Western Railroad Portrayal

Rating: 9/10 (15 March 2011)

I have seen the film only once, so I may have missed something, but at first glance the railroad scenes look good. The locomotive used in the film is a "Mogul" type, with wheel arrangement 2-6-0. This type was produced from 1864-1910, so it's a realistic choice for the period of the story, 1884, and Moguls were used by the Southern Pacific Railway. The train appears to be mixed passenger and freight, not uncommon in the American West at that time. The train has a wooden "caboose" on the end, which were in use on SP freight trains after 1875. And yes, the SP line did, and still does, run to Yuma, though now SP is part of Union Pacific. The terrain in the film does not resemble Bisbee, Arizona, which is rather hilly, but could pass for Douglas, Arizona. Further scrutiny of the film could reveal other technical problems, but at first glance, it's a good representation of an 1884 train.