Jay Runkle

Revealing mistake: When Ransom and Hallie Stoddard are riding the train back to Washington at the end of the film, pay attention to the view out the window as Hallie responds to Ransom's suggestion of returning to Shinbone. When the conductor brings the spittoon and talks to them, the same exterior footage repeats from when Hallie started to speak. (02:01:30 - 02:02:15)

Jay Runkle

Other mistake: While Ransom Stoddard and his wife are on the train back to Washington, the conductor tells them that the train will be able to maintain a speed of 25 mph throughout the journey. The film is set around 1900, by which time trains were regularly topping 65 mph, and the outside scenery is moving faster than it would for something traveling at 25 mph.

Jay Runkle

19th Feb 2021

Money Train (1995)

Factual error: After John and Charlie jump off the money train, it reverses and derails onto its side, and rolls for some distance in the tunnel, knocking down all support columns in its path. Those columns are not as flimsy as the film suggests, and would actually have sliced the train and/or cause it to buckle, as had happened with a similarly derailed train near the 14th Street-Union Square station in 1991.

Jay Runkle

1st Oct 2020

October Sky (1999)

Factual error: As Homer and his friends attempt to flag down the train after dislodging the old rail, the engine seen is of the 2-8-2 wheel arrangement with markings of the Norfolk and Western Railway. The Norfolk and Western never owned any 2-8-2 locomotives, preferring instead engines of the 4-8-0 arrangement.

Jay Runkle

Factual error: A NYC subway scene depicts what appears to be either an R-44, or an R-46 series subway car, carrying a red "2" route designation. The 2 is a former Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) line, which is currently designated as the NYC Transit's "A" division, the trains of which are about a foot narrower than those of the "B" division, and the train shown is of the latter division. The former Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit (BMT) lines, as well as those of the Independent Subway System (IND), which make up the "B" division, are lettered rather than numbered, and the trains of that division cannot operate on "A" division lines due to their size.

Jay Runkle

22nd Mar 2016

Money Train (1995)

Plot hole: When Charlie sets out to hijack the money train, he jumps off the platform onto the tracks as it arrives, in plain sight of the driver and other passengers at the station, and only puts his mask on once he's in position on the tracks. The train conveniently stops right over top of Charlie, allowing him to enter through the conveniently-placed grate on the train's floor. (01:17:15)

Jay Runkle

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