Murder on the Orient Express

[citycat]

I recently watched the 2017 remake of Murder on the Orient Express (much prefer the 1974 version) on tv.

I don’t know how long the train was supposed to be stuck in the snow drift, but the train interior lights were fully on for the entire time.

It got me to thinking, how were the lights powered back in the steam days of the Orient Express? Did the sleeping cars of the 1930’s all have batteries slung underneath? How long would they have lasted? How were they recharged back in steam days?

Sorry if it’s a stupid question. I really have no idea how train lighting functioned in steam days or how long batteries lasted or were recharged?

 

[Gloster]

I think that even then coaches on expresses had batteries that were recharged by dynamos. The battery would suffice when waiting to depart and at stops, but once the train started the lighting would be directly powered from the dynamo and the batteries would be recharging. A long stop would cause the batteries to slowly run down. (N.b. my knowledge of electricity is limited to how to replace a light bulb.)

It is a film: do you really expect accuracy?

 

[AndrewE]

Some steam engines had (may still have?) a small steam turbine dynamo/generator. However I'm sure that was just for footplate and marker lights on the engine, not for anything on the train at all.

 

[duesselmartin]

I think that even then coaches on expresses had batteries that were recharged by dynamos. The battery would suffice when waiting to depart and at stops, but once the train started the lighting would be directly powered from the dynamo and the batteries would be recharging. A long stop would cause the batteries to slowly run down. (N.b. my knowledge of electricity is limited to how to replace a light bulb.)

It is a film: do you really expect accu

many European operators bought dynamo stock up until the 1960s. I still saw them in operation in Italy in the eraly 2000s. The lights would have lasted a couple of hours. Those batteries were basically just buffers. Stationary stock (in sidings over night ect) would was connected to a main power supply in the station/depot or siding.

 

[FormerBritInMe]

many European operators bought dynamo stock up until the 1960s. I still saw them in operation in Italy in the eraly 2000s. The lights would have lasted a couple of hours. Those batteries were basically just buffers. Stationary stock (in sidings over night ect) would was connected to a main power supply in the station/depot or siding.

That was also true in the US and Canada (use of batteries/dynamos) until the advent of Head End Power in the 1970s.

I recall one memorable trip, my first longish US train ride Philadelphia to Boston on Penn Central in 1968 where the coach I was in had dead batteries so the lights would go out at each station stop then come on once the train started moving. Eventually the dynamo got tired and gave up also, so the coach was in total darkness the rest of the trip. Which was fine with me as it allowed me to see the night time scenery much better

 

[D6130]

The 2017 film was a total fantasy from Kenneth Branagh's mind largely made using virtual reality imaging. The train sets off in dramatic fashion from a single track Istanbul station which looked like the interior of a mosque, headed by a lightly-modified SNCF (Est) class 241 A....scattering street urchins as it gathered speed through the suburbs apparently on street running. After the lengthy snowdrift delay, the train arrives at Brod - nowadays Slavonski Brod - which appears to be again a single track station with no passing loop or sidings and a rustic-looking timber-built station building situated in a valley surrounded by high rugged mountains. Anyone who has been to Slavonski Brod will know that it is a large industrial town with a large station consisting of several platforms and a sizeable marshalling yard...and situated on a huge plain stretching as far as the eye can see. Pure fantasy!

 

[Gordon]

I agree the 2017 version was drivel.

Compare with the 1974 version using still active (just) SNCF 141Rs in the Jura mountains

 

[Gloster]

The original used, I think, ex-PO 230 G 353 as the train loco at most parts of the journey, including during the departure from Istanbul and in the snow. There was also at least one 141R, as mentioned by @Gordon , as the rescue loco.

The loco on the 2017 remake was a plastic (?) replica of a 241A that is now at Bassenthwaite Lake station. The filming was done at Longcross (I think); I think they used an 03 and a Thomas Hill Vanguard to move the vehicles that they had brought in.

 

[Merle Haggard]

The original used, I think, ex-PO 230 G 353 as the train loco at most parts of the journey, including during the departure from Istanbul and in the snow. There was also at least one 141R, as mentioned by @Gordon , as the rescue loco.

The loco on the 2017 remake was a plastic (?) replica of a 241A that is now at Bassenthwaite Lake station. The filming was done at Longcross (I think); I think they used an 03 and a Thomas Hill Vanguard to move the vehicles that they had brought in.

In the 1974 version the loco carried enough coal to work through - no delays for it to be detached and visit a coaler. Presumably water was obtained at station stops from water cranes. I was surprised, a Duchess could only just manage 400 miles
But not as surprised as the loco crew working through. What stamina for the fireman - who still looked fresh on arrival. What a route card for the driver (although his traction wasn't a challenge).

 

[Gordon]

There is actually a picture by French photographer legend Jean Louis Poggi:

230g 353 murder on the orient express - Bing

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Note that 230G 353 never went outside France... The departure from Istanbul was filmed in an old works building at Le Landy, nowadays the TGV/Eurostar base!

The snow scenes were filmed on the now closed Pontarlier - Gilley line in the Jura mountains

 

[Tester]

The snow scenes were filmed on the now closed Pontarlier - Gilley line in the Jura mountains

OT, but thank you for this reference.

I had never heard of this line, but it appears to be almost entirely walkable - now on the list to be done!

 

[Gloster]

OT, but thank you for this reference.

I had never heard of this line, but it appears to be almost entirely walkable - now on the list to be done!

It was opened in 1888, closed to passengers in 1939 (?), closed to goods in 1988 and removed from the network in 1993; only a short stub remains the Pontarlier end for access to the Armstrong factory (how appropriate, in view of the title of this thread). It is walkable from the bridge over the Doubs to Gilley.

Source: Monsieur Wikipedia.