All the miscellaneous trivia we have uncovered over the
course of our research
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| Where on earth could they have shot this scene? |
The Isle of Man's flag can be seen briefly in the Shining Time Station intro at the beginning
of the movie. A suble hint of where this and a few other scenes were filmed.
The young lad in the photo is an Isle of Man resident. He, like
many other locals, were hired as extras in the movie. In August, 1999, a BBC News crew visited the filming location on the
IOM. They remarked about the lengths the production crew took to make the locale look 'American'. They interviewed one
of the children cast as an extra, and this is what Bobby Kneale had to say. "It's
(the movie) set in America. We're on the Isle of Man, and we have to bring all our clothes down and let them choose for us
the ones that look American."
A very interesting factoid from the film studio's movie Production Notes.
The full article, including Britt Allcroft's detailed concept for the Magic Railroad/Ley Lines connection can be
found in the 'Magic Railroad - Feature Articles' page. The folowing photos below demonstrate how the Magic Railroad was depicted on maps seen in the
movie.
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| Billy Twofeather's map of Indian Valley |
Mysterious lines crisscross Billy Twofeather's map of Indian Valley. These mysterious
lines do not go unnoticed by Patch as he was painting the Shining Time Billboard. When Billy Two-Feathers arrives in Shining
Time aboard the 'Rainbow Sun' (his engine), Patch takes the opportunity to ask him about the shadowy lines
seen on the map that resemble the tracks of railways.
Billy begins answering "It's mysteries that make this place..."
"...magical", replies Patch.
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Additional shadowy lines can be seen crisscrossing the map hanging
on the wall behind Lady in Burnett Stone's Muffle Mountain workshop.
These mapped lines represent the Magic Railroad - as described by Patch in
the movie. "This must be the map of her Magic Railroad. But the railroad's energy
is fading away. I sensed it when we were riding. Lily and I were travelling on the ground above it!"
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| Lady's Magic Railroad as depicted on Burnett Stone's map |
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Ajani Booth shares this rather uncanny example of life imitating art (or vice-versa). When
you compare Richard Kriegler's
matte painting for the movie (bottom-left), with the photo taken by professional photographer Oleg Gordienko (bottom right), it appears that the Magic Railroad portal,
exists in real life! Known as the 'Green Tunnel' or 'Green Mile', this is a real place found near the town of Rivne, Western
Ukraine. Higher quality images of the Green Tunnel can be found on Oleg Gordienko's website. Though Oleg's photos are recent and the location in existence for decades, it really does make us pause
to wonder!
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| The Magic Railroad: Life imitating Art? |
 At the very end of the movie's credits, special thanks are given by the producers to the
'fairies'. Here is the story behind it according to Co-Producer Philip D. Fehrle.
We'd like to thank Daily News (Los
Angeles) columnist Valerie Kuklenski and Librarian Miriam Velasquez for permission to post excerpts
of Valerie's 29 July, 2000 article to the fansite.
Fehrle said the locals on the Isle of Man in the Irish
Sea [1], where the exteriors were shot, made no secret of their beliefs in folklore, particularly their respect
for fairies and the good or bad will they could cause.
Fehrle said his location manager, Jim Cleary, was driving one
day when they crossed a span labeled ``The Fairy Bridge.''
"He said, `Good morning, fairies,' '' Fehrle said. ``He
said, 'Phil, if you want to have good luck on this picture, you should say good morning to the fairies.' ''
Much later
in the shoot, Fehrle said, the crew was setting up a shot in a large field with one clump of brush standing in it.
"Jim
pointed to it and said, 'There are fairies living in there. It'd probably be a good idea to get their permission to be here,'
'' Fehrle said.
By then, the Encino-based producer, who usually deals with film offices, city bureaucrats and property
owners for such matters, had fallen in step with the customs.
"So I went over and had a conversation with the fairies,''
he said. ``And then I came back and said, 'Jim, I'm not sure, but I think they said it was OK.'
"And you can believe
whatever you want, but we had great weather.''
1. Originally and mistakenly referred to as the 'North Sea' in the Daily
News article. Our thanks go to longtime SiF member Eliot A. for pointing this out, and we have updated
the text accordingly.
At one point during production, there was talk of giving the engines one new added characteristic.
Though producer Britt Allcroft's intuition resisted the suggestion, the pros and cons for either going/not going
ahead with this plan were indeed discussed!
Again, we thank Daily News Librarian Miriam Valasquez
for permission to post excerpts of Valerie's article.
"We talked long and hard about it because we were conflicted about whether the
mouths should move or not,'' said Phil Fehrle, the film's other producer. "Early on, everybody automatically assumed the mouths
would move, and we said, 'Not necessarily.' And I think we agonized over that decision for about eight weeks before we decided.
"It was always an audience consideration - will the audience be disappointed if the mouths don't move or will they
be disappointed if the mouths do move,'' Fehrle said. ``I was glad a year ago when we made the decision, and I'm glad today.''
What would the engines have looked like with moving mouths you ask? Our curiosity got
the better of us, so we experimented with a clip from the movie (seen below). Not high-tech CGI, but entertaining nonetheless!
For the record, we're more than happy with the existing status quo and the decision the producers made for not
animating the mouths!
References to people and places in Thomas and the Magic Railroad , and even
earlier - Shining Time Station can be found in the lexicon once used by North American railway workers.
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Described as a "drifter by choice" by Britt Allcroft in her
script's character notes, PT Boomer's surname could be attributed to the term once used for men who were drawn to boom
camps for work. They never settled down and were always on the move from one railroad job to another. Early American
railwaymen also often addressed one another by their initials, possibly explaining why Boomer is only known as 'PT'.
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A railwayman's paradise that can be found at the end of the rainbow where
good jobs could be found and where the trains always ran on time. A 'Boomer' who was quitting a job (or was fired) would
often say that they were going to the "Indian Valley".
A correspondant of mine, retired
GM&O - ICG* train dispatcher Bill Dunbar mentioned that Indian Valley was the place all good railroaders went to
when they died.
* Gulf,
Mobile & Ohio Railroad - Illinois Central Gulf Railroad
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American railroad workers used the term 'Shining Time' synonymously
with 'Starting Time' when the work day begins at sunrise.
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An interesting factoid discovered during the course of our research revealed that the firebox
scene with Lady was actually filmed during the winter of 2000 in the alleyway of GVFX's Toronto office. An open (doorless) firebox
was set up for Bill Neil to film the scene. A coal fire was lit and stoked
by none other than Executive Producer Phil Fehrle. The fire
was then sequenced by the special effects crew to make it appear that it was Burnett Stone who was doing all the
work. ;-)
As Britt Allcroft mentioned in her letter to Ryan, the girl with the dyed red hair pictured
on this page was a member of the movie's art department. We're also told that another TATMR crew member had a cameo
- this being the seated gentleman seen @ 7:58 minutes into the movie: Key Grip 'Ricco'
With Thanks to Dave Axford for the tip :)
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| A TATMR cameo by Key Grip 'Ricco' |
The voice behind Annie & Clarabel - Britt Allcroft's Personal
Assistant Shelley Elizabeth Skinner makes a cameo in one of the final
scenes as one of Stacey Jones' customers. The red-headed stage hand from the beginning of the movie also makes another appearance
as a cleaner (seen right).
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| Shelley Elizabeth Skinner |
Producer Phil Fehrle
makes a split-second cameo cheering the baseball players on in one of the final scenes of the movie.
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| Producer Phil Fehrle cheering team on (right) |
Pennsylvania Unit Production Manager Keith W.
Strandberg was asked by Britt to portray a departing husband cameo in one of the early scenes
of the movie. Read more about it here.
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| PA Unit Production Manager Keith W. Strandberg |
And we've confirmed that the motorcyclist seen at the crossroads
with Burnett Stone was actually Production Manager Noella Nesdoly in
the guise of PT Boomer.
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| Motorcyclist at Crossroads (Noella Nesdoly) |
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