This long lost, silent picture has a family connection.  Starring
Lon Chaney (The Man of a Thousand Faces), it was filmed on the
Chicago & North Western Railroad near Green Bay, Wisconsin.  My
namesake Great-Grandfather, Lindsay "Len" Pruner was a C&NW
trainmaster and engineer who worked with Lon Chaney as a technical
advisor.

 

Update:  Check out this nifty MySpace page on Lon Chaney!

 

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0151606/ (Lon Chaney on IMDb)

 

See what IMDb has to say about "Thunder - 1929"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020498/

 

Unfortunately, Thunder 1929 is one of Lon Chaney's "lost" movies
with only a few minutes of footage surviving.  Even worse,

Lon Chaney passed away shortly thereafter due to "too much

smoking".  It was his last silent film.

 

"Thunder on the C&NW" was an article in the Summer 1983 issue
of North Western Lines magazine written by my father, Philip B. Korst
about the making of this movie.  It is available for purchase on
CD from the C&NW Historical Society.
http://www.cnwhs.org/shopping/product_info.php?products_id=224