March 19, "THE TRAIN" "THE TRAIN" NEXT FILM AT THE FESTIVAL
French art, looted from museums and homes is being taken to Germany by the Nazis who occupy France during the Second World War. One man is assigned the mission to stop the train without destroying its priceless cargo. How he carries out his mission is the story told in THE TRAIN, the third film in PSRMA'S Film Festival to be shown Thursday night at 7 and 9:15 pm at the Ken Theatre.
Burt Lancaster and Jeanne Moreau star in the film made in 1965. Stressing reality, director John Frankenheimer actually wrecked trains while filming the action in France. A 7O—ton armored locomotive and 30 freight cars loaded with World War II tanks, artillery and other military supplies were blown sky high during a bombing sequence in the film. The holocaust of iron, steel and concrete was a terrifying "Million Dollar Minute" according to special effects man Lee Zavits, who burned Atlanta for GONE WITH THE WIND.
At Vaires, France, Lancaster learned to pilot his own locomotive. Because the cabs are so small and exposed, there could be no expert in the engine with him, requiring the actor to drive his own train, for the sake of reality.
The fourth and last film in the series is THE RETIREMENT OF MR NAPOLEON, a Japanese film about the retirement of an aging engineer. The film is scheduled to be shown on April 2nd at 7 and 9:l5 pm at the Ken Theatre. Hisaya Morishige plays the leading role as Napogen, the veteran engineer. Reaching 55, the engineer has been advised by the railroad that he should retire. Proud Of his 30-year record without an accident, he refuses.
Through a friendship with a young and upcoming assistant engineer he meets in a fight, the engineer finally realizes that his retirement is the thing he should do. The final scene as he leaves his locomotive is especially a very poignant one.
The Film Festival, PSRMA's first, broke even with the March 5th showing of UNION PACIFIC. All, proceeds now go into the Museum treasury. Tickets for the two remaining shows may be obtained at the box office at each performance. Individual tickets are $2. A series ticket for the last films is $3.50, a savings of 50¢. If you don't have your tickets get busy!! If you do...see you Thursday!!!!
PSRMA MOVES TO A NEW HOME....TEMPORARILY!!
PSRMA is moving to a new home. Presently, the San Diego based equipment of PSRMA is being moved to a newly leased spur at the Miramar Naval Air Station.Three hundred feet of track has been leased to the museum by the Navy for storage of our equipment. The tank cars and boxcar have already been moved with the coach 576 to follow after the air date has been renewed (cost - $125). The two locos will be following shortly. Cost of the lease will be $300 a year which is what we were paying under our old lease with Santa Fe. Our move was necessitated by the tripling of lease rates by the railroad.
Once our equipment is on the base, it will be accessible to members only. However, the navy has agreed to let us OPERATE there, which is really good news. The track we are leasing is over 1,000 feet long and chances are we may be able to operate on this track also. However, the move is not cheap. Being a line move, the total cost of moving our equipment will be around $500.
On other fronts. Land Committee Chairman Dave Parkinson reports that progress is being made in relation to the possible purchase of land at Jacumba for a permanent museum site.Land adjacent to SD&AE siding and one-half mile from a planned off-ramp on the new Interstate 8 may be available to the museum for roughly $l,000 an acre. Our requirements of 20 acres minimum would mean $20,000. Possible financing arrangements are being explored. Several members are planning to travel to the site in the near future aid further details will be published as they become available.
CALIFORNIA'S CAJON PASS FEATURED
It's April, 1968, and the Santa Fe CHIEF is still in business. Here EMD F-3 #44 leads the Eastbound CHIEF into Sullivan's Curve deep in the San Bernardino mountains. This month "Southwest Corner" takes a pictorial tour of the Cajon Pass area where the railfan can get a fine view of big time railroading. The CHIEF is gone now, but the scenery is still there and the business is bigger than ever. The area is ideal one—day trip for the San Diego railfan. For more details, a map, and more pictures see "Southwest Corner" starting on page 3 of this issue.