I don't know if this should be here, classifieds, or railfanning, but I thought it was interesting and would pass it along. It appears that Fillmore and Western ,or whoever controls it now is, selling off their prop engines on ebay. See links below.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175025374990?h ... Sw8MZhjapk
https://www.ebay.com/itm/175025375701?h ... Swmwthjabj
https://www.ebay.com/itm/175028175156?h ... SwbSRhlro-
https://www.ebay.com/sch/fillmore_and_w ... 7675.l2562

I have no association with the sale, just saw it on my morning ebay search and thought people here would find it interesting.

Pretty nice quality props - but props is props, right? I mean, not meant to last. The next film crew will just make new ones.

These would make great exhibits to get people in the door to a museum.

"O Brother, Where Art Thou?", "Inception", and "Unstoppable" are still popular and recognizable films.

"Lone Ranger" was an absolute flop (not horrible, but a mediocre film), but the locomotives are beautiful props and were used in a lot of other smaller projects while at FWRY.

Such a shame that they are selling this stuff off, but I hope they go to better homes. GP35 #3501 has already been sold to the Santa Maria Valley Railroad. I wonder if more if the functional locomotives will also be sold off? I really hope they continue to use the FWRY for productions in the future...

Speaking of movie props, when silent film star Charlie Chaplin became wealthy and was producing his own films, he had a nice mansion built for himself. Being notoriously stingy due to his upbringing in poverty, he had the movie studio carpenters work on the house on company time. He soon discovered this was a bad idea as the new house literally began to fall apart. The motto was of course: "Build it fast, build it cheap, time is money."

A friend by the name of Zephyr4501 has this in mind for the "Constitution" 4-6-0 prop.

Monticello gets Constitution and does her up as 382, sorta the "centerpiece" to their IC collection an although she ain't real, she's a good stand in.


Pretty sound idea since Clinchfield 99 (as ICRR 382) in Jacksonville won't likely be going anywhere, and the Movie Prop 4-6-0 is probably the next closest thing out there to actually looking like 382.

Am I going crazy, or has the world beat me to it ?? Yes, those are nice quality props, but $125K ?? You can get a real steam locomotive for a lot less than that --- the C&O #1309 last changed hands for $50K from what I understand, or you could buy a functioning GP35 for that as well...

.... and it's entirely possible that the props in question cost $500K each (given the way "Hollywood accounting" is manipulated to make "blockbuster" movies technically LOSE money, on paper) and some are calling them "crazy" for selling them so "cheap."

The only way these will sell as "movie props" is if either a studio or a "prop warehouse" (which the Filmore & Western was, when it came to full-sized rail equipment) sees a future role for these and makes the investment.

Is there anyone out there so inspired, with deep Hollywood pockets?

Except the prop isn't deckless, while the real 382 was, a factor which directly figures into engineer Jones' accident, at least in my opinion.

Does anyone know what is going on otherwise with the Filmore and Western? I would have expected for there to be some news by now that there has been a transfer of operating rights and the new operator is organizing to begin operations in 2022, and I've seen nothing.

Just curious, how so?

If the prices weren’t so high the “steamers” would make great trade fodder to a town or city for a engine someone wants to restore to operation.

Back about twenty years ago, on the 100th anniversary of the wreck, there was a web site with the full text of the initial interview with fireman Webb, done shortly after the accident. In it, Webb relates the conversation he had with Jones that concluded just moments before the collision. Most illustrations of this in popular culture were drawn long after, and use a modern locomotive cab as the model, with the steely eyed engineer looking straight ahead and the fireman at his side, shouting in his ear. But, that's not possible with a deckless cab. Webb would have been in the doorway directly behind Jones, who likely turned his head to hear, and make himself heard, over the noise as they traveled at an estimated 75 MPH. So it really wouldn't make any difference if the flagman from the stopped freight was out, or how far he was out, because likely Jones wasn't looking ahead for a crucial moment, and didn't react until he ran over torpedoes, which was too late to stop.

Only problem with that is the props likely aren't very weatherproof and will turn to trash in just a few years.

Several years ago I was at the CSRM "Railtown 1897" at Jamestown, CA. They had a small display of fake stacks and 'cowcatchers' that movie companies had attached to Sierra 3 over the years, which included some fake latticework posts that had been used to make the station platform look like it was in an umbrella shed in some close shots. The "steel" fabrications were all wood, including wood half spheres glued on as rivet heads. Even though all these props were under roof, the glue had let go and most of the "rivets" were missing, leaving stark white spots in their place. I suspect these props will fare no better.

Junk. Imagine what you could do with $250,000 and your favorite restoration project?

Well, they are just props, not meant to last much past the filming, regardless how much was spent on them. The same fate could have happened to the Emma Nevada from"A Ticket to Tomahawk" and later "Petticoat Junction". It took a fair number of people intervening over the years to prevent it from becoming just so much kindling.