Film about a hijacked train

[GatwickDepress]

It was dire film. Cheaply made.

Was an old Slammer EMU pretending to be a DMU. Someone disabled the PassCom (Chord) brakes, so the train is going to hit the buffers at Hastings (which it doesn't have but the Bay, which is the other way to the train heads...).

There's a hilarious bit where the hijacker slows the train for a tight bend in tunnel and the police try to stop the train using sandbags...

Perhaps they were intending for Park Sidings so they could try and fly across Queens Road, E.T. style?

 

[the sniper]

Is that an obscure sequel ?

Better than 'The taking of Hastings 1H23'...

 

[jon0844]

Better than 'The taking of Hastings 1H23'...

Hopefully they pick the day carefully or it will be the taking of a rail replacement bus on the A21...

 

[LRV3004]

Ted!! It’s a big pile of boxes in the middle of the road!!

Best comment in this thread so far!!!

 

[Peter C]

Its a CIG with VEP doors, a CIG cab that becomes a thumper, and is diesel powered.
And has a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher that explodes with a fireball

Easily found on your usual bootleg downloads site, which will remain nameless

Oh blimey - I didn't know it was that bad!

-Peter

 

[yorksrob]

Its a CIG with VEP doors, a CIG cab that becomes a thumper, and is diesel powered.

Sounds like a typical Southern Region hybrid unit then !

 

[lordbusiness]

Major thread drift alert.....

Anyone remember the 70s spoof disaster movie 'The Big Bus' about a nuclear powered bus?

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Technically, I suppose, the 1936 film "The Last Journey" could be said to be a train hi-jack, albeit by a member of the crew.

If you haven't seen it, it's about the last journey by a GWR express driver (Bob Holt, played by Julien Mitchell) who's depressed at the thought of early retirement and also believes that his wife is having an affair with his fireman. The train leaves Paddington and during the journey Bob has a mental breakdown and tries to kill the fireman, who escapes; Bob is eventually calmed down by a doctor on board, and all ends well.

It was filmed on the GWR (they gave the film company full access over a number of weekends, I believe) and features a lot of the locos from that era. The express train loco changes from a King to a Castle to a Hall to a Castle and back to a King (I may have the order wrong, but I do know that it changes rapidly!).

It's a very good film, and worth watching if you haven't done so. I think that I got my copy from the British Film Institute, but I guess that it's available from other sources as well.

 

[Fincra5]

Ted!! It’s a big pile of boxes in the middle of the road!!

Hahaha!

Perhaps they were intending for Park Sidings so they could try and fly across Queens Road, E.T. style?

Haha! Maybe. Then it would end up like the 31's at Cricklewood...

 

[norbitonflyer]

A Thumper is hijacked/requisitioned by the Police in "The Great St Trinians Train Robbery" in a chase scene also involving two steam trains, stolen by the crooks and the schoolgirls, and a Whickham trolley stolen by the teachers. Brilliant film by the way.

In "The Royal Train" episode of Dads Army the squad try to drive a steam train after they inadvertently put its crew out of action. A pump trolley is also requisitioned by the vicar, the verger, Hodges the Warden, and the mayor.

Incidentally, all the trains ever seen in Dad's Army are steam powered, although it is set on the south coast somewhere near Eastbourne, which had been all-electric since 1935.

 

[yorksrob]

Technically, I suppose, the 1936 film "The Last Journey" could be said to be a train hi-jack, albeit by a member of the crew.

If you haven't seen it, it's about the last journey by a GWR express driver (Bob Holt, played by Julien Mitchell) who's depressed at the thought of early retirement and also believes that his wife is having an affair with his fireman. The train leaves Paddington and during the journey Bob has a mental breakdown and tries to kill the fireman, who escapes; Bob is eventually calmed down by a doctor on board, and all ends well.

It was filmed on the GWR (they gave the film company full access over a number of weekends, I believe) and features a lot of the locos from that era. The express train loco changes from a King to a Castle to a Hall to a Castle and back to a King (I may have the order wrong, but I do know that it changes rapidly!).

It's a very good film, and worth watching if you haven't done so. I think that I got my copy from the British Film Institute, but I guess that it's available from other sources as well.

Depressed at the thought of early retirement ?

Now that is far fetched

Major thread drift alert.....

Anyone remember the 70s spoof disaster movie 'The Big Bus' about a nuclear powered bus?

Yes, I remember that

It was on round my (late) grans one day !

 

[Western Sunset]

In "Oh, Mr Porter!", Will Hay and the team hijacked the smuggler's train, taking them into the arms of the police.

 

[seagull]

A Thumper is hijacked/requisitioned by the Police in "The Great St Trinians Train Robbery" in a chase scene also involving two steam trains, stolen by the crooks and the schoolgirls, and a Whickham trolley stolen by the teachers. Brilliant film by the way.

Yes, one of the all-time great comedies - and hilarious scenes (particularly the trains chasing each other around the Longmoor Military Railway).

Another classic, the Titfield Thunderbolt, also sees two very drunken naughty individuals stealing a steam locomotive from a railway yard, and which they promptly crash into a tree.

 

[Railwaysceptic]

The original Pelham 123 with Karl Maldon was the best version, first saw it on the telly when I was about eleven and it looked so exciting, I now have the DVD and still enjoy it.

Being a movie fan, I have to correct you. Karl Malden (with an "e", not an "o") was not in The Taking Of Pelham 123. The film starred Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw.

 

[===gricer===]

I wandered around the unit when it was briefly at Dartmoor Railway. It was purchased for £1500 and had a standout door livery-wise
and I asked why to be told that it was used in 'Last Passenger'. I think it is now at Meldon Quarry.

 

[Sprinter107]

A Thumper is hijacked/requisitioned by the Police in "The Great St Trinians Train Robbery" in a chase scene also involving two steam trains, stolen by the crooks and the schoolgirls, and a Whickham trolley stolen by the teachers. Brilliant film by the way.

In "The Royal Train" episode of Dads Army the squad try to drive a train after they inadvertently put its crew out of action. A pump trolley is also requisitioned by the vicar, the verger, Hodges the Warden, and the mayor.

Was the thumper that was used in that film pne of the ones that got preserved does anyone know ?

 

[ScotsRail]

Major thread drift alert.....

Anyone remember the 70s spoof disaster movie 'The Big Bus' about a nuclear powered bus?

Shoulders!

 

[seagull]

Was the thumper that was used in that film pne of the ones that got preserved does anyone know ?

No, it was 205002 (1102) scrapped 30 years ago now.

 

[Sprinter107]

No, it was 205002 (1102) scrapped 30 years ago now.

Thanks for that. been gone a while then.

 

[ThisIsSurbiton]

Being a movie fan, I have to correct you. Karl Malden (with an "e", not an "o") was not in The Taking Of Pelham 123. The film starred Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw.

Gesundheit! One of my favourite films. I don't know if a film could be any more New York than that, so much of its time - although the MTA wouldn't allow any graffiti. And Mr. Blue's last scene still gives me the shivers.

 

[Southsider]

Von Ryan’s Express was another good one

 

[londonbridge]

The original Pelham 123 was the best version, first saw it on the telly when I was about eleven and it looked so exciting, I now have the DVD and still enjoy it.

The original is a cinema classic

The two remakes were both crap.

 

[jfowkes]

Can't believe no-one has mentioned Under Siege 2. Steven Seagal as an ex Navy SEAL on a hijacked train through the Rockies(?) with his daughter (or possibly niece?)

Definitely a so-bad-its-good guilty pleasure.

 

[Ediswan]

Runaway Train (1985). Not actually a hijack, but on the same general theme.

 

[LAX54]

Von Ryan’s Express was another good one

Good Film train wise, but otherwise a little bit silly ! Pelham 123, nothing can top the original.

There was also Runaway Train with John Voight

As for LAST PASSENGER it's available in Sky Store: Rent £2.79 Buy £5.99

 

[Western Sunset]

And, of course, "The Ghost Train", where the gunrunner's train is sabotaged. Dad's Army connection too, as it was written by Arnold Ridley.

 

[Wolfie]

You might add "The Cassandra Crossing" - rather topical right now, but not a hijacking.

 

[Gloster]

There is a film (Wijster, 2008) about the first of two hijackings of a train in the Netherlands in the mid-1970s by Moluccan terrorists. I would doubt if it is gung-ho with a happy ending: the real event did not end happily for some of those onboard.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Silver Streak (1976) is another great train movie, which does involve a hijacking of sorts in amongst several other capers. Also the birth of the Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor double-act.

 

[yorksrob]

The Cassandra Crossing is a personal favourite. The party where they start welding the bars over the train Windows I found particularly chilling, having seen it for the first time for many years recently.