“A RAILROAD AT WORK” 1946 MILWAUKEE ROAD PROMO FILM STEAM LOCOMOTIVES 40940

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This 1946 black and white film written by Don Shepherd and directed by Ted Way for Wilding Picture Productions, Inc. offers an operations overview of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), aka the “Milwaukee Road.” A number of Class G, 4-6-0 type steam locomotive engines are depicted (TRT 25:29).
Opening titles, credits (0:06). A young boy, “Johnny,” mounts a bicycle, rides to a clearing near railroad tracks. He waves to a passing steam locomotive (0:15). Aboard the train, a man in a passenger car reads “Your Farm” magazine. A fawning newlywed couple (0:54). Johnny watches. A passing freight train with tank cars (1:27). Hopper cars filled with coal pass by in an overhead shot (1:50). A “Freight House” with two “Service” trucks (1:57). A 1940s automobile in a rural setting. A farmer meets with a representative of the Agricultural Development Department (1:02). A miner wearing a headlamp drills into the wall of a cave. Raw coal is transported in hopper cars. Johnny rides his bicycle along the train tracks (2:28). The logo of the Milwaukee Railroad (CMStP&P) crossfades to an “Industrial Department” office door (2:49). Men meet in an office (3:03). A finger traces construction plans. A freight traffic coordinator reviews the map (3:30). A construction crew walks on steel beams while a crane lifts a girder into place. A completed factory building (4:36). Montage: Men and women factory workers, Milwaukee freight cars on the move (4:52). Receding train tracks. A maintenance crew, viewed from the back of a slow-moving train. Men refit and replace worn ties under the tracks. Engineers inspect tongs (5:20). A power jack raises tracks. Crews at work (6:12). A warehouse of supplies, pallets and dollies (6:43). Car inspectors check freight. Blocks of ice are loaded. Waybills are processed by clerks (7:05). Illustration: A bill of lading’s life cycle, with clerks, agents, auditors (7:38). Loaded cars are sorted, combined into outbound trains (7:58). A steam engine (#206) in a roundhouse. A steam engine is fired up, moved to a turntable, filled with coal and water. An engineer and fireman climb aboard (8:28). The conductor receives a waybill and checks his watch. The waybill is passed to the fireman, and the conductor boards the caboose (9:04). Railroad signals (9:54). A dispatcher at a desk with a timetable. A telegraph operator. A traffic switchboard operator (10:10). A model train set. Johnny takes a broken tank car to a workbench (10:45). Trainyard with graphic overlay: “Their Happiness Is In Your Hands, Work Safely!” (11:07). A foundry. A bull ladle pours molten metal. Foundrymen transfer the metal into molds (11:37). A disassembled steam locomotive. A freshly painted engine (#846) leaves the station. Locomotives at a roundhouse (12:01). A part is forged in a blacksmith's furnace, then hammered. Repairmen at work (12:32). Montage of stills: Boxcars, passenger cars, diners, and snowplows (13:03). Building a freight car. An underframe is raised and mounted on trucks. Welding (13:25). Steel in transit. Warehouse workers. Stockpiles of locomotive tires, wheels, lumber (14:21). An EMD cab unit being oiled (15:55). Johnny walks to school with a friend. Children in a classroom (16:28). The Milwaukee Road’s General Office Building, teeming with employees. Women at a row of desks work in the accounting department, expertly using keypunch machines. A payroll card is printed (17:06). Auditors, record keepers (18:13). An electric engine in the Pacific Northwest (19:02). Old Faithful at Yellowstone Park. The newlyweds. A Chicago Commissary receiving platform. A laundry with large industrial washing machines and ironing presses (19:29). Trains are washed in a coach yard (20:49). A sign for the Pioneer Limited. A Hiawatha dining car. A luxury Beavertail car (21:14) with African American waiters. Men in offices make travel arrangements (21:58). Montage of trains and employees (23:18). An animated cartoon, “Mr. P.R.” appears in an office. A stack of flyers and pamphlets. A company party with music and dancing. Review of previous scenes (23:57). Johnny waves goodbye (25:02).
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com

[@EastEndProductionsArchiv-lm3lq]

Great program! It was great to see the brand new E7 being delivered ahead of the caboose in one of the early runbys.

[@DominickCascianoIII]

thoroughly enjoyed imagining another time in life, thank you

[@jalilmuhammad8270]

The Soo Line Railroad would later put the Milwaukee Road out of its financial misery in 1986, and the Canadian Pacific Railway would swallow the Soo Line in 1990 to expand into the Midwestern United States.

[@applesucks2633]

4:37 now it would take several years to get a permit because you have to get an environmental impact study, watershed study, this study, that study … Amazing anything gets done nowadays

[@arielfilmsinc1926]

The Lionel set is a pre war So the film is probably 1940

[@marktaylor9975]

Or just a old train used…