I just got in the mail today the video of "Emperor of the North". Great film, and for those out there who have not seen it I highly recommend it. It is truly a classic, and when I was younger it really got me interested in steam period. If you are interested in purchasing it, it is available through Pentrex, whom has a site at www.pentrex.com <br>Anyway, couple of questions for the many talents amongst us.<br>1, The former McCould River 2-8-2 19, now on the Yreka Western, was she a coal burner? In the film she is, but she is currently an oil fired loco. Plus, the tender in the film looks very small. Anybody?<br>2. were there three locos in the film, or just two? One scene features the 19 and an unidentified loco in an almost head on collision. The engine looks like 2-8-2 no. 7 from the Magma Arizonia line, now 400 on the Texas State. The reason I say this is because she has a Vanerbuilt tender and the trademark orange/copper paint on the smokebox. The other locomotive is used in a passenger scene, and is very Southern Pacific looking and is numbered 27, which is of course fictious. She looks like a 2-8-0, and also has a vanderbuilt tender.<br>Anyone out there know?<p>Thanks, and best wishes,<br>Jeff<br>



jeff@CompuComIS.net

Great train film Jeff,<p>Filmed on the now-gone Oregon Pacific & Eastern back around 1973 or 1974. The OP&E had Magma Arizona 2-8-0 #5 which I think carried the #27. This locomotive is now #555 of the Center For Transportation & Commerce in Galveston, TX. Check out www.tamug.tamu.edu/rrmuseum/steam555.htm for a photo and info. OP&E 2-8-2 #18 is back home on the McCloud Railway in CA and supposed to be returned to operation this year. 2-8-2 #19 as you mentioned is at the Yreka Western, which has went through an ownership change recently. The new owners plan to run #19 this year. I had thought all of the engines were oil fired.<p>Regards,<br>Jim Robinson <p><br>



jrobinson@dataram.com

n/m<br>



jrobinson@dataram.com

Thanks Jim, I can always count on you for a good and reliable answer...<br>I know that the tender on the 5, 27, 555 is the original, but on the 19 in the film it is definately a coal fired loco, and the tender in the film too the one she has after it are total different. The one on the 19 in the film looks very small, and out of place on her. The film also is the only time I have seen the 19 coal fired. So, does anyone know if the 19 came from baldwin as a coal fired loco, or as an oil fired machine? Just curious. <br>

don't have to dig out my books to check this, McCloud had some wood burners way back, but the 18 & 19 were/are oil burners. Very little stuff out here on the west coast was built to burn coal.<br>s'<br>David D.<br>




djdewey@cncnet.com

Ok guys here is the final word on the Emperor of the North and engine #19. Coal was scattered around the top of the tender and on the tender deck. The Tender is the original to #19. During the film it was still oil fired, only the fireman was seen shoveling coal into the firebox. The butterfly doors were a temporary install from the recently acquired 2 truck Shay from Graham County/Bear Creek Scenic Railroad #1923, which is also at the Center for Transportation Museum in Galveston, Tx. If you look closely at the scene in the movie where the Fireman gets burnt, you will see the firing valve and stand with several notches on it keeping the fire going! Plus the atomizer lines etc. are all there. (Use Freeze Frame) Hope this clears it up. The movie is one of if not THE best railroad film still!<p>BTW, The Sierra #3 always burns oil, even when Hollywood fireman chuck in a shovel of coal or a stick of wood!<p>Jeff<br>



btflco@aol.com

I completely agree that "Emperor" is a great RR Film, one of very few. "The Train" and "the General" are the only other ones I can think of. There were a few problems with the way they handled ceartain things, such as: gonna run afoul of a passenger train's time-stop and send out a flagman with torpedos and fusees. also the "junction" switch set for siding? and the fast mail slamming right through it? A hearty helping of dummies (demerrits) all around! In all honesty, those little quirks dont bother me a bit. It still is one of the least hokey RR movies ever made. I own a copy and have just about worn the oxides off the tape. I just wish Fox would see fit to bless us fans with a DVD of the pic, and throw in some extras, please. I also wish that they had kept the original title, "Emperor of the North Pole" i.e. king of nothing. I understand that the brilliant Execs at Fox thought that people would think it was about Eskimos! As for other pics, There are some very good RR scenes in "The Professionals" with the Great Western 75 on the Eagle Mountain RR lettered for both J. W. Grant (private train) and NdeM 75. In "The Wild Bunch", arguably the greatest western ever made, There is a terrific sequence in wich the bunch makes off with the front half of a munitions train, while it is stopped taking water. That is the only movie I've ever seen where the bandits have to contend with the air brakes and get the pin, or, take slack before uncoupling! Uses N.de M. 650, a baldwin mogul in proper period garb, and period cars. Check it out.<br>

Inquiring minds gotta know!<p>I spent a little quality time over the weekend with L&RP and "Running a Steam Locomotive Vol. III" which features a segment of #19 hauling revenue on the YW (plus a history of the engine).<p>To Jeff S., This engine was indeed built as a coal-burner! It was outshopped as the 42,000th locomotive built by Baldwin and was delievered to a lumber company in Arkansas as a coal burner with its present AND ONLY EVER tender. From Arkansas she went to Mexico. Either while still at the lumber Co. or after moving to Mexico (nobody is sure just when) the locomotive was converted to an oil burner and the present oil bunker was added to its existing tender. From Mexico it came to the McCloud River RR. The MCR sold #19 and another similar 2-8-2 (#18) to the Yreka Western. Short line/tourist line magnet Willis Kyle owned the YW and later purchased 50% interest in the Oregon Pacific & Eastern. Kyle moved the 19 to the OP&E and began tourist service there first with ex-SP commuter coaches and later with lightweight streamlined cars. After the OP&E closed down its tourist train, #19 returned to the Yreka Western where it remains today.<p>Now, my so-called "movie pictures" of the 19 weren't what I thought they were. HOWEVER an honest to goodness photo of the 19 with that "little biddy tender" Jeff S. talked about was found in my collection. Also she was wearing a very basic black paint job, opposed to her usual silver smokebox, etc. Studying the photo, yup, its #19's original tender with its oil bunker removed.<p>Others here have told the rest of the story how #19 was oil-fired in the movie with the coal firing being some Hollywood "slight of hand".<br>Where was the oil coming from? I vote for the notion of a smaller tank under the coal pile in the front of the tender. The "stock" oil bunker wouldn't have been able to be hidden by a coal pile.<p>On to other things!<br>Jim Robinson<br>



jrobinson@dataram.com

Jim: <br> You may be right about that small tank..some one else will have to weigh in on that one.<br> One other notable thing about "Emperor of the North"...it was the first major movie with an African-American as a member of the operating crew,and not as a porter.....<br>



kbcotton@flash.net

If I could through in my 2 cents worth. I watched the filming of wooden tresel scene just north of Banks, Oregon. At that time, #19 was burning oil and the tank car only carried extra water 19. There was no oil in that tank car. Well, at that time anyway.<p>I went to see the filming because it was to be the last steam train to run between Banks and Vernoia Oregon. The tracks were already torn up a mile north of the tresel.<p>Little did I know I was watching the creation of one of the best railway movies ever made, and that I would be talking about it 28 years later. I have a few slides, but I wish I took more.<br>