facebook
twitter
youtubeMaking The Great Locomotive Chase
Monday, October 3, 2011 at 6:00AM “I suppose I’ve always been in love with trains,” Walt wrote, and in October we will celebrate his lifelong locomotive love at The Walt Disney Family Museum, and here on Storyboard. This article about the making of our October Movie of the Month, The Great Locomotive Chase, was written especially for us by Disney Historian Michael Crawford.
Walt on location on the Georgia-Carolina border. © DisneyOne might have thought, in the fall of 1955, that Walt Disney might have had more pressing things to do than visit a film shoot in the remote backwaters of northeastern Georgia. After all, Disneyland had opened only a few months earlier and there was still a studio to run. What project could wrest Walt away from his new wonderland? Perhaps it’s no surprise that the film in question was The Great Locomotive Chase.
The story had been a leading contender for production ever since the Disney Studio began to develop live-action films. It’s easy to see why the story captured Walt’s imagination—it’s a tale of derring-do and a “true-life” historical adventure that takes place almost entirely on speeding locomotives. Disney’s love of trains was already well documented at the time, and was widely remarked on in the press when the film went into production.
Fess Parker, a newly-minted star thanks to his turn as Davy Crockett, was cast as James J. Andrews, the leader of a Union raid that could have dramatically cut short the Civil War. In April of 1862, Andrews led twenty-two men into Georgia where, in full view of Confederate sentries and 4,000 troops, they stole a train while its crew and passengers were eating breakfast. Andrews planned to drive north from Big Shanty (current-day Kennesaw) to Chattanooga, destroying track and trestles as he went, making it impossible for the Rebels to send reinforcements from Atlanta into Tennessee.
The William Mason, seen here at the B&O Railroad Museum, starred as The General.What he didn’t count on was intrepid conductor William Fuller, played by Jeffrey Hunter, whose train, the General, Andrews had stolen in Big Shanty. Fuller chased after Andrews for eighty-seven miles, eventually commandeering the steam engine Texas that raced—backwards—until it chased down Andrews near the town of Ringgold. Andrews and his men were rounded up and tried as spies, although some later managed to escape and tell their story. They were among the very first to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
The railroad along which the original events took place continues as a major rail artery to this day, and even by 1955 it had been straightened and modernized so as to be unusable for a period piece. Searching for a suitable substitute for the winding rails of the 19th century, Disney eventually discovered the shortline Tallulah Falls Railroad fifty miles to the east.
The Tallulah Falls Railroad, or “Old TF” in local parlance, seems itself like something out of one of Walt’s rural fantasies. Incorporated in 1897, by 1907 the TF would stretch fifty-eight miles from Cornelia, Georgia to Franklin, North Carolina. The TF opened the isolated area to the outside world, allowing visitors to witness the majesty of the Tallulah Falls (marketed as the “Niagara of the South”).
A 1903 map shows the filming location of the feature.Eventually the boom-days of the Victorian resorts turned bust, and when Walt arrived in 1955 the TF had been in receivership since 1923. Even spectacular views from the train as it wound a thousand feet above the floor of the Tallulah Gorge couldn’t keep passenger service from ending in 1946, and the TF had hauled only freight since. With only one train running daily, the sleepy little line would make a perfect playground for Walt.
The TF was well suited to Disney’s needs. As it wound through the steep Georgia and Carolina hills, the railroad used forty-two trestles in its fifty-eight mile route. All of those, save one, were wooden and of great vintage.
For his steam-driven stars, Walt personally recruited a number of vehicles from the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore. Starring as the General was the William Mason, a 4-4-0 American built in 1856 and still in use today (it appeared as Wanderer in the 1999 feature Wild Wild West). Also on loan from Baltimore were the Lafayette, a replica of an 1837 vintage locomotive, as well as two Civil War era coaches, a baggage car, and two ammunition cars.
Another 4-4-0 American, the Inyo, was borrowed from Paramount Pictures to portray the Texas. The vehicles were all shipped by rail to Cornelia, where they were transferred into the care of the Tallulah Falls Railroad. The TF provided engineers and conductors to run the trains during filming—except during breaks, when Walt took the trains out himself. All in all the Inyo and William Mason logged more than a thousand miles during filming—all back and forth over a single thirty-five mile stretch of track.
Filming began in late September 1955, and lasted about six weeks. Casting calls allowed locals to take part in the filming, and many (including the mayor of Clayton) obtained speaking roles. Onlookers watched as hotels were built with fake second floors, and marveled as the Disney crew wrecked boxcars “on purpose.” When the script called for the trains to race into a tunnel, but no tunnels were to be found on the TF, a fake tunnel entrance was built into the side of a hill.
Filmmaking took a leisurely pace for locals used to days of hard labor. Actors and extras would gather in the morning in Clayton for costuming and makeup, before taking a bus to the shooting location. Often, they would have to wait for thick mountain mists to lift from the deep valleys before they could begin. Disney provided a huge economic boost for the area, and especially for the men working the TF. They didn’t even have to dress up for filming—although they had to operate the trains lying down, with actors standing overhead. As resident Ernest Anderson recounted decades later in a Foxfire interview, “You ought to have been around when Walt Disney was making that picture up there. He really paid you something. He gave you fifty dollars a week extra, just to buy your Coca-Colas with, outside of your salary; then you got your dinner and supper made.”
Walt himself spent several weeks on set, and was a fixture in the small towns along the route. To this day, local businesses showcase framed pictures of Walt on location, or dining in their establishments. A rumor even persists that he considered purchasing the TF to turn it into a scenic railway, but was dissuaded by its millions of dollars of accumulated debt and back taxes. Nevertheless, the day Disney came to town left its mark on the imaginations of these mountain communities. In the words of Ernest Anderson, “Walt Disney sure was a fellow.”
Michael Crawford is a writer and historian with a lifelong fascination with Walt Disney, his works, and his creative legacy. He is the author of Progress City, U.S.A., a website devoted to uncovering the history of The Walt Disney Company as well as promoting Walt's creative ethos.
The Great Locomotive Chase screens daily through October at 1:00pm and 4:00pm (except Tuesdays, and October 15). Tickets are available at the Reception and Member Service Desk at the Museum, or online by clicking here.
Reader Comments (8)
The Inyo still survives today as well, still burning wood for fuel as it did when built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1875. She also appeared in a previous film shown at the WDFM, 1948's "So Dear To My Heart". And she also appeared in the television version of "The Wild, Wild West".
She is part of the collection of the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, Nevada. She last operated over the Labor Day Weekend to the delight of visitors.
http://www.nsrm-friends.org/inyo22.html
Great article, Michael!
Thanks, Roger! From the Friends of the Nevada State Railroad Museum web site (http://www.nsrm-friends.org/): "[The Inyo] became the first of many V&T cars and locomotives acquired by Paramount Pictures. In 1937 No. 22 starred in HIGH, WIDE AND HANDSOME, followed by roles in UNION PACIFIC, RED RIVER and Disney's THE GREAT LOCOMOTIVE CHASE. She last operated in 1965 for the TV series WILD, WILD WEST. Four years later the INYO participated in the Gold Spike Centennial at Promontory, Utah. Starting in 1970, the engine appeared as a replica of the Central Pacific's JUPITER at the Gold Spike National Historical Site. The State of Nevada purchased the 4-4-0 in 1974 and when it was no longer need for display the ex-V&T engine returned home to Carson City. After more than a year of restoration work, the INYO made her debut on May 29, 1983."
What a delightful read! Thank you, Michael, for even more facts and tales about the great Walt Disney.
Really fun stuff, Michael. Thanks! It's always amazing when you find out about some new little piece of Walt's life and work that you were never aware of before. There's always another story to tell!
Walt "sure was a fellow"! Thanks Michael for a fascinating story and Disney Family Museum for continuing to bring us stories about Walt most of us never knew.
The General herself rests in a museum in Kennsesaw, GA, north of Atlanta - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Museum_of_Civil_War_and_Locomotive_History
I grew up less than .25 of a mile from some original "T.F." right away and as a matter of Fact my Great Grandmother was nearly hit by the General on a trestle in a place called priness and she is still alive today and she actually got a visit from Walt Disney.