Daniel Tiger and the Railroad

Daniel Tiger and the Railroad is a 2023 American-Canadian Live-Action Animated Educational 30 minute Short film inspired by the 1992 short film *Sly Fox and Birdie*, and based on the PBS Kids TV Series, *Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood*, as part of season 7. It was produced by Operation Lifesaver, Fred Rogers Productions, and the Steam Railroading Institute. Filming took place in and around Owosso, Michigan. Locomotives included the Pere Marquette 1225, and NKP 765. Other diesel locomotives from the Great Lakes Central Railroad were used. The tunnel scene was filmed on the rails near the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, in Chattanooga, and used Southern Railway #4501. This was also the first and only time we see Ian Titus animated, as he stated it was too much to animate him. It premiered for a special screening throughout the day at National Train Day, for Toledo, Ohio, May 6th, 2023. It Premiered on PBS Kids a day later on May 7th.

## Plot:

Daniel Tiger wakes up and greets the audience, and decides to go see Ian. After his father drops him off, Daniel Realizes that Ian is packing up to go see some special steam trains in Michigan. Daniel agrees to come along and they ride trolley into Michigan, and there to Ian’s shock was the 765 and 1225, he had always wanted to see both of them together for a long time. Ian then starts putting things on the track, (A Rock, a Can, a Big Old Spike.) assuming that when the train “comes roarin’ by it’ll squash up the pieces. A fearful Daniel tells Ian that it was a bad idea saying that it will send them out like bullets, hurting him or someone nearby, injuring or even killing them. Realizing this, Ian decides it would be best to get his things off the tracks. Then he thinks he could just throw this stuff at the train. (In which he throws a rock at a tree which the rock bounces back from and hits him in the head in the process.) But Daniel points out that it can be just as bad. Ian then suggests that Daniel should get a snack. Daniel then walks into a snack shack, and Ian, thinking he can lose Daniel, runs to some boxcars in a siding to shoot the trains there. Daniel catches him doing it, and points out that being in a box car is also a bad thing saying it can move suddenly. Ian then recognizes this and gets out. Then Ian decides to take a “Hike” along the tracks. Daniel tries to stop him but it's too late, Ian is already too far away. Daniel points out to the Audience that it's even worse to hike along the train tracks, Particularly on Bridges or tunnels. The Latter of which finally convinces Ian to stay off the tracks. (he is run over in the process, to which he replies, “If I Weren't a cartoon character, I’d be dead as a door-nail.” 4501 was used in this scene too.) Ian now decides he would stand and film the train as it goes by. Daniel then points out not to stand too close, and to follow these rules, “Stop and Listen to stay safe.” Ian and Daniel then talk about what to do at railroad crossings: Stop if a train is coming and obey the signals, if your car or bike stalls or gets stuck on the tracks, get out fast and don’t take anything. (The latter of which demonstrated by Ian parking his bike on the tracks, then abandoning it as it explodes when the train hits it, the engine being Pere Marquette #1225.) Ian comments on how Daniel is a lifesaver, and how people and kids can learn from him. Daniel then breaks the fourth wall, telling him that people and kids have been watching them. Ian turns directly to the camera, saying that he hopes they have learned a lesson from all this and him. Then a make-believe segment starts and they sing about being safe around tracks. After the segment, they talk about what they did, (The scene where Ian is run over by a train in the tunnel is where he says “I Sure learned my lesson there Daniel.”) the film ends with them parting off and “It’s such a good feeling” song plays like in every episode.

## Cast:

Ian Titus, as himself

Keegan Hedley, as Daniel Tiger

Ted Dykstra, as Dad Tiger

## Production:

Ian Titus himself told Fred Rogers Productions, and the Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood cast the Idea of an educational film by Daniel Tiger and him about safety around the railroad. He stated in a PBS NewsHour interview that the original version would be filmed on CSX and NS Trackage outside Pittsburgh. However those ideas were then scrapped as he found it too much work to do that, so he decided the Great Lakes Central Railroad would be the filming place with the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum for additional tunnel scene filming and using Southern Railway #4501.