TV's Cannonball Express Turns 33
Petticoat Junction's Large Scale Miniatures
Hooterville's Train
By Richard C. Datin
Photos courtesy of Richard C. Datin
[taken by him on or about July 11, 1966 just before
he delivered the models to Filmways]
It might come as a surprise to many readers who at
one time during the 1960s may have watched a segment or two of the
long running television series Petticoat Junction without
realizing the show occasionally utilized a set of scale models to
enhance the image of its thin storyline. Heretofore, the popular
sitcom show satisfied its backdrop needs to partially-built
full-size studio sets housed on the sound stages of the General
Service Studio in Hollywood. Its stock film footage of the
Cannonball Express train was shot on location using the Sierra
Railroad facilities at Jamestown, CA.
Among the more noteworthy stage props of Petticoat Junction
was a full-size model of Sierra combine No. 5. The other star was
a redecorated wood, fiberglas, and steel replica of
Schenectady-built Rio Grande Southern locomotive No. 20. Built
originally by Twentieth Century-Fox for its 1950 motion picture
"Ticket to Tomahawk", the narrow gauge 4-6-0 movie star "stood in"
for Sierra's standard gauge ten-wheel movie star No. 3.
Petticoat Junction attracted its own audience of loyal fans in
the 1960s-unlike those diehard individuals who studiously watched
each TV episode of Star Trek. The shows seemed to be at opposing
ends of a wildly different entertainment spectrum, though both
employed miniatures built by the author. More than thirty years
have passed since that particular period in 1966, which became the
busiest season of my commercial modelmaking career since starting
a modelshop in Los Angeles during 1954.
Over the years, a wide variety of projects crossed my work
tables, including architectural and engineering scale models,
full-size mockups, miniature props for Speedy Alka Seltzer, Sugar
Jets cereal and Jolly Green Giant TV commercials, as well as
several models for the original Star Trek TV series.
It was during May, 1966, when I segued from installing lights
in the twelve-foot long model of the U.S.S. Enterprise at the
behest of Gene Roddenberry to my long-sought reverie of not only
building a model railroad train, but getting paid for it, too.
Unfortunately, Petticoat's shooting schedule did not allow much
time for a model railroader to wallow in this seventh heaven more
than a few hours. I had only six weeks to accomplish a miracle
before delivery.
Produced by Paul Henning, whose other TV series included Green
Acres and the Beverly Hillbillies, the Petticoat Junction program
ran for seven years, beginning in 1963. It garnered a niche in
television antiquity as perhaps the slowest-moving sitcom in TV
history. Following the first three seasons, the powers-to-be felt
the half-hour show needed to expand its scope as well as reduce
the expense of production personnel traveling from Hollywood to
Jamestown, California to film background scenes featuring Sierra
locomotive No. 3 and the "shorty" combine No. 5, the real-life
counterparts to the models soon to appear.
During my initial conference with the people of Filmways TV
Productions, they envisioned models of one-inch to one-foot scale
or larger, as had been the practice for years in Hollywood movies.
Knowing the tremendous expense for miniatures of this size, not to
mention the months to fabricate them, I suggested 7/16" [that
is 7/16" = 1'-0"] scale would be ideal. They were quite cold
to this idea at first, but when confronted with the costs, my
delivery time, their schedule, and the superb detail attainable,
they agreed.
Since I was familiar with the wide variety of scale model
trains produced by Dick Wheeler, long-time owner of Model
Engineering Works (MEW) in Monrovia, CA, I had in mind using his
7/16" scale model of Colorado Midland's No. 25 engine. The
imported brass ten-wheeler, part of his "sideline hobby" of
manufacturing large-scale detailed trains for outdoor use,
happened to be quite similar to Sierra's Rogers-built No. 3, with
some major readjustments on my part. Besides the combination car
and 60 feet of track, models of the "Shady Rest Hotel", "Sam
Drucker's General Store," the Hooterville Station and Shady Rest
Stop, plus the Jamestown water tank, completed the wide array of
7/16" scale structures used in conjunction with the abridged
Cannonball Express.
Starting in May, 1966, I sought out long-time rail fan and
friend of Del Rey, CA, the late Stan Snook, to take close-up and
side view photos of both the engine and combine with emphasis on
detail for modelbuilding. From these shots I drew a 7/16" scale
side elevation drawing of the Sierra ten-wheeler and another of
Wheeler's model as a comparison to judge which portions of each
could be utilized/discarded and/or built new. Meanwhile, Walter
McKeegan, art director of Filmways, handed me their drawings of
the false front sets and hotel. Immediately, I sought help from
the local model railroad fraternity to construct models of the
structures.
I found Lorin Brown, an exceptional modeler, who was
contracted to build the combine complete with sagging steps as
well as the water tank. For the ornate Shady Rest Hotel, a young
Bill Gould emerged as a tremendous help in getting that large
project well on its way. At the same time, I dismantled MEW's
model locomotive, built a new cab, pilot, working headlight, smoke
stack, lengthened the Colorado Midland frame to match the Rogers
wheel arrangement, installed a Seuthe smoke generating unit,
reduced the size of the sand dome, and repositioned both the sand
and steam domes. For the tender, I simply added a flat metal
washer above each truck bolster to attain the correct height, plus
a load of "authentic-looking" cordwood fashioned from a nearby
neighbor's hedge.
The colorful paint scheme established by the show for the
train was faithfully followed. The lettering, numbering and
headlight artwork were left to the art director to apply.
Sharp-eyed viewers may have noticed that the Sierra engine was
number three on their roster of locomotives. However, it became
Number 8 during the Petticoat Junction series. Interestingly, the
reason behind the studio's choice of using number "8" for the
Cannonball Express was that "8" still read "8" when the film is
flopped for a reverse and different view of the short consist as
it rolled by the camera. Following the completion of the
locomotive I began modeling the buildings.
When the project was finished, some moments were spent
photographing the scale models on a landscaped platform in the
backyard of my home in North Hollywood. Due to the nature of this
demanding type of work, it was feast or famine at times. As a
consequence, I missed many of the Petticoat Junction shows due to
the more immediate need of additional models for the Star Trek
series. Two of the segments stand out, though. A night scene using
the Shady Rest Hotel was highly dramatic (for me at least) except
for the excessively illuminated windows which tended to wash out
portions of the detailed model. The other show pictured the
Cannonball Express "steaming" toward the viewer to slice a
ceremonial ribbon stretched across the track for some sort of
homecoming event. That was an exceptional scene, even if I must
say so! [Editor's note - This is in episode #6605 called
"Cannonball, Inc." and the banner says "Welcome Hooterville
Cannonball"]
Twenty-five years have passed since I last built scale models
for the studios in Hollywood; this includes working at Twentieth
Century-Fox on the motion picture "Tora, Tora Tora" followed by a
brief stint at Paramount Studios. Within this timeframe I found
employment as a professional modelmaker, then as model shop
supervisor for the Marine Division of Litton Industries and later
by Bechtel Power Corp. in San Francisco. Nor do I live in LA or SF
anymore; however, collecting toy trains, writing and publishing
history books occupy my retirement years in Nevada as the founding
curator of the Nevada State Railroad Museum. And you might wonder
what ever became of the Cannonball Express models? Larry Jensen,
author of "The Movie Railroads", last said that they were
carefully stored and in possession of producer Paul Henning.
Richard C. Datin wrote this article for a model railroad
magazine in 1996 and has graciously allowed me to share it and the
photos with you.
Thank you, Mr. Datin!
For more information about the Hooterville
Cannonball,
To see photos of the models as they are now displayed in
Paul Henning's home,
If you came here on "The Rail",
Welcome to my Official Petticoat Junction Web
Site!
There's lots to see...