Railroadin'
About Railroadin'
The gang is playing in a railroad yard when Joe and Chubby's father, an engineer, tells them to stay out of it. After he leaves, a man called Loco Joe starts a train with most of the children aboard. Farina, left on the ground, is nearly run down, then climbs on. They cannot stop the engine until it hits a grocery truck. Farina then wakes up: the runaway was his dream, and the lecture is still going on.
Cast & crew
More about Railroadin'
Robert F. McGowan directed and wrote it with H. M. Walker. He and Hal Roach produced it. F. E. Hershey and Art Lloyd photographed it. Richard C. Currier edited it. Ray Henderson is credited with the music. MGM released it on June 15, 1929. It is the 88th Our Gang short and the second made with sound. It is a partial remake of The Sun Down Limited.
Themes
Making
Roach was converting Our Gang to sound on disc in 1929. This short was one of the first, and the discs were the part that went missing.
Look
F. E. Hershey and Art Lloyd photographed the yard and the runaway engine.
Music
A sound-on-disc score, with music credited to Ray Henderson. The discs were missing for decades and were reunited with the picture in 1982.
Preservation
The picture negative survived without its discs. Blackhawk restored the sound for a 1983 VHS after the discs were found in 1982. It was not put into the Little Rascals television package.
Notes
- Norman Chaney appears for the first time as Chubby. He had won a national contest to replace Joe Cobb as the heavy kid, though Cobb is still in this short.
- The soundtrack was on discs. MGM lost track of them in the 1940s, and when Roach bought the Our Gang picture catalog back he got only the picture.
- Without sound, the short was left out of the Little Rascals reissues and television packages.
- Blackhawk Films issued a silent version with titles in the 1970s. The discs turned up in an MGM vault in 1982, and Blackhawk's 1983 VHS put the sound back.
Scenes
- Loco Joe starts the engine with the children aboard and Farina still on the ground.
- The engine hits a grocery truck, and Farina wakes to find he has dreamed it.
Influenced by
- The Sun Down Limited
Also available
- Blackhawk Films VHS (1983)
