The Hooterville Cannonball is a fictional railroad train belonging to the fictional railroad company "C. & F. W. Railroad" that is featured in Petticoat Junction, an American situation comedy that originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The train was considered an "important character" by the show's producers, and producer Paul Henning hired railroad historian Gerald M. Best to make sure that the locomotive sounds used on the show were authentic to a train of the same type and age.

The 1890s-style train with a whimsical schedule gave the otherwise fanciful show a degree of authenticity; Henning said that "the train's weekly appearances on TV might set the space age back 50 years and drive train buffs insane with delight, but without it our show would lose its character image." Later, Henning admitted, "When I started Petticoat Junction, I had one aim. If people thought to themselves, 'Gee, I'd like to spend a few days at that beat-up hotel' or 'I'd like to ride that funny little railroad,' I knew we would make it."

In Episode 2 of Season 1, "Quick, Hide the Railroad", the three Bradley sisters sing a tribute song to the Hooterville Cannonball while Kate charms C. & F. W. Railroad Vice President Homer Bedloe into keeping the Cannonball in service.

In Episode 31 of Season 1, "Charley Abandons The Cannonball", engineer Charley Pratt picks up his guitar and sings an ode to the train. The lyrics are sung roughly to the tune of "Wabash Cannonball".

Production

Henning said that the train was based on his memories of growing up in Independence, Missouri, which was serviced by the Air Line Railroad: "Every morning, the little old wood-burning train chugged into town. Every afternoon, it chugged out. Where did it go? We weren't quite sure, but we dreamed about climbing aboard some day, in search of adventure. Its low, mournful whistle was a siren song."

Two Hooterville Cannonball trains were used for filming. The working model was the Sierra No. 3 locomotive, and it was used to film all the exterior "long shots", including the show's opening and closing credits. The train was built by the Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works of Paterson, New Jersey in 1891. This locomotive is still operational at Railtown 1897 State Historic Park in California, after a complete restoration that was finished in 2010. Clint Eastwood was part of a fundraiser for the restoration. He was familiar with the Sierra No. 3 from his days on the western television show Rawhide, and he used it in his films Pale Rider and Unforgiven.

A full-scale prop locomotive was used for studio sound stage scenes. It was built in 1950 by 20th Century Fox for a movie called A Ticket to Tomahawk, starring Dan Dailey, Walter Brennan, Rory Calhoun and Marilyn Monroe. Harvey Dick loaned the replica to the producers of Petticoat Junction in exchange for the prominent screen credit seen at the end of each episode, "Train furnished by Barbary Coast, Hoyt Hotel, Portland, Oregon". Gordon displayed it in the parking lot of his Sam's Stage Coach Inn (Sam's Town) along Highway 50 in Cameron Park, California, about 30 miles east of Sacramento. The replica fell into disrepair. In 1979, John Queirolo and Rick Stevenson purchased the locomotive and later gave it to the Amador County Museum in Jackson, California, where it was restored and displayed. In August 2011, the Amador County museum sold the locomotive replica to the Durango Railroad Historical Society in Durango, Colorado. The model has been restored to its original state as the Emma Sweeny, and is on public display under shelter in Santa Rita Park in Durango.

References

  • Hooterville Cannonball website (Web Archive)
  • Railtown 1897 State Historical Park, Jamestown, California