Professionals, The (1960)
Professionals, The (1960)
A star-studded cast of shady characters is sent to retrieve a Texas man's missing wife. Lots of spectacular train action in this one!
Opening scenes feature the "J.W. Grant" #75 locomotive leading a train through the high desert. All of the film's train scenes were shot on the former Eagle Mountain Railway outside Indio, CA using Great Western Railway's #75. This 2-8-0 has seen quite a bit of film use over the years and was bought in the late 1990s by the Heber Valley RR in Utah. While it operated briefly, it has been in restoration for decades.
This is the approximate location of the crossing seen early in the film: 33.603708, -115.532243
The siding & MOW shed were located somewhere just south of here.
(This is a remote area only accessible by 4WD vehicles)
I believe this to be the approximate site of the US/Mexico border trestle in the film, although nothing remains of it today: 33.554983, -115.601341
The distinctive red rock canyon where they standoff with the Mexicans was filmed in Valley of Fire State Park in Overton, NV.
The huge steel trestle where our heroes watch the battle play out between the revolutionaries and the Mexican soldiers was also on the old Eagle Mountain RR line. This bridge still stands, albeit in a very remote location. GPS Coordinates: 33.517962, -115.677585
For these scenes later in the film, Great Western #75 was repainted as "N de M #903."
Our heroes make off with the train then send it flying backwards down the tracks in a big action showpiece.