# Movie, The Taking of Pelham 123



## GG-1 (May 31, 2011)

Aloha

Watching this movie for the ? time, I noticed that the motorman is shown in the right-hand seat to drive the train. When the character "Garver" drives the train he sits in the left hand seat. Did Hollywood make another mistake, or can the train be driven from both sides?

Mahalo


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## Acela150 (May 31, 2011)

Was it the original or the the newer version?? I believe in the older original version the cab is the half cab and it's on the right. GREAT movie! SO MUCH BETTER! Then the newer! But in the newer version it's shown as right and left... I think Hollywood thinks everyone is clueless.. Except us railfans and AU memebers :giggle:


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## bobnabq (May 31, 2011)

That was a great movie. The one I saw starred Denzel Washington and John Travolta.


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## AlanB (May 31, 2011)

To answer the question, it's a mistake. There are no controls on the left side of any subway car, doesn't matter if its a full cab or half cab. One simple reason for that too! All the signals on are the right side of the ROW.


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## Acela150 (May 31, 2011)

bobnabq said:


> That was a great movie. The one I saw starred Denzel Washington and John Travolta.


If you saw the original you would like it more! So much more better! I'm 19 and loved the original! When my Dad got it I thought it was gunna stick but I loved it!


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## amtkstn (May 31, 2011)

I'll secend that the first movie is much better. The silly remake really was a letdown.


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## OlympianHiawatha (Jun 1, 2011)

The remake is a toilet mop compared to the original. I just wished Caz Dolowicz, the Grand Central Supervisor hadn't been killed off so early-his character was GREAT!


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## Cristian (Jun 1, 2011)

AlanB said:


> To answer the question, it's a mistake. There are no controls on the left side of any subway car, doesn't matter if its a full cab or half cab. One simple reason for that too! All the signals on are the right side of the ROW.


Hi Alan,

In the LA Subway system the controls are on the left-hand side and that's where the driver sits. There are some subways in Europe (could be in other places as well but haven't been everywhere *yet*  ) where the controls and the driver sit in the center of the cab.

Also, on the LA metro there are a couple of stations where the platform is on the right-hand side and the driver actually gets up from his seat and moves to the right side where there is a little panel which controls the doors, etc. I've been in several situations where the train actually started moving from the station while the driver was walking back to his seat. (and no, there weren't two persons in the cab, just the driver.) This was back in the day where you could sit in the first car as a passenger and see thru the window into the cab car and actually be able to see the windshield and the tunnel, and pretty much everything that was going on in the cab. A couple of years ago those windows were tinted and you cannot sit in the front row and watch the tunnel...


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## Tracktwentynine (Jun 1, 2011)

According to a "making of" thing that I either read or watched, in the new _Taking_, a mockup of the cab was created on the left (incorrect) side of the train so that the actors could sit there and be filmed "driving" while an actual MTA motorman sat in the actual cab and drove the train.

As for left-sided cabs, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Miami all have their operators sitting on the left. In fact, Baltimore and Miami use the exact same equipment. They went in together on the car order to save money.

And I can't speak to operations everywhere, but I know that on MARTA, when the trains are in automatic mode, the operator can push a button labeled "proceed" just under the "door close" button on the left side of the train. That saves the passengers the time it takes the operator to walk across the cab. Sounds like that's what Cristian has experienced on the LA Metro.


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## AlanB (Jun 1, 2011)

Cristian said:


> AlanB said:
> 
> 
> > To answer the question, it's a mistake. There are no controls on the left side of any subway car, doesn't matter if its a full cab or half cab. One simple reason for that too! All the signals on are the right side of the ROW.
> ...


My comment was in the context of the NY Subways, which is what the Taking of Pelham 123 is about; I wasn't claiming that other roads all followed the same rules.


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## GG-1 (Jun 1, 2011)

Aloha

While I totally agree that the original was better, the the new one is well done and a much better sound track.

I thinkt the reason they shot Denzel Washington driving on the wrong side was to leave the blood/broken window and John Travolta in middle of the shot. While some have shown examples of left side driving, Alan has confirmed what I believe to be normal. Additionally every other shot, that I remember, had the motorman correctly shown in the right seat.


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## Ryan (Jun 1, 2011)

Tracktwentynine said:


> And I can't speak to operations everywhere, but I know that on MARTA, when the trains are in automatic mode, the operator can push a button labeled "proceed" just under the "door close" button on the left side of the train. That saves the passengers the time it takes the operator to walk across the cab. Sounds like that's what Cristian has experienced on the LA Metro.


WMATA can also do that when they let the trains run in auto (not that we'll be seeing that anytime soon).


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## DET63 (Jun 2, 2011)

Tracktwentynine said:


> According to a "making of" thing that I either read or watched, in the new _Taking_, a mockup of the cab was created on the left (incorrect) side of the train so that the actors could sit there and be filmed "driving" while an actual MTA motorman sat in the actual cab and drove the train.
> 
> As for left-sided cabs, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Miami all have their operators sitting on the left. In fact, Baltimore and Miami use the exact same equipment. They went in together on the car order to save money.
> 
> And I can't speak to operations everywhere, but I know that on MARTA, when the trains are in automatic mode, the operator can push a button labeled "proceed" just under the "door close" button on the left side of the train. That saves the passengers the time it takes the operator to walk across the cab. Sounds like that's what Cristian has experienced on the LA Metro.


On BART, that would be business as usual. The train operator is always on the right side, even though most stations have island platforms. If you are sitting in the lead car, you can watch the operator casually make his (or her) way back to the operator's seat as the train begins to depart any station with an island platform (all of the underground stations, I believe, except for the lower levels of 12th and 19th Street in Oakland) between the tracks separating trains in going in opposite directions.

As for movies mislocating the train operator or engineer, _Silver Streak_ also puts the engineer's stand on the left, though I don't think it's also shown on the right in other scenes, so I suppose you could imagine that "AMRoad" operated its trains with the engineer sitting on the left side.


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