List of SEPTA-related films and TV programs

[JeffK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQYMKckNu68#t=2m43s

Boy Meets World - "Train of Fools" took place on the subway... it looks more like the MFL. Watch the youtube link above, and notice there's an ad for new fareboxes and 13 different locations, or something along those lines? Also the illiterate, inaudible PA announcer is spoofed, which I'm putting in another thread, since it's 2010 and SEPTA still has that problem.

I saw this episode when it was new (1995 or so) and knew it was a cheap mock-up.

And from the size of the "car" it must be running on Brunel 7' gauge track (or maybe even that "Breitspurbahn" the Germans wanted to build during the 1930s...)

[JeffK]

It looks like all the movies and shows mentioned on this thread (unless I missed any) date from the SEPTA/PATCO era.

I guess the following categories don't qualify for this thread:

movies/TV shows/spots related to
PTC/Red Arrow
PRR/PC/RDG-era commuter rail
the Bridge Line (pre-PATCO) era
etc. etc.

motor

OK, I'll start. Does anyone remember a commercial about 20 or so years ago that used #80 (ex-Red Arrow Brill MU) when it ran on Delaware Avenue? The ad agency coated it with some kind of bright blue skin and it was shown running in the background, looking a bit like something out of Dr. Seuss ... or maybe today, Avatar....

I rode it a couple of years after the commercial was filmed and you could still see tiny bits of the blue whatever-it-was coating stuck in some of the less obvious places of the carbody.

[motor]

Actually, JeffK, I meant to refer to movies/TV shows/commercials in the pre-SEPTA era. Since your anecdote dates from +/- 20 years ago, it would date from the SEPTA era even though it involves an ex-Red Arrow vehicle. So it doesn't count. Try again.

motor

[HangarRat]

There's an episode of Flight of the Conchords that bizarrely includes footage of SEPTA Silverliners as the background in a Japanese style Karaoke sequence. I burst out laughing when I saw it. Utterly bizarre.

http://www.eatmedaily.com/2009/03/happy ... rds-video/

Scroll down for the video. Skip to the 1 minute mark if you're pressed for time.

[JeffK]

Actually, JeffK, I meant to refer to movies/TV shows/commercials in the pre-SEPTA era. Since your anecdote dates from +/- 20 years ago, it would date from the SEPTA era even though it involves an ex-Red Arrow vehicle. So it doesn't count. Try again.

motor

I thought it might just squeak in 'cause the car was running in Red Arrow livery and was operated by the Buckingham Valley Trolley Association rather than SEPTA ...

Oh well.

[Franklin Gowen]

motor brought up an intriguing point concerning the private carriers prior to the creation of SEPTA. As SEPTA was created in 1963, it would likely take a visit to a major local university's library to even begin to research this in anything but a trivial fashion. I sure can't recall tv shows or films involving the presence of any PRR/Reading/Red Arrow, etc.-branded vehicles prior to a date that, itself, is from nearly 47 years ago.

What if we broaden the search? For example, SEPTA took over city transit -- the P.T.C. -- on 9/30/1968. I'm not convinced that repainting began the very next day ( ), but that watershed date is still 42 years ago.

Call it a hunch, but prior to public govt. funding subsidy for private rr's commuter service, I don't think that those carriers would have been very apt to make such a progressive, creative (and presumably) expensive foray into mass-media advertising outside of newspapers and perhaps radio. Of course using the PRR/Reading/Red Arrow, etc. as backdrop for a dramatic production via film or tv is another matter. Good luck finding examples of that. I think you'll come up empty-handed, but I'd love to be proved wrong here!

[motor]

Good points, Franklin.

JeffK, sorry about my snittiness. I was just curious. I appreciate retro livery as much as the next railfan. Makes for living history, like Colonial Williamsburg (which I visited in 1973, 1988, and 2007).

motor

[Red Arrow Fan]

It looks like all the movies and shows mentioned on this thread (unless I missed any) date from the SEPTA/PATCO era.

I guess the following categories don't qualify for this thread:

movies/TV shows/spots related to
PTC/Red Arrow
PRR/PC/RDG-era commuter rail
the Bridge Line (pre-PATCO) era
etc. etc.

motor

OK, I'll start. ...

You'll start? I mentioned the PTC (in American Dreams) in the post directly below the one you responded to.

[JeffK]

You'll start? I mentioned the PTC (in American Dreams) in the post directly below the one you responded to.

Sorry - the posts were split across 2 pages so I missed. Take a point off my score.

[ex Budd man]

It looks like all the movies and shows mentioned on this thread (unless I missed any) date from the SEPTA/PATCO era.

I guess the following categories don't qualify for this thread:

movies/TV shows/spots related to
PTC/Red Arrow
PRR/PC/RDG-era commuter rail
the Bridge Line (pre-PATCO) era
etc. etc.

motor

OK, I'll start. Does anyone remember a commercial about 20 or so years ago that used #80 (ex-Red Arrow Brill MU) when it ran on Delaware Avenue? The ad agency coated it with some kind of bright blue skin and it was shown running in the background, looking a bit like something out of Dr. Seuss ... or maybe today, Avatar..

I rode it a couple of years after the commercial was filmed and you could still see tiny bits of the blue whatever-it-was coating stuck in some of the less obvious places of the carbody.

The commercial was for Hyundia........how ironic since they're building the SL-V cars.
Not from the Septa era but interesting none the less was " Fron The Terrace" , a mid fifties soaper starring Paul Neuman and Joanne Woodward. There is a scene in Reading terminal with what looks like a GS-3 Pacific arriving with the King Coal.

[R36 Combine Coach]

I found the original 1976 Rocky trailer. Early in the clip (:10-:13) Rocky is running alongside a M3 el train just north of the Ben Franklin Bridge. It appears by this time (filming in January 1976) the el was being relocated off Front Street, in preparation of I-95 construction. I then tried to find the current location on Streetview, but the whole area appears completely changed (even it appeared as a vacant wasteland in 1976). However the building to the left of the el appears to be the same in the center of this Streetview. When was the Front Street el relocated?

Also PennDOT maps reveal an abandoned surface railroad ROW in this area. It continued north though Hunting Park and up to to the RDG at Fern Rock. What was this?

[scotty269]

Also PennDOT maps reveal an abandoned surface railroad ROW in this area. It continued north though Hunting Park and up to to the RDG at Fern Rock. What was this?

http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=99&t=43456

[metaquasiproto]

I found the original 1976 Rocky trailer. Early in the clip (:10-:13) Rocky is running alongside a M3 el train just north of the Ben Franklin Bridge. It appears by this time (filming in January 1976) the el was being relocated off Front Street, in preparation of I-95 construction. I then tried to find the current location on Streetview, but the whole area appears completely changed (even it appeared as a vacant wasteland in 1976). However the building to the left of the el appears to be the same in the center of this Streetview. When was the Front Street el relocated?

Dunno if you're interested or if it matters, R36, but I too was just watching the Rocky trailer recently, and I wondered if i could figure out exactly where that jogging scene next to the MFL takes place. I found the extended training scene from the movie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pmSvWHgaao) which shows a few more seconds of that jogging (0:12 to 0:15) than the trailer does, and as soon as the brick building came into view at the end, I recognized it immediately because I parked there last week: it's at Columbus Ave and Noble St. (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 04,,0,-1.1), just below Spring Garden. If you go to street view and and move a little east on Noble toward Front, you can see that the drainpipe on the building in the trailer matches up to the one now (the Cricket billboard is a recent addition, I believe ) and if you look south, you can even make out the (since paved over) tracks that Rocky jogged through in what was then a vacant/trash lot and now appears to be a parking lot and storage units. Again, don't know if it's helpful, but I found it interesting.

[kyleg]

I just saw a TV spot for the movie Limitless and there's a few clips of Bradley Cooper in a fight scene in the South Broad concourse outside Walnut-Locust. I immediately recognized it in a shot that was less than one-second long. You can see the green tiles along the walls and the gates surrounding the exit only stairwells from the station. It's shown in between clips of one of the Wall Street subway stations, so I'm guessing that scene is supposed to take place in New York. I've only seen this clip on TV though - I haven't been able to find it in any clips online.

[kyleg]

I just saw a TV spot for the movie Limitless and there's a few clips of Bradley Cooper in a fight scene in the South Broad concourse outside Walnut-Locust. I immediately recognized it in a shot that was less than one-second long. You can see the green tiles along the walls and the gates surrounding the exit only stairwells from the station. It's shown in between clips of one of the Wall Street subway stations, so I'm guessing that scene is supposed to take place in New York. I've only seen this clip on TV though - I haven't been able to find it in any clips online.

Here's the TV spot mentioned above. Looks like there's some good footage of the concourse featured in the film.
http://www.dailyblam.com/news/2011/03/2 ... ley-cooper