full speed ahead
Statewide festival of
train movies and events
Coming May 6-11, 2025
Illustration by Bob Staake
FULL SPEED AHEAD FILMS
Purchase tickets via each venue’s website through the links below.
THE NARROW MARGIN
Tuesday, May 6, 2:00 PM – Colonial Theatre, Belfast
Dir. Richard Fleischer, RKO Radio Pictures, 1952
Taut and fast-paced, this classic film noir thriller takes place almost entirely on board a speeding cross-country train. A seen-it-all police detective (Charles McGraw) and his partner are charged with protecting a gangster’s widow (Marie Windsor) from assassins determined to silence her before she can testify against the mob. Shifting alliances and the tension of a confined setting steadily moving west magnify the growing sense of danger in a gripping, efficient thriller nominated for an Academy Award for its screenplay.
Train fact: Los Angeles Union Station doubled as the location for Chicago’s Dearborn Station and the train in the film, while not named, replicates the route of Santa Fe’s famous Chicago-Los Angeles Super Chief.
THE darjeeling limited
Tuesday, May 6, 6:30 PM – Colonial Theatre, Belfast
Dir. Wes Anderson, Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2007
Introduction by Theatre Director of Programming & Operations, Kyle Walton
Three estranged brothers (Owen Wilson, two-time Oscar winner Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman) embark on a cross-India train journey, ostensibly to reconnect after their father’s death, a trip which ultimately reveals emotional wounds and unresolved tensions. Their meticulously planned spiritual quest devolves into a series of misadventures that blend Anderson’s signature whimsy with moments of genuine poignancy, while exploring themes of grief, family, and self-discovery.
Train fact: Wes Anderson likes trains; as with Alfred Hitchcock, they factor prominently in several of his films. He insisted on filming the Indian rail journey on an actual moving train, The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a two-foot gauge railroad just like Maine’s own historic narrow-gauge railways.
THE natural
Wednesday, May 7, 2:00 – Bates College, Olin Arts Center 104, Lewiston
Dir. Barry Levinson, TriStar Pictures, 1984
Introduction by Jonathan Cavallero, professor of Screen Studies, Bates College, and Founder, Bates Film Festival
A mythic baseball drama about Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford), a mysterious and gifted player whose career is derailed by a tragic incident from which he makes a miraculous comeback years later. In a romanticized adaptation of Bernard Malamud’s darker novel, Hobbs battles personal demons and the game’s corrupt influences; his journey unfolding as an American fable and culminating in a memorable ending accompanied by Randy Newman’s stirring Academy Award-nominated score.
Train fact: The fateful scene when young Roy Hobbs encounters “The Whammer” on a ball field with a steaming locomotive in the background was filmed at the South Dayton (NY) Depot and Rail Museum, also a setting for Trains, Planes & Automobiles (1987).
brief encounter
Wednesday, May 7, 3:30 PM – Eveningstar Cinema, Brunswick
Dir. David Lean, The Rank Organization, 1945
Presented in association with Trainriders Northeast
Introduction by Tricia Welsch, film historian and Chair, Bowdoin College Cinema Studies
After a chance meeting on a train station platform, a married doctor (Trevor Howard) and a suburban housewife (Celia Johnson) begin a muted but passionate, and ultimately doomed, love affair. With its fog-enshrouded setting, swooning Rachmaninoff score, and pair of remarkable performances, David Lean’s film, adapted by Noël Coward from his play Still Life, deftly explores the thrill, pain, tenderness, longing, and loss of an illicit romance. Critics consistently describe the film as one of cinema’s greatest love stories. Johnson, Lean, and Coward were each nominated for Academy Awards. — The Criterion Collection
Train fact: Most of the film was shot at Cornforth Railway Station in Lancaster, UK – still in active use.
some like it hot
Wednesday, May 7, 7:00 PM – The Waldo Theatre, Waldoboro
Dir. Billy Wilder, United Artists, 1959
Introduction by Alan Magee, painter, sculptor, filmmaker, and friend of Billy Wilder
A hilarious and energetic comedy from a filmmaker who could do nearly anything. Two musicians (Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis) witness a mob hit; to escape the gangsters pursuing them they disguise themselves as women in an all-female band travelling by train to Florida. When confronted by romantic entanglements with the band’s dazzling singer (Marilyn Monroe) and an eccentric millionaire suitor (Joe E. Brown) they struggle to maintain their feminine personas in a playful subversion of gender roles. Nominated for six Academy Awards including director, script, and actor (Lemmon), the film is consistently ranked as one of the great screen comedies.
Train fact: Numerous interiors and several exteriors used an actual 1920 Pullman sleeping car that’s still in use at Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. The movie’s railroad station scene was shot at MGM Studios which had a line connected to Pacific Electric’s interurban railroad, so leased rail cars could be moved on and off the studio lot.
murder on the orient express
Thursday, May 8, 6:30 PM – Alamo Theatre, Bucksport
Dir. Sidney Lumet, Paramount Pictures, 1974
A lavish all-star—and first—adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic mystery in which brilliant Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) attempts to solve a murder on board a snowbound luxury train filled with suspicious passengers (including movie greats Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, and Lauren Bacall), each with a possible motive. Poirot methodically examines the evidence, interrogates the passengers, and peels away layers of intrigue and deception among the travelers trapped together in an atmosphere of tension and dread.
Train fact: For exteriors of the Orient Express moving through the countryside, a 1922 French Railways locomotive pulls a baggage car, dining car, sleeping car, and Pullman lounge car. The locomotive still exists and operates.
north by northwest
Thursday, May 8, 7:00 PM – Lincoln Theater, Damariscotta
Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1959
Introduction by Michael Koryta , novelist and screenwriter (Those Who Wish Me Dead)
Hitchcock’s masterfully constructed thriller centers on a suave but unsuspecting advertising executive (Cary Grant) mistaken for a government agent and pursued across the country by a sinister spy ring. Ernest Lehman’s original screenplay dazzles with its blend of suspense, wit, and romance. Critics consistently rank it as one of Hitchcock’s finest films, a mix of mistaken identity, espionage, exhilarating set pieces, Bernard Herrmann’s pulsating score, and the charismatic performances of Grant and Eva Marie Saint (at 100, the oldest living Oscar winner).
Train fact: The sequence in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal was actually shot on location there, but the scene on the platform where Grant boards New York Central’s 20th Century Limited was shot on MGM Studios’ standing train-station set where many films were made, including The Bandwagon (1953) when Fred Astaire steps off Santa Fe’s Super Chief.
Thomas and the magic railroad
Friday, May 9, 12:00 Noon – Harbor Theater, Boothbay Harbor
Dir. Britt Allcroft, Gullane Pictures, 2000
Presented by Harbor Theater and Railway Village Museum
Thomas the Tank Engine emerged as the most popular character from The Railway Series by Wilbert Awdry, first published 80 years ago. Although Thomas has appeared in many television episodes, this is his only feature film, a whimsical and nostalgic mix of live-action and stop-motion animation in which he teams with a young girl (Mara Wilson) and mysterious Mr. Conductor (Alec Baldwin) to find the lost source of the railway’s magic and save the island of Sodor from the sinister locomotive, Diesel 10.
Train fact: As a lifelong railroad enthusiast, author Wilbert Awdry based most of The Railway Series stories on actual events: the engine characters reflected real classes of locomotives and some of the railways were based on real British lines.
strangers on a train
Friday, May 9, 5:30 PM – Strand Theatre, Rockland
Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Warner Bros. Pictures, 1951
Introduction by Alicia Malone, TCM host and author (Girls on Film: Lessons from a Life of Watching Women in Movies)
A chance encounter in the club car of a passenger train between an amateur tennis player (Farley Granger) and a charismatic fellow traveler (Robert Walker) sparks a provocative though purely speculative plan: how to “exchange” murders to solve their respective family problems. When one man appears more serious about the idea, a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse ensues as the other man finds his life unraveling from suspicions and guilt. Hitchcock’s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel is widely praised for its unsettling exploration of fate and the dark dualities of human nature.
Train fact: The film’s Metcalf Station scenes were filmed at the former New Haven Railroad’s Union Station in Danbury, Connecticut, now home of Danbury Railway Museum.
stand by me
Friday, May 9, 6:00 PM – The Gem Theater, Bethel
Dir. Rob Reiner, Columbia Pictures, 1986
Introduction by Michael Koryta , novelist and screenwriter (Those Who Wish Me Dead)
Stephen King’s novella The Body serves as the basis for this poignant coming-of-age drama about four friends who embark on a hike through the Oregon wilderness to find the body of a missing boy, along the way confronting their excitement and fears of growing up. As they navigate personal struggles and deepen their bond, the adventure becomes a nostalgic yet unsentimental reflection on friendship, loss, and the fleeting innocence of youth.
Train fact: King’s novella was set in the fictional Castle Rock, Maine, but the movie’s setting is Castle Rock, Oregon – the state where most of the picture was filmed. The famous scene on the railroad bridge was shot in Northern California; the bridge still exists but the tracks were removed when the right-of-way became part of The Great Shasta Rail Trail.
the general
Saturday, May 10, 12:00 Noon – Portland Museum of Art, Osher Auditorium
Dirs. Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman, United Artists, 1926
Accompanied live by Carolyn Swartz, writer, filmmaker, and classically trained jazz pianist who has performed live, improvisational film scores at the Berlin and New York Film Festivals and Lincoln Center
In this masterful silent comedy-adventure, a Southern railroad engineer (Buster Keaton) embarks on a daring and often hilarious rescue mission when his beloved train – and the woman he loves – are hijacked by Union spies during the Civil War. The breathtaking stunts, inventive visual gags, and meticulously choreographed action sequences are all real – no CG here. The film is both a thrilling chase and showcase for Keaton’s genius as a physical performer. The General is considered one of the greatest films ever made – and was among the first inductees into the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.
Train fact: The General is a fictionalization of an actual Civil War event – The Great Locomotive Chase. In reality, Union forces captured the actual engine (“General”) but left it undamaged; after the war it was updated and served for many more years as a working locomotive before starting decades on display at events like the 1939 and 1964 New York World’s Fairs. The “General” locomotive used in the film is a replica of the real “General” which is now at Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia.
the harvey girls
Saturday, May 10, 2:00 PM – Lincoln Theater, Damariscotta
Dir. George Sidney, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1946
Introduction by Mark Griffin, film historian and biographer (A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life and Films of Vincente Minnelli)
This was MGM’s answer to Oklahoma!, a big Technicolor musical set in the Old West. Susan Bradley (Judy Garland) joins a group of spirited Midwestern “Harvey Girls” – waitresses who actually existed and served civility and meals along the Santa Fe Railway. She finds herself at odds with the rowdy saloon owner (John Hodiak) and his glamorous entertainers (led by Angela Lansbury). A crowd-pleasing romantic musical that’s elevated by Garland’s charm and the rousing numbers, including Academy Award winner, “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe.”
Train fact: The sequence of the train travelling across the prairie is in fact footage taken from Warner Bros.’ Dodge City (1939).
the TRAIN
Saturday, May 10, 2:00 PM – Harbor Theater, Boothbay Harbor
Dir. John Frankenheimer, United Artists, 1964
Presented by Harbor Theater and Railway Village Museum
Based loosely on the non-fiction book by Rose Valland (Suzanne Flon) documenting the daring rescue of priceless French art looted by the Nazis. This gripping World War II action-thriller pits French Resistance fighters (led by Burt Lancaster) attempting to stop a German officer (Paul Scofield) from transporting a trainload of stolen art to Berlin. Wartime suspense and moral complexity combine in a battle of resourcefulness and sabotage along the railway. The film delivers intense action with a gritty, almost documentary authenticity.
Train fact: The film was made with cooperation from the French Railways; there’s no CG in this movie – all action scenes were shot for real, and Lancaster performed his own stunts. Most of the box cars transporting the stolen art are just like the French “Merci Train” boxcar in Railway Village Museum’s collection – called a “40 x 8” because they could transport 40 soldiers or eight horses.
the TALL TARGET
Saturday, May 10, 3:00 PM – Portland Museum of Art, Osher Auditorium
Dir. Anthony Mann, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1951
Our nation’s divisions may have been even more profound when the victorious Republican, President-elect Abraham Lincoln, was preparing to take office in 1861. Anthony Mann’s historical film noir dramatizes those divisions efficiently and emotionally, distilling the coming furies of the Civil War into a single tense train trip in which a New York police detective (Dick Powell) attempts to thwart a plot on Lincoln’s life. Mann is both a master stylist and a poet of anger; he extracts a sense of righteousness indignation, which plays a major role in the movie’s resonance (then and now) with the ongoing quest of Blacks for equality. Ruby Dee’s portrayal of a young, enslaved woman is credibly modern. In the guise of a stirring tale of bygone conflicts, Mann’s film is very much a story of the fight for civil rights, depicting that fight as a physical struggle in which physical defiance is indispensable and physical danger is inevitable.—Richard Brody, The New Yorker
Train fact: Virginia & Truckee (V&T) Railroad locomotive #11 (“Reno”) was built in 1872 and appeared in over 100 films and TV shows, including The Tall Target and another festival feature, Union Pacific (1939). The locomotive is back at V&T, now a tourist railroad, where it is being restored to operation.
the LADY VANISHES
Saturday, May 10, 5:30 PM – Strand Theatre, Rockland
Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Gaumont British Pictures, 1938
Introduction by Alicia Malone, TCM host and author (Girls on Film: Lessons from a Life of Watching Women in Movies)
A young woman (Margaret Lockwood) traveling by train through Europe becomes increasingly alarmed when an elderly governess (Dame May Whitty) mysteriously disappears – all other passengers denying ever having seen her. Teaming up with a charming but cynical musicologist (Michael Redgrave), she uncovers an elaborate espionage plot that leads to a tense and dangerous resolution. A masterful blend of humor, romance, and suspense, the film is a brilliant display of Hitchcock’s emerging talent for crafting intricate, witty, knife-edge thrillers.
Train fact: The train action scenes combined live-action photography and realistic paintings known as “mattes” – no CG. Albert Whitlock was the 23-year-old British matte painter who later went to the US and became head of visual effects at Universal Studios. There, 25 years after The Lady Vanishes, he and Hitchcock would reteam for six more films.
once upon a time in the west
Sunday, May 11, 12:00 Noon – Maine Film Center, Waterville
Dir. Sergio Leone, Paramount Pictures, 1968
Introduction by Ken Eisen, independent film distributor and co-founder, Maine International Film Festival and Railroad Square Cinema
A sweeping, rather operatic Western about a mysterious, harmonica-playing gunman (Charles Bronson) seeking revenge against a ruthless railroad baron (Gabriele Ferzetti) and his sadistic enforcer (Henry Fonda), while a resilient widow (Claudia Cardinale) fights to protect her land. With its haunting Ennio Morricone score, stunning cinematography, and deliberate pacing, the film unfolds as a meditation on greed, violence, and the death of the Old West. The film is a masterpiece of mythic grandeur and visual poetry and its astute deconstruction of Western archetypes.
Train fact: : Railroad aficionados will know immediately the film was not shot on a US railroad; it was made in Spain like Leone’s other “spaghetti Westerns.” The trains have been cosmetically Americanized, though meticulous train fans will note the distinctive “chains-and-buffers” form of coupling used in Europe. Ultimately it doesn’t matter; the movie is too good.
union pacific
Sunday, May 11, 6:00 PM – Harbor Theater, Boothbay Harbor
Dir. Cecil B. DeMille, Paramount Pictures, 1939
Presented by Harbor Theater and Railway Village Museum
A sprawling Western epic about railroad troubleshooter Jeff Butler (Joel McCrea) battling sabotage, greed, and corruption while pushing to complete the eastern leg of the first Transcontinental Railroad (four were eventually constructed). His loyalty to the railroad and a growing love for a locomotive engineer’s daughter (Barbara Stanwyck) brings Butler into intense conflict with a rival in both business and romance (Robert Preston) who has teamed with criminals in trying to derail the project. The film’s grand scale and historical sweep make it a prime example of Hollywood’s Golden Age – and particularly the brand of cinematic spectacle for which DeMille was famous.
Though not presented until 2002, Union Pacific is officially the first recipient of Cannes International Film Festival’s major award, the Palm d’Or (Golden Palm). The first Cannes festival, scheduled for 1939, was cancelled due to the onset of World War II so no award was presented. In 2002, the Cannes jury considered the qualifying 1939 films (including The Wizard of Oz) and gave the top prize to Union Pacific.
Train fact: : Early US railroads were largely built on the labors of those then considered outside the American mainstream. Before Emancipation, Southern lines were constructed and maintained mostly by enslaved Black men and women. The Union Pacific, building the first Transcontinental Railroad west from Omaha, hired 8,000 Irish, German, and Italian immigrants (the majority, Irish). The Central Pacific was built eastward from Sacramento by 10,000 Chinese immigrants – men, women, and children as young as 12 – carving and blasting literally inch by inch through the Sierra Nevada mountains. In the Middle Rockies, 5,000 Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) worked for both the Central and Union Pacific Railroads. And as railroads expanded the nation into western tribal lands, Indigenous lives were disrupted and displaced; some Native people worked with the railroads, some fought them – on the battlefield and in the courts.
FULL SPEED AHEAD special events
Restoring Maine’s Heritage Narrow-Gauge Railroads
Friday, May 9, 1:00 PM – Live Stream – Maine Historical Society, Portland
With David J. Buczkowski, president, Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum (WW&F)
Maine once had five regional narrow-gauge railroads carrying passengers and freight and feeding the large main lines. Two are gone, portions of Sandy River & Rangley Lakes Railroad remain in west central Maine, and a group in southwestern Maine is working to rebuild part of Bridgton & Saco River Railroad. Most notable of the remaining lines is WW&F in Alna with its ambitious program of public operations and restoring and building equipment, structures, and tracks while hewing to historic accuracy.
Program: A pre-1933 history of WW&F and discussion of its postwar rehabilitation, recent achievements, and current and future projects (including constructing an exact replica of WW&F’s 1900 locomotive No. 7, pictured); and a review of narrow-gauge railroad preservation efforts elsewhere in Maine.
STEM Saturday: Squishy Circuits’ Train Horns
Saturday, May 10, 10:00 AM – Owls Head Transportation Museum, Owls Head
Kids can celebrate National Train Day the way it was always intended: Molding play dough trains and equipping them with horns to announce their arrival at Owls Head Station.
Squishy Circuits are creative and educational projects using two types of play dough – one conductive, one insulative. Power comes from a 4AA battery pack and travels through the conductive dough to provide power for LEDs, motors, buzzers – and train horns!
NATIONAL TRAIN DAY SPECIAL – HALF-PRICE TRAIN RIDE
Saturday, May 10, 11:00 AM — Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad
Unity Station, Unity
Take a scenic and memorable round trip rail journey through the springtime Maine countryside. B&MLRR is celebrating everyone’s favorite holiday with a half-price train ride on National Train Day, May 10: $8.50 adults / $2.50 kids (normally $17 adults / $5 kids). Tickets available only at Unity Station, before train time.
TRAIN TO A MOTHER’S DAY TEA
Saturday, May 10, 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM — Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Rwy. Museum – Sheepscot Station, Alna
Celebrate Mother’s Day (and National Train Day) with a full-service tea luncheon of savory bites and sweets catered by Back River Bistro, featuring seasonal Maine-grown and Maine-made ingredients! Travel aboard the historic narrow-gauge railway, round trip from Sheepscot Station to the luncheon in WW&F Pavilion.
“If I Built a Train,” Hosted by Chris Van Dusen
Saturday, May 10, 1:30 PM —Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Rwy. Museum, Alna
Followed by a train ride at 3:00 PM!
Best-selling author and illustrator Chris Van Dusen, recently honored with a major exhibition at Maine Maritime Museum, has created four books in his popular “If I Built” Series: Car, House, School – and coming this fall, “If I Built a Town.” He turns his natural curiosity about making things to a conversation with WW&F’s Harold Downey and Eric Shade who are building, from the ground up, precise operating replicas of a 1900 narrow-gauge locomotive and 1894 passenger coach. This informal conversation – for kids, families, and adults - takes place in the railroad’s engine shed, with an actual steam locomotive sharing the room. Afterwards, everyone can ride WW&F’s historic narrow-gauge railroad.
National Train Day Celebration
Free and open to the public
Saturday, May 10, 4:15 PM – Railway Village Museum, Boothbay Harbor
Free & Open to the Public
Train rides to the Antique Car Museum, light refreshments, and Merci Train Box Car Commemoration
In 1947, a Friendship Train traveled the US, ultimately collecting 700 freight cars of foodstuffs and other supplies for the beleaguered post-War French and Italians. Two years later, a French Railways war veteran proposed the reciprocal Merci Train (Gratitude Train): 49 box cars filled with gifts – mostly personal items from average French and Italian citizens – one car for each state, and one shared between Washington, DC, and the Hawaiian Territory. Locations are known for all but two cars; three were destroyed. In 2024, the lost New Jersey car was found in storage in Missouri and returned.
Maine’s Merci Train box car was restored several years ago and is protected and displayed at Railway Village Museum. The car’s former contents are in the Maine State Museum.