple resources to offset costs, a studio may already be looking for opportunities in your backyard. List on your website and brochure that your equipment or operation are available for film work and designate a member of your staff to handle these inquiries, which oftentimes may require non-disclosure agreements and next-to-little information at first. “Everybody involved is important, and everyone wants to be a part of the movie, but that’s not always possible,” reminds Kallas.
As a part of that reality check, it’s also important to keep in mind that, paradoxically, railroad work and film work also tend to have a lot in common: they both feature long wait times, brief flurries of action, and generally unglamorous, thankless work, but when the action gets going, things really come together. A crew may wait in the wings for hours before a take gets underway, endure repeated technical rehearsals, alternate takes and set ups, endless runbys – all for a few feet (or gigabytes) of usable, precisely coordinated footage, some of which may not even make its way into the fine cut of the production. It’s a common misconception that filmmaking is easy work – and anyone who has spent a day on set will tell you it can be arduous.
While Conrad suggests that movies don’t necessarily mean increased exposure and visitors, he does believe that their appearance in Indiana Jones elevated the operation in the eyes of the community.
“There’s a better appreciation in the area for the railroad and people were impressed that the reason Steven Spielberg was here was for the Valley Railroad. It built up a lot of camaraderie for us.” But it’s not just mechanical performance or good feelings that keep the wheels rolling. We had over $50,000 in the bank that wasn’t there the year before.”
FMW Solutions is an experienced Railroad Transportation Coordinator and Technical Consultant for TV and Film Productions. For help on sourcing a movie train and coordinating the right railroad equipment for your production or for assistance working with a production company interested in using your equipment, contact FMW Solutions.
Director of Special Projects Kelly Lynch is an accomplished rail-industry consultant, steam locomotive preservationist, and filmmaker. Portions of this article originally appeared in Trains Magazine.
