Train for the movie "Unstoppable" filming on the WNYP.

I saw it yesterday.

I know they filmed in Olean, but I didn't recognize it in the movie.

I recognized Eldred, Port Allegany and Emporium.

The mentioned Portville and Keating Summit in the movie.

It was very suspenseful, but the ending was a bit of a letdown.

The technical railroad aspects were all wrong. They used a lot of creative license.

Ended up at #2 this weekend:

2. Unstoppable (Fox) NEW [3,207 Theaters]
Friday $8.1M, Saturday $9.9M, Weekend $23.5M

Not ALL wrong. They got a lot correct. Your can't couple to a closed coupler. The pin has to drop for the coupler to be closed. A train's air brakes have to be connected to brake at the cars. An engine has its own independent braking system. A throttle has notches.

The one thing that bothers me the most is that (as far as I could see) the trailing point switch wasn't actually misaligned.

I saw the movie last night. It was enjoyable -- a fun movie with plenty of action. Of course there were mistakes, and some creative license was used. Overall though it was a good movie.

Even though I've been out of a paycheck (thanks to the crooked people & politics up in the city of B'ham, man I need to vent a story to someone BADLY !), work around here has me going almost 24-7, what with the job searches while putting the new home together (even though I might lose it all next year). I hope to take a break this Monday afternoon or Tuesday for a matinee and watch this film. Until then, I guess I'm really in the dark on alot...

Where is the location of the elevated curve and bridge which is prominently featured in the movie?

Bellaire and Benwood: Belmont County, Ohio and Marshall County, West Virginia. After a quick search I found this page; http://www.historicbridges.org/ohio/bellairerailroad/

I'm still digging to find maps and info on the abandoned section that branches off to the right on screen. Think I'll try looking on the Ohio section of the forum to see if it's been discussed there.

Scott K.

Which scenes were filmed in Olean?

I know the scene where the kids get on the safety train was filmed in Olean.

The press conference scene?

I just saw the movie last night. Everything was good up until they started using Poetic Licence heavily where track switches are concerned. To watch 777 blow through all the switches and not jump off the track kinda annoyed me. Or when the first rescue attempt trying to stop it with the two locomtives. Since when does any train operation operate with only 1 guy excluding remote control in a yard. Why didn't a second guy walk off the two forward units onto 777 and shut it off. Well, I had to sit there and just say to myself, It's just Hollywood, it's just a movie......etc etc.

Other than that, I did enjoy the movie. I did like their filming of train movements. All was not lost.

Hey, who likes the dispatcher?

SST wrote:I just saw the movie last night. Everything was good up until they started using Poetic Licence heavily where track switches are concerned. To watch 777 blow through all the switches and not jump off the track kinda annoyed me. Or when the first rescue attempt trying to stop it with the two locomtives. Since when does any train operation operate with only 1 guy excluding remote control in a yard. Why didn't a second guy walk off the two forward units onto 777 and shut it off. Well, I had to sit there and just say to myself, It's just Hollywood, it's just a movie......etc etc.

Other than that, I did enjoy the movie. I did like their filming of train movements. All was not lost.

Hey, who likes the dispatcher?

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed the first attempt to stop the locomotive was flawed. Even if there was just 1 crewman on the resuce engines, he could've set the throttle and walked back to #777. The resulting explosion of those rescue engines was also rather unlikely. Hollywood tends to equate diesel fuel with gasoline but they are rather different when it comes to explosive potential. There have been many derailments at speeds of 50+ mph but few of them result in fires and/or explosions in the locomotives themselves.

FWIW, Washington's character said his locomotive had 5000 HP. It was an SD40-2, which has 3000 HP.

The moviegoer in me liked the movie. The railfan in me picked out the flaws. Even so, I'll give it 7 out of 10. I was routing for Washington and Pine to stop the train.

I forgot to mention that as I was leaving the theater, I remembered the Regal Elmwood Ave theater sits next to the row that fed both belt ways. See the link and follow your ABC's. B is the theater. http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=42.95521,-78 ... nmore%20NY

Also, as I was coming around the corner on the ramp from RT198 to the 33 eastbound which goes under the Belt line, a locomotive crossed directly over me as I went under it. To much car traffic that I had to pay attention to to clearly see which locomotive was operating. I could see the number board but just couldn't look at it long enough to see the number.

Now that was a neat ending.

I finally saw the movie, and was rather impressed by it's entertainment value as well as realism. Very fun and riveting movie, including some interesting photography of scenes from an uncommon perspective. Alot of their railroading terminology was right on, and aside from the exploding "helper units" which somehow flipped off the siding, I felt this movie was pretty realistic.
But what about the woman "Connie" directing the whole ordeal, scolding the railroad workers, and delivering boxes of donuts ? That is another example of Hollywood license in attempt to appeal to women viewers and keep things politically correct.

Flat-Wheeler, consider that Wendy, leader of the Lost Boys, was female.

Enjoyed the movie. Some flaws, of course. Like crossing gates coming down as half the train has already passed
the crossing. One moment the train is on a well maintained mainline track, then it seems to be going on
a siding with grass between the ties. I doubt that two locomotives could blow thru the derailers and stay on the track.

The "speed limit" signs were more like highway signs.

Well, IMBD has already listed what they call "goofs."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477080/goofs

I am thinking about the scene where the truck on the rails is on a parallel track
with 777. Trying to recall, was the truck ahead of 777 all along? Must have been.
If the truck had been behind there would be no way to get side by side with the runaway train.

That said, the movie was good. Go see it.

The truck was behind the train and caught up to it at the siding. Yeah, it did seem a bit of a stretch to me. Another thing that bugged me is how the fictional RR trusted the goofball engineer who caused the mess to fix it. I figured a real RR would get somebody with a better track record (literally!) to drive the truck.