Re: The Tomahawk & Western RR

How refreshing that no-one has so far mentioned that this movie saw the first appearance of Marilyn Monroe on screen (she was the dance hall girl in green, as I recall).

I've always revered this movie as one of the formative influences, together with British movie "Titfield Thunderbolt", at the start of the steam rail preservation movement and well remember seeing it in the cinema when it was new (although I don't remember then being much interested in Marilyn Monroe).

I have a pirate copy which I bought from a well known Internet auction site, I's a a bit fuzzy and shaky, but much treasured.

Incidentally, the railway loving clergy in Titfield Thunderbolt are reasonably common in UK. The Ffestiniog Railway has just lost, through retirement, a senior clergyman from its Board, a man who devoted himself to running the refreshment trollies on the trains as being the most practical financial support gesture he could make (30% of many British preserved railroads is in catering and the shop, example, I rode WHR on Monday and bought four cups of coffee, a bacon sandwich, and a slice of fruitcake on the train and had a very good lunch in Harbour Station restaurant in Porthmadog while the train turned roundup. Total spend was equivalent to half the train fare, at a much higher profit margin).

Bob Gartside

Bob Gartside