This extraordinary, 1937 silent 8mm home movie depicts a rail fan trip. This took place in and around Indianapolis, Indiana aboard a the New York Central Railroad train. The steam locomotive featured is #4860, an Alco Schenectady, 1907, class K-2c 4-6-2 locomotive. This was a “Pacific” type, one of 418 built for the railroad by American Locomotive Co. The Class K-2s had 79″ diameter drivers, 22″ x 28″ cylinders, a 200 psi boiler pressure and exerted 29,100 pounds of tractive effort.

The film includes a lot of interesting sights including passing train yards, railroad personnel, and a roundhouse turntable (TRT: 8:15). It’s not clear what line is shown, possibly the tracks are part of the Chicago, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati circuit.

A trainyard with a railroad switch, splitting divergent tracks. A steam locomotive engine billowing smoke drives toward frame left, carrying a train of passenger cars (0:08). A pair of locomotive engines recede into the distance, trailing smoke. A brief shot of a fuel car, its bunker loaded with coal (0:27). A sign advertises the “Vagabond Special,” with blank space for a sponsor (0:46). Footage taken from out the window of a passenger train car shows passing electrical poles, trees, an engineer leaning out of the train engine’s cab ahead (0:50). A view from the train’s caboose shows passengers in silhouette, train tracks extending into the horizon in a mostly barren landscape. A coal silo, crossing signs and boxcars (1:09). A man’s forehead and windswept hair enter the frame. Passing modest wooden buildings, a grove of trees, another locomotive headed in the opposite direction. Coaling tower (1:38). The engineer waves as another oncoming engine approaches (1:54). A young woman watches the passing landscape from a passenger car’s window (2:34). Passing a train station, an engine, a tank car, and boxcars can be seen. Industrial factories or warehouses (3:14). A complex lattice of criss-crossing railroad switches. A conductor stands alongside a steam engine at rest outside an open-air train platform. The train carrying the camera slows to a halt (3:43). A steam locomotive engine in profile shows its headlight, smokestack or chimney, and stenciling, “Cincinnati Union Terminal.” A trainyard shows a variety of non-working engines at a standstill (4:23). A portrait of a man in a white shirt and tie. The young woman with her hair in buns glances back over her shoulder, with a man in glasses smiles and waves (4:50). Inside a train station roundhouse, a trailway turntable rotates in front of onlookers (5:02). A ¾ view of a steam engine traveling in reverse while a man in a white hat watches. Once on a turntable, the engine rotates into position (5:12). The woman climbs aboard a passenger car, turns, smiles, and looks into the sun (5:35). An engineer checks the couplings between train cars while a man in a cap and a young boy watch him work (5:47). New York Central steam locomotive 4860. This is a Schenectady, 1907, class K-2c 4-6-2 locomotive. Three African American porters or train conductors in caps, ties, and uniforms. The train on the move again (6:00). A trainyard crossed by an overhead bridge. On the bridge, a locomotive pushes boxcars from behind (6:21). Men refill the engine’s water supply at a stop (6:42). Passing a residential area with 1930s automobiles, homes, waving pedestrians (7:04). At a stop, pedestrians stand alongside the train. A closeup of a running gear shows the large wheel sets and axleboxes in detail. A railman rests on the 4860 (7:18). The train pulls away, then returns, with men standing atop the caboose and waving (8:03). Several men help to rotate the train’s engine on a turntable, pushing with great effort (8:21). A heavy-set man walks down a residential road. An engineer smiles subtly (8:38). On the move, the train passes through a verdant forest (8:44). A crowd of bystanders in a rural area. A man peers into the camera in closeup, then breaks a smile. A woman seated in a dining car relaxes (9:30).

We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”

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, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com