Unstoppable is a 2010 American disaster action thriller film directed and produced by Tony Scott, written by Mark Bomback, and starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. It is based on the real-life CSX 8888 incident, telling the story of a runaway freight train and the two men who attempt to stop it. It was the last film Scott directed before his death in 2012.
While two yard hostlers are moving a mixed-freight Allegheny and West Virginia Railroad (AWVR) train at Fuller Yard in northern Pennsylvania, Dewey, the engineer, realizes that a trailing-point switch ahead is not correctly aligned and leaves the cab of lead locomotive 777 to change it, setting the throttle to idle. However, it pops into full power before he can get back on, leaving the train unattended going south at full speed down the mainline.
Believing the train is coasting, Dewey calls yardmaster Connie Hooper, who orders lead welder Ned Oldham to get ahead of the train in his pickup truck and switch it off the main track, but when he arrives to find that the train has already passed, they realize it is running on full power. Connie alerts Oscar Galvin, VP of Train Operations, and contacts local, county, and state police, asking them to block all level crossings, while Ned continues to chase 777 in his truck. Federal Railroad Administration inspector Scott Werner, while visiting Fuller Yard to meet with students on a Railroad Safety Campaign excursion train, warns that eight of 777's 39 freight cars contain highly toxic and flammable molten phenol, which would cause a major disaster if the train should derail in a populated area.
Connie suggests they purposely derail the train while it passes through unpopulated farmland. Galvin dismisses her opinion, believing he can save the railroad money by lashing the train behind two locomotives helmed by veteran engineer Judd Stewart, slowing it down enough for AWVR employee and U.S. Marine veteran Ryan Scott to descend from a helicopter to the control cab; but Ryan is knocked unconscious during the attempt when 777 suddenly lunges forward as he touches down. Stewart attempts to divert 777 to a siding but fails; he is killed when his locomotives derail at a switch and the diesel fuel ignites, destroying the lash-up locomotives. Galvin realizes that 777 will derail on the elevated track of the Stanton Curve, near the heavily populated southern Pennsylvania town of Stanton, and decides to derail it purposely just north of the smaller town of Arklow.
Meanwhile, veteran AWVR railroad engineer Frank Barnes and conductor Will Colson, a new hire preoccupied with a restraining order from his wife Darcy, are pulling 25 cars with locomotive 1206 on the same line going north. Ordered onto a siding off the mainline, they narrowly pull into a RIP track before 777 races by, smashing through their last boxcar. Frank observes that 777's last car has an open coupler and proposes that they travel in reverse and attempt to couple their engine to the runaway, using 1206's brakes to slow down 777 before it reaches the Stanton Curve. Will uncouples their own cars while Frank reports his plan to Connie and Galvin, warning that Galvin's idea of using portable derailers will fail given 777's momentum. Galvin threatens to fire Frank, who informs Galvin that he is already being forced into early retirement. Galvin threatens to fire Will, as well as Connie when she speaks up for them, but they ignore him and continue their pursuit.
As Frank predicted, the train barrels through the portable derailers unhindered, to Galvin's horror. Knowing that Frank's plan is their only chance at preventing disaster, Connie and Werner take control of the situation from Galvin. Meanwhile, Darcy learns from her sister about Will's involvement in the chase, while Frank's daughters learn of their father's involvement from TV news coverage at the Hooters where they both work.
Frank and Will catch up to 777's trailing hopper car and attempt to engage the coupler. When the locking pin will not engage, Will kicks it into place, but his foot gets crushed in the process. Will hobbles back to 1206's cab, and Frank tries to slow 777 with the independent brakes, but makes little headway with 777 still under power. Will stays in the cab to work the dynamic brakes and throttle while Frank makes his way along the top of 777's cars in a risky attempt to engage the handbrakes on each car. Eventually, 1206's dynamic brakes burn out and the train starts gaining speed again. Using the independent air brake, Will coordinates brake timing with Frank by radio and they manage to reduce speed enough to clear the Stanton Curve. As 777 picks up speed, Frank finds the path to 777's cab blocked. Ned arrives in his truck on a road parallel to the tracks, and Will jumps onto the bed of Ned's truck. Ned races to the front of 777 where Will leaps onto the locomotive, reduces the throttle to idle, and applies the brakes, finally bringing the runaway train to a safe stop. Darcy arrives with her and Will's son and reunites with him, and Connie comes to congratulate the men, who are hailed as heroes.
Four GE AC4400CWs leased from CP were used to depict the locomotives used on the runaway train, 777 and trailing unit 767. CP 9777 and 9758 played 777 and 767 in early scenes, and CP 9782 and 9751 were given a damaged look for later scenes.[31] These four locomotives were repainted to standard colors in early 2010 by Canadian Pacific following the filming, but the black and yellow warning stripes from the AWVR livery painted on the plows of each locomotive were left untouched (except for 9777's plow) and remained visible on the locomotives.[32][33]
Most of the other AWVR locomotives seen in the film, including chase locomotive 1206, and the locomotive consist used in an attempt to stop the train, 7375 and 7346, were played by EMD SD40-2s leased from W&LE. 1206 was depicted by three different SD40-2s: W&LE 6353 and 6354, and a third unit that was bought from scrap and modified for cab shots. 6353 and 6354 were returned to the W&LE and painted black to resume service, but 6354's windshield remains jutted forward from the AWVR livery.[34] Judd Stewart's locomotive consist 7375 and 7346 were played by W&LE 6352 and 6351, which also played two locomotive "extras" (5624 and 5580), wearing the same grey livery with different running numbers.[31] The Railroad Safety Campaign excursion train locomotive (RSC 2002) was played by a SWP EMD GP11 rebuilt from an EMD GP9. The two passenger coaches carrying schoolchildren were provided by the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society in Orrville, Ohio.[35]
Unstoppable was inspired by the 2001 CSX 8888 incident, in which a runaway train ultimately traveled 66 miles (106 km) through northwest Ohio. Led by CSX Transportation SD40-2 #8888, the train left Stanley Yard in Walbridge, Ohio with no one at the controls, after the driver got out of the slow-moving train to correct a misaligned switch, mistakenly believing he had properly set the train's dynamic braking system, much as his counterpart (Dewey) in the film mistakenly believed he had properly set the locomotive's throttle (in the CSX incident, the locomotive had an older-style throttle stand where the same lever controlled both the throttle and the dynamic brakes; in fact, putting on "full throttle" and "full brakes" both involved advancing the same lever to the highest position after switching to a different operating mode. Thus if the engineer failed to properly switch modes, it was easy to accidentally apply full throttle instead of full brake, or vice-versa.)
Two of the train's tank cars contained thousands of gallons of molten phenol, a toxic ingredient used in glues, paints, and dyes. The chemical is very dangerous; it is highly corrosive to the skin, eyes, lungs, and nasal tract. Attempts to derail it using a portable derailer failed, and police had tried to engage the red fuel cutoff button by shooting at it; after having three shots mistakenly hit the red fuel cap, this ultimately had no effect because the button must be pressed for several seconds before the engine would be starved of fuel and shut down. For two hours, the train traveled at speeds up to 51 miles per hour (82 km/h) until the crew of a second locomotive, CSX #8392, coupled onto the runaway and slowly applied its brakes. Once the runaway was slowed down to 11 miles per hour (18 km/h), CSX trainmaster Jon Hosfeld ran alongside the train, and climbed aboard, shutting down the locomotive. The train was stopped at the Ohio State Route 31 crossing, just south-southeast of Kenton, Ohio. No one was seriously injured in the incident.[44]
RSC 2002 was inspired by a CSX Operation Lifesaver passenger train, which was turning around at Stanley Yard and was preparing to head back south after having traveled north from Columbus to Walbridge using the same track CSX 8888 was now on. CSX ended up having to bus the safety train's 120 passengers back to the cities at which they had boarded, including Bowling Green, Findlay, and Kenton.[45]
Film critic Roger Ebert rated the film three and a half stars out of four, remarking in his review, "In terms of sheer craftsmanship, this is a superb film."[52] In The New York Times, Manohla Dargis praised the film's visual style, saying that Scott "creates an unexpectedly rich world of chugging, rushing trains slicing across equally beautiful industrial and natural landscapes."[53]
Unstoppable was expected to take in about the same amount of money as the previous year's The Taking of Pelham 123, another Tony Scott film involving an out-of-control train starring Denzel Washington. Pelham took in $23.4 million during its opening weekend in the United States and Canada.[5] Unstoppable had a strong opening night on Friday November 12, 2010, coming in ahead of Megamind with a gross of $8.1 million. However, Megamind won the weekend, earning $30 million to Unstoppable's $23.9 million.[58] Unstoppable performed slightly better than The Taking of Pelham 123 did in its opening weekend. As of April 2011, the film had earned $167,805,466 worldwide.[7][59]
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