Original subtitles

Here they come. Good.

Highball freight, number 56.

Block. Entire line.

Impassable. 403.

Get me Dan Thorne.

Redboard all along the main line.

Oh, why don't somebody get me Dan Thorne? He's the only man who can handle

I'm trying to get him, trying to get him. Half my paperwork thrown again

he's out trapping the yard.

Well, he should be here to give me authority.

What's coming up around here?

Ain't you guys playing railroad anymore today?

It's a landslide, the new cut. The entire division is held up right at the

of traffic.

My schedule's all ripped to pieces, and we've had to hold up the limited.

Hold up the limited?

Will you walk your nuts? Tell her to come through.

What, half a mountain straight on that track? I'll clear that track.

Don't stand there looking at me. Lift those red boards and keep traffic

You! That's the boardroom to blow the whistle and get the red crew out. You

that line, I won't be home to dinner tonight.

Give me that piece of that.

You off this guy. Put the Olympian in the hole.

It's looking at labor like that.

It's made a hobo out of me.

Can you imagine?

On a day like this?

The trouble with labor is the work that's connected with it. Now, I figured

work is for workers.

So I bought me a head about it.

Get over there. Get over there.

I yield only to superior force. Come on.

Well, how did I overlook you?

Come on.

Get over there and get to work.

What makes you think I will?

I got a couple of very good arguments for that.

Listen, I work when I want to.

And I don't want to know.

No.

Over this way. Over this way. Oh, Mr. Thorne, this is an extremely dangerous

spot. Right here. Get over there.

All clear, then.

Okay.

See that fella down there?

Put him in the caboose and throw a feeder to him. But Danny's only a tramp.

I don't know.

There's something about that guy.

Take him along.

All right.

Hey, a couple of you fellas come with me.

I don't know better than to start an argument on a right -of -way and a

man like you. What?

What's your sense of ordination?

I smacked the guy.

That's right.

I did it a few big times myself.

He was a Division Super, too.

And he was about your size.

Well, you would think you were as tough as I am.

Well, if you owe me blowing up smoke for an hour, I'll be on my way.

Now, some people would let you do just that.

But me, I'm going to give you a chance to put some of them guts into a job.

Working on a railroad again?

No chance.

The Reds are against you, Super. On this road and for me.

I'm dang gone, and what I say goes around here.

That means everybody, see?

Yeah. Everybody but me.

Joe.

I'd like to have a new man for yourself on your job. No engine? Sure, I used to

work on the Lake Division.

Go ahead and make two good roundhouse boats.

Glad to know you.

Sam says you're all right. It's okay with me.

Get busy on the big boy here. It's next hour.

There you are, boy. There's your job.

Yeah.

you think I'm working, huh?

If that girdle box isn't reached in a half an hour, it'll burn the heart out

you, big fella.

Sure.

But I ain't working, understand?

I ain't working.

That's a fine way to leave an engine.

I'm going over to the shop, Dan. I'll see you later. All right, Dan.

I was wondering if I could lay off on the next run.

Why, Tom, you ain't put in for anything like that in 20 years.

Well, you see, well... Oh, it's the wife.

Doesn't she know better yet?

She's worse, Dan.

Much worse.

So you got everything you need? You got a good doctor?

Yes, but I'm just a little frightened, Dan.

You go right back to her. Don't you let me see you around these yards, because

she's absolutely all right.

Thanks. Go on, go on.

Hey, you know, Dad, if anything happens to Tom, he'll hit the booze again, sure.

He knows better than that.

Why, I'd have to rule him off the road.

But you know what he used to be.

That's right.

Chuck, keep an eye on him. And if anything happens, let me know quick.

Oh, sure, dear.

You're always thinking of me, ain't you?

Sure, no man had a better daughter than I have.

The birds will hear you.

Look here, the Donahue brothers are giving away a kitchen table

and two chairs to every newly married couple this month.

Now that's something for you to look forward to.

That's quite an inducement, isn't it? It is. I must show this to Dan.

What's your dare? Let go, let go. Why shouldn't I show it to him?

He's a man that understands.

Where is he? I haven't seen him today.

What time is it?

Another minute, you'd be late.

Not a chance.

You wouldn't think I'd be late with you waiting for me, Mary, would you?

Hey, hey, I'm going to enter a complaint.

Somebody's getting a lot of attention around here besides me.

Go on with you. You wouldn't be jealous of her own father, would you?

Wouldn't I?

Very unlikely to be jealous of anybody.

What's that?

Oh, yes.

Hey, Mary, I want you to do something for me.

I want you to go down to the roundhouse. I got a new man down there. He's a

floater, and his name is Doyle.

Give him this bundle and this note and see what he does, huh?

Oh, Dan, I wish you wouldn't bother your head about those tramps. You know, it

never turns out right.

Mary, a fella can go wrong a dozen times.

But if you're right once, it makes up for all the rest.

Will you do it?

Well, all right.

Well, I got here just in time. You did that.

You did that.

You ought to try and wear overalls once in a while.

You guys must be particular about getting your pants dirty.

I see you didn't notice them loose driving rod nuts.

What, those nuts loose again?

Oh, it's all right. I fixed them myself.

She's all ready to roll. Hey!

Why didn't you say so in the first place?

Why, you didn't give me a chance.

You want to take my answer now?

Yes. All right, just tell Thorne there's no chance I'm quitting.

I thought you would.

Wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

What do you mean you thought I would?

What makes you think I'm a quitter? You think I'm here because I like it? Well,

I'm not, and I'm leaving.

I'm not gonna... All right.

me them overall.

Oh, she's a lucky girl.

I've often said that she's a lucky girl to be marrying a railroader and a

fine -looking man, too.

Hey, hey, stop throwing that battle.

Give me a match, will you? But you are, Dan.

You are.

Maybe not exactly handsome, but... No, no.

But handsome is as handsome does.

Not exactly handsome.

Why, my pan looks like a street before they laid the pavement down.

You wouldn't find Mary saying a thing like that.

Oh, you're going to make her happy, Dan.

I've never failed to do anything I want to do yet.

You sure haven't, boy.

You're always kingpin amongst us, even in the old days.

And ever since I got my smash, and you started to take care of me and

Mary... Pipe down.

Why...

You're more than just a man who... Hey, stop it. You have me blushing.

Maybe I didn't say the right words, boy, but... You know how I feel, don't you?

You don't owe me a thing. If it had been the other way around, you'd have done

the same thing to me.

Sit still, lad. I'll deal with it.

Yeah, this is the right place.

Come on in.

Well, how do you feel? Okay, here.

Come and have a bite to eat. No, thanks.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Meet Ed Ryan.

We live here together.

Ed, this is Larry Doerr. Hi.

Glad to meet you.

You better put in some fuel.

We just took off the nose bag ourselves, but there's plenty of grub on the stove

yet.

And before you do that, maybe you better go upstairs and clean up a little. I

left some clothes out for you. When you're decent, why, come right on down.

Thanks.

I guess I need them at that.

Go on.

It's, uh, to the left.

a place on the table and keep supper hot on the stove, will you?

Yeah. Hey, Bill. All right.

Is that the, uh, boomer engineer you were talking about?

Yeah, that's the kid.

Should have seen him talk back to me.

Tried to fight me and him two days away from his last square meal.

He's a game kid. I know that kind.

They wind up in a jail or a general manager's job.

Yeah.

In the jail, most likely.

I never saw one of those floaties yet that panned out right.

Ain't you? No, I haven't. Well, you're looking at one right now.

Say, if I hadn't got kicked in the pants by a couple of old rails like you, I'd

have been a floater yet.

That kid's going to make a good hog head.

Say, what's happened to Mary? Is she coming down?

She's upstairs pimping up for you.

What's the idea?

I live here.

That's a good idea.

Well, aren't you going to say you're glad to see me?

I will say you look a little better.

And of course you're glad to see me.

If you insist.

Of course I'm glad to see you.

Of course you're glad to see me.

No, no, no, Ed, I've got to get back to the shops.

You tell Mary I'll see you later.

Go on. It's over.

All right.

Oh, Hilda.

See that the food in the plates kept hot?

Yeah. Easy up.

Where is Mr. Thorne?

He's gone to the shops.

Sit down. Oh, thanks. I wanted to thank him for these clothes. They almost fit

me. Sit down.

He'll bring you in a bite to eat.

Well, I ain't going to eat all alone, am I? I guess you'll have to.

Dan and I have had ours.

Oh, here's Mary.

She hasn't had her supper yet.

Guess you thought I was never coming down.

Mr.

Doyle, Doyle.

This is my girl, Mary.

Oh, we've been introduced before.

Once by Mr. Overhalls and again by Johnny Towle.

So I said, she's my girl.

I should be saying, she's Dan Thorn's girl.

She's going to marry Dan Thorn.

Mrs. Thorn.

Yes, Mr. Reinhardt. Mr.

Thornton. Absolutely on time, I promise you. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Long distance, Mr. Thornton. Never call me later.

I can't talk to you right now. Call me later. I tell you, I'm not going to lay

any more package on that spur. Now get that.

Now what?

I tell you, every egg will arrive there intact if I have to lay a new road bed

all the way from here to Chicago.

Goodbye.

Stand for it once over at the office.

Yeah? Yeah.

Okay. Sometimes I'll watch you.

What?

Don't bother me.

Imagine any man in his right mind picking up railroads as a business.

No, sir.

What?

Yes, sir.

Who asked you anyway?

Here. Take this over to the roundhouse for me.

No!

Well, hello there.

Ain't this nice, you coming down here to see me?

Dan, you forgot the handkerchiefs I laid out for you. Huh?

So I did.

See, that's thoughtful of you.

It's all right.

It's all right.

It makes me feel kind of close to you when I see you do little things like

Oh, it's nothing at all, Dan.

You're the thoughtful one.

Look what you've done for all of us.

Oh, it's a pleasant thing for you, Mary.

I don't like to have you run around on these tracks, but you're the only thing

that seems to brighten up this tough old railroad yard, and it sort of keeps me

from going off my nuts sometimes.

You know, I don't know if I could go through with it if I didn't look forward

seeing you.

Hey, what do you guys think you're doing down there, playing ping pong?

Two dishes by this company is meant to work with.

I guess I don't need to tell you how I feel about you, Mary.

Dan, I think you've been wonderful.

Do you want to see me?

Oh, kid.

How are you? Yeah.

I've got something for you.

Come here.

Read this.

I had an order to take this from you.

Move on.

I want to be moving on.

I don't think I'll ever be happy around here.

What do you mean, happy?

You're going to stick here because I tell you, see?

I guess you know what I want to say.

Oh, well, don't say it.

Hello. Hello, Dan?

Say, this is Chuck.

Say, old Tom Johnson's wife died this morning.

Yeah.

He's on the loose. He's in that joint down by the lower yards.

I did what I could, but after she passed away, I couldn't hold him.

Okay, Dan.

I'll keep it to myself.

Larry, I'm sorry. I've got to be leaving. I've got a tough call and I've

go. Dan, you'll be back in time for the party tonight, won't you?

Party? What party?

The old -timer's picnic.

By golly, I forgot all about it.

But I can't go anyway, Larry. Oh, you have to go, Dan.

No, I can't. This is very important.

I got it. You can go with Larry.

No. No, I want to go with you.

No, no, no, no. Now, listen, Larry. This is very, very... I haven't got much

more time to address you, but... Say, Larry.

There you are.

You can be celebrating your new rating and help me out at the same time, huh?

And I'll try to drop in later.

Huh? That's fine. That's fine. Well, so long.

So long.

I guess that settles it.

I guess it does.

Do you want to go with me?

Yes.

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please, to the next feature on the

program. That mighty spectacle presented by our own boys and on our own engines.

A tug -of -war between two colossal... Soul vocals up the ride.

I'll take you home and I'll explain it to them.

I just don't feel right about it.

You understand, don't you, Larry?

Well, sure, I understand.

I feel the same way.

Thank God.

Thank God. Thank God. Thank God.

Thank God. Thank God.

Thank God.

I'm going to kill you.

I'm going to kill you.

Go ahead, Dan. It's all right. I got it coming to me.

Doctor. It's bad.

But, Doctor, you've got to save him. There must be something.

Only a brain surgeon with complete modern equipment can help him.

There's nothing like that despite of Chicago.

He can't live more than five hours.

But our fastest run to Chicago is seven hours.

We haven't got a through train on the schedule till this afternoon.

The only chance to get him to Chicago in five hours.

Forgive me.

Hey, what is that gauge rate now?

180. Put it up to 200.

Okay.

Oh, gee, it's tough. There must be something we can do. Not a thing.

It's a six -hour record run.

It can't be done. I can do it. What?

I can do it.

Why don't you realize you couldn't keep that engine on the rails going 100 miles

an hour all the way to Chicago?

It can't be done. It's got to be done. It's got to be done.

Maybe it can.

Put down my special.

Give it right away over everything.

You bet.

In that cab.

Look here.

This means sight tracking everything on the way.

The Olympian, the Pioneer, the whole timetable.

Why, this will cost a fortune. And all for one man.

For one man?

You don't seem to understand.

This isn't only Dan Thorne.

It's every railroad man everywhere.

everything east on that evening.

50 wavers and hips on the wire at once. All right. Red board as far east as

Markham City.

All right. Yes.

Hey, give me that something. Give me that. Oh.

5, 10.

That's cause is over.

It can't be done.

Just a little longer, John.

Just a little longer.

See you live.

This is the last time you'll ever ride this road.

If it's any news to you, it's the last time I'll ever ride any road. Now, come

on.

Well,

I don't know about you fellas having it, Richard.

Well, take it easy then, Doctor.

And you take the foot, and I'll take the head.

Come around on this side.

Will he be conscious, do you think, when the train pulls in?

He's had his senses for more than two weeks.

Sure, it was his own wish that he'd come back here and die in his own division.

That's a funny remark for Dan Thorne to make.

I can't believe he wouldn't get well from anything.

If he wanted to.

I guess that's the trouble.

He just doesn't want to get well.

You know what it is he wants?

Wait a minute, boys.

Let Mary go in first.

Hello, Mary.

Oh, Dan.

Don't look at me like that.

It's all right, Mary.

It's all right.

You don't understand, Dan.

I've come back to you for always.

I understand.

I understand.

No, Dan, no.

I mean it.

I'm never going to leave you again.

The other was a mistake.

Hello, kid.

Thanks, Dan, for all you've done for me.

For you.

You didn't think I was going to see the limited wreck, did you?

Lying like this gives a man plenty of time to figure things out.

I never had so much time before.

You know,

People have got to marry the things they love best.

You two, each other.

Me, the railroad.

Oh, I ain't kidding myself.

Dan?

Dan?

Too bad about Dan Thorne, ain't it?

I hear he's all true.

And he used to be a nice fella, too.

Come on,

get the lead out of your feet.

Or I'll come out there and knock the canny off a row of gondolas.

This ain't no smoking room. There's a railroad.

All true, is he?

Used to be a nice fella.

Say, that old caboose will be running on.