Have I found Dutton Flats?

[tan top]

  more Awesome DMCL  info & stuff Guys , thanks for sharing 

[FastbackJon]

Standing about where the Charger burned up.

I was hoping to see the asphalt still in the same condition, with the hole for the tow car going under the tracks, but sadly it has been repaved.

[model maker]

I see an RV behind you, are there houses right there ? It looks so different today. just think, if there ARE houses right there, I wonder if the people living there ever watched DMCL & if so,I wonder if they would even know the end of the movie was filmed right there in front of their house

[model maker]

which direction are you facing ? which way did the car come from in relation to where you are standing Jon ?
Bert

[nvrbdn]

might just be a pickers truck for the crew or something.

[jwramc]

The shot is facing backwards to what we see from overhead in the film, so the Charger would be coming at us in the photo above, with the train approaching from our right.

And yes, there a few houses on both sides of the road (and they could have been there in 1973). The camera angles in the film didn't face this direction, so they aren't seen in the film. Illusion of a deserted roadway!

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=archerdale+linden+ca&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x80907022de64126f:0x77649e870b7fad05,Archerdale+Rd,+Linden,+CA+95236&gl=us&ei=ZnR_UMn2IIrK0AHasYHACg&ved=0CCEQ8gEwAA

[FastbackJon]

Yup, I'm standing on or about where the Charger was when it blew up. Few houses around there. Wish I had more time to knock on some doors and ask around. But we drove through real quick from Stockton to South Lake Tahoe that day.

[Khyron]

I would LOVE the idea, tho, of a DMCL Charger-clone leading the van the whole trip. Thanks for the kudos.

I would entertain this is we can figure out a way to get her there without me going broke. :

[Fred]

I am thorougly enjoying this thread FastbackJon.  The pics are great.  Thanks for sharing.  

[FastbackJon]

No problem! 

[Ghoste]

Grafitti is fine for railroad cars and abandoned factories but anywhere else I see it just disgusts me.

[Fred]

Grafitti is fine for railroad cars and abandoned factories but anywhere else I see it just disgusts me.

You said it.  I agree.

[tan top]

more good DMCL stuff , thanks for sharing 

Grafitti is fine for railroad cars and abandoned factories but anywhere else I see it just disgusts me.

You said it.  I agree.

yes thinking the same  

[Ghoste]

But that doesn't mean I'm not grateful to you for finding the bridge Jon!  Thank you for that part. 

[Fred]

But that doesn't mean I'm not grateful to you for finding the bridge Jon!  Thank you for that part. 

Oh no, we not saying that. Just talking about grafitti in general.

[FastbackJon]

No problem. I spent much time on Google maps looking at satellite images around Stockton at various canals until I found that one. Strange location as it was so far away from the rest of them, actually west of Stockton.

I wonder if the grates to protect the glass were there all along and they just took them down for filming or if they were put up later.

Wish I could have walked/looked around a bit longer at that location but that was a long day, from Bodega Bay, down the coastal highway, through and around San Fran, then over to Stockton. Talk about traffic!! Slow driving on the freeway for miles and miles out of San Fran and west of Oakland. Finally got nice when we turned up Tracy Blvd. towards the draw bridge.

Here's some video, with my wife helping me with the corny commentary, haha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QQux7BCNoM

[mightywing7]

FastbackJon:

Great stuff!!     Thanks for sharing!!

[Ghoste]

Although I wouldn't be surprised if they were there and removed for filming, I'm inclined to think they were put up later to protect the operator's room from the same jackasses that think it's cool to paint retarded looking scribbles on the side of it.

[RallyeMike]

Here's some video, with my wife helping me with the corny commentary, haha.

Wouldnt be the same experience without saying the lines !

[Ghoste]

X2!

[fireguyfire]

Maybe there is an opportunity for someone to make a few bucks here; put together a DMCL tour that has information about the locations, maps how to get there, and photos of the spots from the movie. People could download it for a fee and have their own self guided DMCL adventure!
I know there is a Bullitt tour in San Francisco that gets you to some of the key locations, and guides you through the drive done in the famous chase scene; something I would do for sure if I ever got to either place!

[Ghoste]

Incidentally, how far is the locomotive display from where all of these sites are generally located?

[jwramc]

Incidentally, how far is the locomotive display from where all of these sites are generally located?

When I was there in April 2010, it was INDOORS in the 'engine house' of the ST&E railroad. They wanted it gone then and were on the verge of scraping it,
and they may indeed have happened by now. It is not on 'public display', but my plan was to call ahead to get permission to visit it.

It's perhaps 10-15 minutes from the center of Linden.

[FastbackJon]

Here is the 505 from early 1975.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=313716&nseq=0

Note how the hand railings in the front are not as straight as 506 seen here at a similar point in time (1976).

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=313624&skip=1

506 is in Portola, CA in a railroad museum. There's a claim that it was in the movie. It was supposed to be in the movie, but they crashed two Chargers into trains. The first (the '68) went into 506 and didn't film like they wanted on screen (where did that footage end up?). So they ran a second one (the non-RT '69) into 505 at a later date, which is what you see on film. That '69 is the first Charger you see in the movie, at Dutton Flats with the tow loop under the radiator support.

Here's the train you see on screen, which looks like 505 (similar reflectors on the front and sides, as well as a "V" shaped piece of hardware just rear of the damaged rails, which 506 does not have) and the hand rails are already damaged. This may have been a shot from after the wreck, and they just backed the train up and shot it again.





Here is a current shot of 505 from 2007. The hand rails are repainted.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=179582

And here is a current shot of 505 from 2011. The hand rails are mostly hidden behind the building support in this one.



And here is the current location of 505 inside this building.

http://goo.gl/maps/yZMP8

[Fred]

Great stuff.