Wanted: Steam Locomotive for Movie Role – 1959

Director David Swift, recalling production of 1960’s “Pollyana” for Disney, mentions how one day, he called someone and they had a steam train for his movie.

While I doubt it was quite that easy, when the production company came to Northern California in 1959, they indeed came to the right spot. Looking for somewhere to evoke the small New England town of the 1913 book (the fictional location being Beldingsville, Vermont), the sleepy town of St. Helena along the Napa Valley was a good stand in. Watch the opening moments of the film and you see how well it fit the period. Many streets were little more than dirt roads and even with the modern day hustle and bustle of the city close by in San Francisco, life had not picked up the pace here. Even with the 21st Century, the 2010 census only recorded a population of 5,814. Grapes seem to outnumber residents with 416 vineyards in 6,800 acres.

The Napa Valley was lucky enough to have had it’s fair share of railroads. An electric interurban line connected to ferries in Vallejo and the Southern Pacific had a branch line to Calistoga at the north end of the valley.

It was this line that came into play for the movie with it’s wooden station at St. Helena getting the Hollywood treatment with plenty of Victorian gingerbread touches added along with a fresh coat of paint, somewhat keeping to the standard Southern Pacific colors of Colonial Yellow, Samoa Brown and Moss Green. With all the touches of art direction and set decoration, it would look just the part needed. Now the only thing needed was a period steam locomotive and passenger train to take their part on this stage.

That proved problematic. The Southern Pacific had run its last steam locomotive a year earlier and didn’t have any thing handy to fill the bill. While the railroad had plenty of experience with movies, this was going to be a bit of a problem. Steam locomotives had ended service on the SP with an excursion from Oakland, CA to Sparks, NV and return in October of 1958

However, neighbor railroad Western Pacific did have something to fill the bill. Old number 94, dating back to 1909, a true veteran locomotive that had actually hauled a special train through the Feather River Canyon to open that railroad back in 1910. Saved for special trains and excursions, she was living out her last years on the railroad in it’s Oakland roundhouse, venturing forth for that one more trip as needed. A favorite of old engineers and railroad fans, she could still take trains over the road when called upon. 1953 had even seen her given a new coat of paint with gold striping lettering to recall those earlier days.

Likely someone at the SP recalled that the WP had the 94 squirreled away and a quick phone call confirmed that. Buried somewhere in the Disney archives, there may exist copies of correspondence between Burbank and San Francisco (where the SP and WP home offices were) dotting all of the I’s and crossing all of the T’s to make the movements of the train between Oakland and the Napa Valley as seamless as possible. And the 94 needed to be given a bit of make-up, Hollywood magic, with lettering for the fictional Watertown and Eastern Railroad to match the black and gold she wore. Add a matching heavyweight passenger train of a baggage car, two coaches and the former private railroad business car of authors Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg (called the “Gold Coast) and you are all set to go.

I can’t imagine the SP was thrilled at the prospect of an old steam locomotive and train traveling on their own from Oakland on it’s busy Western Division. Likely, there was a diesel locomotive assigned to make sure this train made it’s trip with as little muss and fuss as possible between Oakland and Napa, probably at night, so as not to disrupt scheduled trains along the way. The WP likely insisted on their own engineer and fireman traveling with the 94. It would not surprise me that they also sent a mechanic from the Oakland Roundhouse along with the baggage car full of tools and supplies like valve oil and other lubricants, just in case, too. Even though the Southern Pacific was a fine railroad, their last steam locomotive had run in 1958. The movie location in St. Helena, out on it’s Calistoga branch line, was not off the map, but it was far enough away from any railroad shops that it would be a good idea to be prepared for anything that might arise. Arrangements were likely also made to accommodate the WP crew a somewhere nearby in a motel; not to mention feed them as well.

And all this likely required written agreements between Disney, the SP, and the WP. That’s what legal departments are for; and all three companies had their own folks for whom it was an interesting diversion. Both railroads had hosted motion picture companies before at various locations in their histories. Sharp eyed movie goers would have seen the WP along with Abbot and Costello on screen in “Buck Privates” or may have seen the SP and Frank Sinatra arriving at the Oakland Mole in the opening scenes of “Pal Joey”.

Filming at St. Helena likely took three days in August of 1959. Call sheets for the production noted “Exterior railroad station and train – St. Helena, CA” for August 11, 12, and 13, 1959. One for the arrival scenes at the beginning, and then again for the departure scenes at the ending. And likely another day for general scenes around the station. The arrival scenes had the train traveling eastbound toward Calistoga and the departure scenes had the train traveling westbound toward Napa Junction. (On the Southern Pacific, all trains traveling away from San Francisco were eastbound, and all trains traveling toward San Francisco were westbound.) Napa Junction was also the only place in the area where the train could be turned, as no such facilities existed on the Calistoga branch.

The DVD release of the film includes a gallery of still photographs from the production including views of the train, with various folks about the locomotive. While I can’t find any views of Walt with the train at the time, it is not hard to imagine him spending at least a few moments with the locomotive crew. And there are plenty of views of him at the depot during the production.

After the scenes with the train were complete, it was likely another night trip back to Oakland with a diesel locomotive in charge of the train. Arriving back at the Oakland Roundhouse, the Watertown and Eastern livery it wore for the film was replaced with new Western Pacific numbering and lettering in gold.

The WP used the 94 for more excursions, the last coming August 22nd, 1960 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of passenger service on the railroad, bringing the famed California Zephyr into Oakland for it’s last run. In 1964, the railroad donated the locomotive to the San Francisco Maritime Museum Association to be a showpiece in a proposed transportation museum in San Francisco. It left the railroad for storage in 1966 with various other equipment. Plans for the Museum at Argonaut Bay never came to pass and the 94 remained quietly in retirement.

I first saw the locomotive in storage early 1979 where she had sat since 1966. Hundreds of thousands of commuters had driven by the Oakland San Francisco Bay Bridge Toll Plaza and never realized that a former maintenance building there was home to a collection of vintage railroad equipment. But I was among a dedicated group who were there to get the 94 back on the rails for a trip to a new home and another chapter in her story.

The California Railway Museum (now known as the Western Railway Museum) had negotiated an agreement with the San Francisco Maritime Museum Association to lease the 94 and three other steam locomotives. The WP had graciously offered to move the 94 on it’s own wheels from Oakland to Rio Vista Junction, and the California Railway Museum.

The locomotive debuted at the Museum’s Spring Railway Festival on May 5 & 6, 1979, pulling a short three car train on the demonstration railway at Rio Vista Junction. The Museum later negotiated a lease on the Sacramento Northern from parent Western Pacific. It was a favorite of guests including various officials from the WP including former President Alfred Perlman and family. The 94 also added another on-screen role, appearing briefly in an episode of “Young Indiana Jones”.

With the last full shopping by the railroad in 1949, time eventually caught up with the locomotive. After a thorough inspection by an outside consultant, a report outlining issues needing to be addressed was compiled. Museum management chose to concentrate on other priorities and today, the Western Pacific 94 is on display in Carhouse 2, along with other vintage railway equipment.

So, that’s the short version of this story. I’m still searching for more details to fill in the gaps. And somewhere in corporate paperwork, correspondence from the railroads and Disney may still be hiding, waiting to tell the tale of how the production of “Pollyanna” got it’s train.