Building on a thread on the New Haven Railroad Forum, we've created this page to record where the New Haven Railroad has shown up on film or TV. Look at the notes field for each film for specific New Haven Railroad scenes.
This catalogue is not complete and will be updated from time to time as more information is received or uncovered. If you can contribute additions, corrections, or updates, please email your information to Charlie Dunn at NHTowerTalk@hotmail.com.
Year | Title | Notes | Genre | Link |
1936 | Gold Diggers of 1937 | Features a few quick color scenes of the Comet in its original color scheme. | Comedy, Musical | IMDB |
1943 | Crash Dive | Very few seconds of I-5 footage at speed on the Shore Line in color. Also several scenes shot at New London Station as the principals board or detrain from various trains. | Drama, Romance, War | IMDB |
1945 | Where Do We Go from Here? | Brief scene of an EP-4 and passenger train. - Tom Curtin | Comedy | IMDB |
1947 | Boomerang | Shots at the beginning at Stamford with older MUs. - F. J. Ahern | Drama | IMDB |
1947 | Life with Father | Father's "Not another New Haven Railroad wreck!" comment counts. - Henry Statkowski | Comedy | IMDB |
1947 | Gentleman’s Agreement | Gregory Peck getting off an EP-4 led train of American Flyer coaches at, Darien, Connecticut. | Drama, Romance | IMDB |
1948 | Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House | Shot of an EP-2 or 3 at Cannondale station in a scene. - Steve Johnson | Comedy | IMDB |
1951 | The Day the Earth Stood Still | Three very short seconds of the engineer and fireman of New Haven EF-3 #0153 peering out the cab window and door up at the pantograph and catenary in the scene where the "earth stood still." | Drama, Family, Sci-Fi, Thriller | IMDB |
1951 | Strangers on a Train | Scenes filmed at and around Danbury, including Alfred Hitchcock detraining with a big cello. | Drama | IMDB |
1956 | The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit | Very nice shots of an eastbound EP-5 with stainless steel consist stopping in Westport. Gregory Peck detrains and wife, Jennifer Jones, drives him home from the station, accurately depicting the landscape rolling away behind the car (under the main, through Saugatuck village, through the vehicular truss bridge over the river, and the rest of the road heading over to Compo area). Also very quick scenes of a westbound EP-5, and another with an EP-3. Some interior shots with the Park Avenue viaduct around 125th Street rolling by outside the windows. - several contributors | Drama | IMDB |
1958 | Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys! | Filmed in Westport with occasional glimpses of New Haven action, including new EP-5s. - Henry Statkowski | Comedy | IMDB |
1959 | It Happened to Jane | New Haven J-1 #3016, the New Haven's last steamer, and various other New Haven FL-9s and passenger equipment have uncredited roles throughout this movie. Filmed in various locations on the New Haven. | Comedy | IMDB |
1959 | That Kind of Woman | Short segment of Grand Central Terminal and 125th Street. | Drama | IMDB |
1960 | Butterfield 8 | Laurence Harvey plays the role of Weston Ligett who has a plush Manhattan apt and a home in Fairfield County. - Albert Brecken | Drama | IMDB |
1961 | Return to Peyton Place | Shots in the electrified zone, might be an EP-3 and passenger train. - Henry Statkowski | Drama | IMDB |
1962 | Boys’ Night Out | Although the railroad scenes appeared to be shot around Hollywood, (non-NH cars doctored up to believable NH McGinnis era replicas, appear to be possibly AT&SF cars). The movie is based on the NH territory, philandering husbands living in Fairfield County, working in New York City, and commuting on “allegedly” NH stainless steel coaches. – Doug Kydd | Comedy | IMDB |
1966 | Death of a Salesman | Drama | IMDB | |
1967 | The Tiger Makes Out | Ending scenes are a New Haven station platform with washboard cars. | Comedy | IMDB |
1969 | Alice’s Restaurant | Filmed on the Berkshire line, in Stockbridge, MA, the hippie-dippy Arlo Guthrie film company made no prior arrangements with the New Haven Railroad regarding the arrival of half of Woodstock to Alice's Restaurant by train. The extras all boarded at Lee and proceeded to pay the overworked Conductor the cash fare for the ride to Stockbridge, the next stop down the line. Pete McLaughlan was the Engineer on the run, but he wasn't at the throttle that morning. He was occupying the center seat while a railfan was running the train. - Henry Statkowski | Comedy, Musical | IMDB |
1969 | The April Fools | Features EP-5, 82/3/500 series coaches, interior of Watch Hill or Bunker Hill, and Washboard MU car, # 4444 I believe. - Doug Kydd | Romantic Comedy | IMDB |
1970 | The Out-of-Towners | Scenes on the New Haven in 1968 between South Station and Route 128, interior and exterior shots. | Comedy | IMDB |
1971 | The French Connection | A chase scene was shot along the right of way of the New York Connecting RR in Queens. | Action, Drama | IMDB |
1971 | The Steagle | Scenes with EP-5s at night. | Comedy | IMDB |
1972 | The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds | Filmed on Seaview Avenue in Bridgeport with occasional New Haven action trundling down the middle of the street. - Henry Statkowski | Drama | IMDB |
1973 | The Friends of Eddie Coyle | Has scenes shot at Sharon, MA station in the early 70's with an NH RDC and the Turbo Train at speed, also shots of the Boston area. | IMDB | |
1973 | Class of ‘44 | Features a "false " NH train: a CN FP-9 masquerading as a NH engine in an Hollywood interpretation of the Orange and Pin Striped scheme. - Doug Kydd | Drama | IMDB |
1973 | The Seven-Ups | The big gunfight scene at the end of the movie takes place along an electrified ROW. During the scene, at least two PC GG-1s and Turbo-Train pass by. - Stan Horzepa | Crime | IMDB |
1976 | Brinks: The Great Robbery | Consists of an ex PRR SW-1 # 8537 pathetically made over into a NH unit. The makeover appeared to be two McGinnis style NH insignias, apparently hastily created with "MISTIC TAPE". I saw this unit in South Station at about the same time. You may be able to see a picture of this unit in a copy of EXTRA 2200 SOUTH of the era, memory is fading. - Doug Kydd | Drama | IMDB |
1978 | Suddenly, Love | Towards the end of this film there is a scene that shows a string of "washboard" electric MU commuter cars sitting in a station. As the camera follows the actors down the platform the cars' NYNH&H script monograms can be seen in the background. | Drama, Romance | IMDB |
1978 | Superman – The Movie | A couple of short scenes of New Haven FL-9s moving through the tunnels under Grand Central Terminal in Metropolis. | Action | IMDB |
1979 | Disaster on the Coastliner | A perfectly awful made-for-TV movie. Although the locale of the story was purportedly the California coast, it was shot on the Shore Line in the Lyme-Niantic, CT area (which doesn't remotely resemble the Pacific coast, but that's just one of many awful things about this film . . . ). Although it was a few years into the Amtrak era, I suppose it qualifies as being shot on the New Haven! - Tom Curtin | Action | IMDB |
1988 | Mystic Pizza | Amtrak scene just east of Stonington station. - Doug Kydd | Comedy, Drama, Romance | IMDB |
1990 | Stanley & Iris | Iris works in a bakery. The bakery is located next to a railroad trestle. The trestle is seen in a number of shots during the movie. The trestle is actually part of the New Haven's Dublin Street branch in Waterbury, which was originally part of the Waterbury and Meriden RR. - Stan Horzepa | Drama, Romance | IMDB |
1992 | Malcom X | The Parlor Car GREAT REPUBLIC, which resides in Essex, CT on the Valley Railroad, was used. I understand that the car made no fewer than two deadhead trips to New York to make the short film sequence. - Doug Kydd | Drama | IMDB |
2000 | Thirteen Days | Drama, Thriller, War | IMDB |