Exhibit Highlights Shared History of Film and Railroads

The California State Railroad Museum’s exhibit, Rails and Reels: Hollywood, Trains and the Making of Motion Pictures, has something to intrigue everyone from movie fans to train buffs!  The exhibit features a variety of railroad-related artifacts, such as scale models of railroad cars used for special effect crash scenes in the 1939 epic Union Pacific; a full-size smokestack and headlamp used to “backdate” steam locomotives to represent the “Old West,” station signs used in movies, including High Noon, a costume from the 1979 television movie Orphan Train, plus sheet music, movie posters, lobby cards, original film scripts, and other Hollywood-themed promotional items from railroad related films dating from the early 1900s.

The exhibit illustrates how railroads have played an important role in television and film productions since the very early days of Hollywood, and how they continue to play starring roles in today’s increasingly “virtual” productions.  In the early days of motion pictures America was fascinated with westerns, and in fact the very first “narrative” motion picture (1903) was Thomas Edison’s The Great Train Robbery. Eventually, westerns gave way to different popular culture genres such as science fiction productions and today’s action-packed thrillers, many of which continue to incorporate locomotives into their scenes and backdrops.

Whether you’re a fan of trains, Hollywood productions, or history, you’ll want to be sure to stop by the California State Railroad Museum to see this current exhibit.”