Talk about good timing!

I just picked up the March issue of TRAINS at the post office box and was pleasantly surprised to find a favorite old photo in the "Ask TRAINS" section in response to a question regarding Little House On The Prairie. IIRC, the Runaway Caboose episode involved scenes shot in Dry Creek Canyon, as Brian pointed out, while the actual "catch" footage was shot between Milepost 30 and 31 where the Sierra mainline parallels Highways 108-120 east of Keystone.

This sequence was shot on Wednesday, November 5, 1975 utilizing Rogers #3 (lettered for the "St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba", caboose #7 and Baldwin S12 #42. A wood boom was rigged on the pilot of #3 to accomodate a camera and the stunt man taking Michael Landon's role in some of the scenes. The Three-spot's movie train consisted of a wood box car, flat car and coaches #2 and #6. The diesel was used to kick the caboose over a hogback with conductor/engineer Bill Coffer operating the caboose brakes inside the car as #3 "caught" the runaway. The photo in the latest Trains was made at Jamestown prior to the train's 8:30AM departure for Keystone.

Landon's crew was gracious and accomodating, the day's film work went without a hitch, and most of the work was done by early afternoon. Of all the Hollywood stars who did location shooting in Tuolumne County, the Little House people were the most beloved by the locals. It was not uncommon to find Landon and his family dining in local restaurants, left alone, and treated like any other residents. At the same time, I never saw the man turn down an autograph request and he always had time to pose for pictures with his fans. The LHOP people even went so far as to play charity softball games with local residents--good fun all around. Landon was the real deal, as un-Hollywood as it got, and people in Tuolumne County appreciated that. Sierra Railroad personnel and others involved in movie work had finely-tuned bullshit filters when it came to the "big stars". They always had good things to say about Landon.

Michael left us way too soon.

T. Benson--retired and lovin' it in American Grafitti's hometown.