The Letter

Frank writes...

Monday, November 27th was filming day at IRM. The movie being filmed was an indie called "The Letter" which is set in 1922 in New England, if memory serves. And excitingly enough, the producers - following a recommendation from Greg Ceurvorst - specifically requested use of three CA&E wood cars! So of course we obliged with the 308-309-319 (the 36 is temporarily out-of-service for controller work). My father is still on vacation so it was up to me to be the on-site "interurban car wrangler." Unfortunately I had to be at work for the afternoon so I was only there in person during the morning but the aforementioned Greg, our motorman for the day, took a slew of great photos. All photos are by Greg except where noted.

When I arrived around 6:45am the sun was just rising. We don't see this view of the CA&E cars very often, not on operating days anyway. (Photo by Frank Hicks.)

It took longer than anticipated to get everything sorted out, including some unanticipated switching, but we got the train into the depot slightly after 9am. I was able to hook up the 319 to the other two cars, which had already been made up, so the 309 was in the middle of the consist and the 308 was on the east end. Richard Schauer, Greg Kepka, and others in the Car Shop had done yeoman's work to get a portable cab heater working for use on the 308 and it was definitely appreciated during the morning. Those things crank out a lot of heat! But we were extremely lucky that the high was 61 degrees, awfully unusual in late November, so after mid-morning we actually didn't need the cab heater. And the extras on the train weren't miserably cold, which was something I had been worried about given that the cars don't have working heat. But I digress. (Photo by Frank Hicks.)

Initially the crew was Greg as motorman, Keith Leitze (left) as conductor, and Fred Zimmerman (right) as trainman. Fred had to leave for much of the morning to go get the 3142 ready to run (more on that later) but was back later on to resume his duties on the 'Roarin' Elgin.

And here's the shop guy at the west end of the consist.

There must have been about 20 crew people on the set plus 50 or 60 extras, all made up in 1920s attire. Here the extras go to board the train. I went along for the first trip, which included a westbound departure from the depot to Jefferson; then east, running through the depot at low speed, and out to Kishwaukee Grove, then back to the museum short-turning at the west switch. This trip was done to get exterior drone shots which, needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing in the final movie! On the way back at about signal 371, east of Seeman Road, the drone hit a tree so that halted things for a bit.

Initially we thought they'd only need the CA&E cars until early afternoon but then they told us they'd want some dusk shots, so Car Shop regular Thomas Slater and I trooped over to Barn 8 to retrieve a headlight and markers. Here we are returning with the loot. Thomas and his girlfriend Shelby, who has been helping out in recent months organizing some of the department's reference materials, were there working as extras. Larry Stone and Crew Caller Jim West were also there working as extras. Unfortunately I didn't get any good photos of any of them in their 1920s garb.

Here's Keith peering out from the step well of the train.

And a shot of Fred on the platform in his conductor's uniform.

This is the point where I had to leave to go to work, so after this I'm not exactly as clear on what's happening in Greg's photos. I believe they did some filming in front of the depot with people boarding the train. I'm sorry I missed that, I bet it was pretty interesting. I was told by one of the people on the film crew that the producers would likely digitally blank out the cars' letterboards so that moviegoers don't see a Chicago Aurora & Elgin train in a scene set in New England. Here Mark Egebrecht, who showed up to help as a trainman, stands by while extras board. Sam Polenetzky was also there in uniform to lend a hand.

The movie people showed up with all sorts of neat props including several antique cars. There was also an extensive wardrobe department, most of which was spread out on tarps on the grass along the east side of the diner annex. I never went into the diner but I believe that was the staging and dressing area for the extras.

It looks like there was also some filming inside East Union Depot.

Here's Jim West, our longtime Crew Caller, nattily attired as an extra. Jim arrived early in the morning to help out, which was good, because we needed him to fire up the 45-tonner and move the C&NW bi-levels off of the main line so that the movie train could run east from the property. He and Thomas made that move happen.

Then as dusk approached, the CA&E cars were put back in the barn by Greg and Keith. Many thanks to Thomas for stowing the markers and headlight and locking everything up! In turn the 3142 was brought out for some evening scenes the producers wanted to film. Here the 3142 sits in the depot, a location it usually isn't seen in, where the producer goes over the scene with some of the actors.

A few of the extras listen in on how the scene is going to go. I was told that, for some reason, the film included segregated seating on the trains, despite the fact that this would not have been seen in New England in the 1920s. But who am I to question artistic license?

The 3142 prepares to depart East Union at sunset.

They were taking exterior drone shots of the 3142, also, which meant that the on-board crew had to hunker down out of sight. With the car lights on at dusk, and without any toilet compartments or anything else to hide behind, there aren't that many options! Apparently the 3142 has also reverted to its days as a two-man car - proper if this takes place in 1922, admittedly.

Talk about rare mileage! That's right, this photo shows the 3142 all the way out at Seeman Road. I assume that the car has made it this far east before but I can't recall when, and it certainly is not a common occurrence. But the script called for a streetcar at a rural flag stop, and IRM is happy to be able to oblige.

And Greg closed out his photography for the day with this beautiful shot of the 3142 and a fading sunset. If anyone has any additional photos of the movie shoot they'd like to submit, just send them along and we'll be happy to post them. We'll also try and update you once the movie comes out.