Everything Wrong with the Trains in The Lone Ranger



Trains are a staple of the Western Genre, so lets see if the Lone Ranger does them any justice as Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp team up to stop a railroad from manifesting its destiny.

Thanks to Hyce for the help: https://youtube.com/@Hyce777?si=KtrqUXZGcb1BExKL

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35 thoughts on “Everything Wrong with the Trains in The Lone Ranger”

  1. The shared truck design on the ore hoppers were the result of the hopper props being two bodies on one frame; also I think you forgot to mention the axle bearings (roller bearings for railroads weren't invented until the early 20th century when Timken 1111 was built)

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  2. Depicting almost parallel tracks for no good reason is a common thing in many model railways where the modeller simply wants to depict two different types of line but it always strikes me as silly when there is a railway track that needs a huge bridge to cross a chasm when there is another railway only a hundred metres away crossing the same landscape where the valley has shrunk to being a small stream.

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  3. If you want to know why Disney decided to portray this movie like the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, I have your answers:

    1) They can't actually go and name the company Union Pacific, as that would bring on all of the lawsuits.

    2) They did the best they could to recreate period correct trains, and figured no one would notice anything wrong.

    3) This movie was meant for kids, mostly, and Disney has a way of incorrectly portraying history… almost like there's a narrative they're trying to push. Or, more correctly, like a certain political party wants them to push. It makes sense because why else would our protagonist be so against guns IN THE WILD WEST?

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  4. if Union Pacific routed the Transcontinental to Texas they'd of gone into triple bankruptcy!
    also HO scale was not invented until 1920s or so & the train layout in the passenger car IS HO scale! wrong!
    model train ISN'T OO its HO!
    also the Knuckle Coupler wasn't invented until 1873!
    cause in the 1860s they were still using Link & Pin couplers!
    also both locos at Promontory Summit were 4-4-0s!

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  5. Everything railroad related in this movie simply kills my interest. It only displayed the ignorance of the writers. Such a huge waste of money, for it is glaringly obvious that they were clueless about steamers or even the most general of physics. One can only suspend reality for so long before it simply becomes more annoying than any potential story. The geography, Westinghouse air brakes, access to passenger car roofs (common in sooooooooo many movies with passenger train scenes)… Sad… At least get the locomotive controls correct, eh? Hollywood lives in a different reality than the real world outside of California… smh

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  6. At. 16:35 I can absolutely believe that steam is cool enough and at a low enough pressure to be safe to walk through. The relationship between temperature and pressure are very close and the fact you can see the white stuff shows that it is mainly water vapour condensing as it rapidly expands and cools outside of the pressure vessel. I still wouldn't stand directly next to an open cylinder cock but after being sprayed by many locomotive's cylinder cocks and blow down valves I'm fairly confident that those chaps would be fine.

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  7. It's very obvious from the get-go that "The Lone Ranger" was not aiming for accuracy at all. Yes, the movie did very poorly; it bombed at the box office, it wasn't very well received by critics (they criticized its 2.5-hour run-time, nonsensical and incomprehensible action scenes, cringy dialogue, and various other issues), and it won the razzie for worst prequel, remake, rip-off or sequel. However, you can clearly tell that they put a lot of effort into constructing the locomotives, cars, track, and other props for the movie, and it's very visually stunning. In fact, "The Lone Ranger" was nominated for two Oscars (Best Visual Effects, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling).

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  8. Never saw the movie, and people keep telling me how cool "Unstoppable" was… Hyce and bucket about those couplers… I catch air lines on other "old train" movies and shows as such. Only in 1900 were airlines mandatory. I'm not 100% accurate, but neither is the movie. Well, that's Hollywood for ya.

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  9. i will NOT tolerate slander of this movie. Ppl who have an issue with the pacing and plot/writing seem to miss that its a love letter and bit of a homage to the older American and Spaghetti westerns with a few more modern twists.

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