Growing up in a Pennsy household (My Dad spent 37 years in freight sales),
meant hearing about that road's famous
passenger trains and glory days.
I came across this movie years ago when looking through an old railroad
movie paper
catalog in the days before DVD or internet.
With the full cooperation of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the film gave
remarkable access to their facilities, passenger
equiment, steam
locomotives and lineside views.
The story is rather unbelievable (here, use this baby as a publicity stunt),
but the chance to see the 1938 version
of the Broadway up close is worth it.
Broadway Limited 1941 had several well-known character actors onboard
including:
As screwball comedies go, this one isn't that great. The real treat is
taking a peak at P.R.R. operations including
authentic whistles, background
scenes, passing trains, authentic locations (like the arched Susquehanna
bridge at Harrisburg)
and pacing shots. From the cab, engineer Monohan
calls out, "Green on top" or "Yard Limit" and his fireman repeats
it back.
One wonderful background effect is the haunting up-and-down "quilling" of a
distinctively-Pennsy steam whistle throughout
the onboard train scenes.
Pennsy fans will want to check this one out (it's available on Amazon.com in
glorious black and white).
