Good Train related Movies

nfitzsimmons said:

The original name of Emperor of he North was The Emperor of the North Pole, which was a mythical hobo name. Never did understand why they changed it.

Click to expand...

Evidently, they changed the title as people initially thought it was a children's film about Santa Claus (or so I've heard).


Also, Danger Lights (1930) is a good little film. It's a bit cheesy, but there is some nice Milwaukee Road action.

"Riding The Rails" is a good movie that's about the history of American railroads hosted by Johnny Cash. It has clips of a few old steamers back in excursion service including Southern 4501 and Clinchfield 1. It's one of my favorite railroad history films and I recommend it to anyone who likes the history of American railroads or music from that time period.

My suggestions

The Train
Emperor of the North (if you like trains, you MUST see this movie)
Silver Streak (because Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder, thats why)
The General
Von Ryans Express
Denver and Rio Grande
Union Pacific
Runaway Train (1980)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Back to the Future III (However, having said that, just watch all 3 of them!)
O Brother Where Art Thou (ok, it has like 1 or 2 minutes of train screen time, but its still a great movie!)

And not great...but worth a mention
Disaster on the Coastliner (Loyd Bridges in a serious role is odd to say the least, and William Shantner not in Star Trek)
Unstoppable (terrible movie IMO, but its trains, so I can't hate it too much)
Atomic Train (they blew up Denver with a Nuke....thats about the only thing worth while about this movie)
Speed (I mean...they did wreck a subway)
Under Siege II (there is really nothing good to say about this movie....but it has a train in it)

What about Great American Scenic Railroads? It's more a series of documentaries on certain railroads than movies, but it is train related.
(the best part is that the trains are the main topic, and nothing bad happens to the trains. [I don't exactly like it when a train gets crashed and/or trashed])

9000DOLLAR reminded me... If you can stomach train crashes, there is a spectacular one in "The Fugitive" with Harrison Ford (they crashed actual locomotives on the GSMR, the wreck is still up there). Also features a lot of good footage on the Chicago "L" (too bad it was right after the 6000 Series were retired)

Blutorse4792 said:

9000DOLLAR reminded me... If you can stomach train crashes, there is a spectacular one in "The Fugitive" with Harrison Ford (they crashed actual locomotives on the GSMR, the wreck is still up there). Also features a lot of good footage on the Chicago "L" (too bad it was right after the 6000 Series were retired)

Click to expand...

I don't remember a train crash, all I remember was a lot of shooting. I only watched that movie once, and it was a long time ago.
Maybe I should watch it again one day.

"A Steam Train Passes" (1974)

A short Australian film about the New South Wales Government Railways 38 Class locomotive, set during WW2. The music still sends chills down my spine!

Now available online thanks to the Film and Sound Archives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uFJs-xoTMM

And a high quality Trainz model of the 38 available here, thanks to Davido: http://home.exetel.com.au/cws/worrybrook/steam.html

atomic train
unstoppable
railway adventures across australia
railway adventures across europe

Greg Scholl also makes good movies of trains and planes. I recommend the "America By Rail" series. You travel on Amtrak trains and visit scenic tourist railroads during the trip. My opinion, but I think "The Heartland" is the best of the series.

Caught On A Train https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkAoMfhjxJc 1 hour 20 minutes well spent, very deep story.