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1977-1981
  
Public Relations and Advertising Department
Windsor Station Montreal Que. H3C 3E4
 

Volume 7   Number 14

Nov. 2, 1977


Superman Takes to the Tracks in
Race Against Locomotive

Superman men
Superman men:  The CP Rail crew of the short-lived, soon-to-be-famous "Kansas Star", takes time out with N.R. Foot, Assistant Superintendent, Alberta South (second from right) for one more camera shot. In their Kansas Star capacities they are:  (from left rear) Stan "Red" Davis Conductor, Frank Wince Carman, Leo Burgess Head-end Trainman (seated), Art Moline Tail-end Trainman, and Tom Lewko Engineer. Apart from Lewko - who is a CP Rail engineer - the crew are all conductors in real life.
 
 
 Superman men It's a bird... it's a plane... it's SUPERMAN. And what's more he's giving a few prairie chickens a hard time while racing a speeding CP Rail train.
 
Yes folks, Superman is soon coming to the silver screen and, as in many cases before, the U.S. film company - this time it was Superman Productions - came to us for a hand.
 
In the film though, don't bother straining your orbs looking for our multimark - or even the fancy barber stripes with which we decorate our noses. For the movie, an A unit, 4037, was decked out in the colours of the mythical "Kansas Star" and was put at the head of two 2200 series coaches, a boxcar, baggage car, and horsecar.
 
The CP Rail crew of the Kansas Star are all residents of Lethbridge, Alberta, in real life and two of them already have movie experience.
 
Kansas City carman, Frank Wince (a CP Rail conductor) is a veteran of "Silver Streak" and engineman Tom Lewko was one of the engineers manning the steam locomotive in the making of "Days of Heaven".
 
The big scene for the Kansas Star, comes at a point when Superman - played by Jeff East - proves that even though still a boy, he can outpace a locomotive.
 
Venue for the big race was Barons, northwest of Lethbridge on the Aldersyde Subdivision. Although the movie sequence may only last for a few minutes in the completed version, the crew was on hand for six days of filming. The Kansas Star chalked up 100 short runs over a two-mile stretch during the shooting.
 
And though CP Rail News would love to spill the beans on how the special effects people accomplished the feat of Superman's triumph over the train, we will resist the temptation. After all - the movie company did pay for the privilege. But there are a least six CP Rail men who know how it was done - why not ask them.
 
 CP 4070 lettered for movie Silverstreak - May 1976
CP 4070 lettered for the Hollywood movie "SilverStreak" at
John Street yard in Toronto sometime during May 1976.

This CP Rail News article is copyright 1977 by Canadian Pacific Railway and is reprinted here with their permission. All photographs, logos, and trademarks are the property of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.

© 2005 William C. Slim       http://www.okthepk.ca