I love spy movies with train rides, this is why North by Northwest and From Russia with Love are two of my favourites.
While they are having dinner on the train (and a bit before too), you can see a lake on the left-hand window (as the train moves). Which lake could this be? I looked at maps and could not find any body of water en route from NY to Chicago.
Cheers!
It's not a lake, it is the Hudson River. The route started in Grand Central and went up the east shore of the Hudson to Albany, then across to Buffalo. This route is still used by Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited. I think he was trying to get a ticket for the 6:00 train, so dinner would have been between NYC and Albany.
shareOk. That is a bit of a roundabout route (NY - Albany - Buffalo - Chicago), but I have no reason to doubt what you are saying. Thanks for the information!
shareWell, the 20th Century Limited was the New York Central railroad, and that is where their tracks were. In case you are interested in more info about the 20th Century Limited, here is a site that has it (including timetables). https://www.american-rails.com/20th-century-limited.html
shareThe route of the 20th Century Limited is accurately portrayed in the film. It's where the New York Central chose to lay tracks. The Pennsylvania RR had a more direct route, but it went through the Allegheny Mountains, and the travel times of both railroads between New York and Chicago were similar.
shareIf you posed this question to Hitchcock he would have told you "It's just a movie."
shareIt could be one of the Great Lakes between NY and Chicago.
shareIn those days, Hitchcock was pretty exacting about routes and terrain -- he would have an assistant "drive the route." For North by Northwest, Hitchcock had the film's screenwriter Ernest Lehman ride the 20th Century Limited, start to finish.
I'm willing to be that Hitchcock got permission to put cameras pointing out of various windows to get process plate footage of the train ride.
Note in passing: Hitchcock said that he wanted in these scenes to create the impression that "you are on the train, moving with the train" particular those shots where the camera is right on the side of the train and then dissolves into the train.
Hitch said: " I wanted the audience to feel that they were on the train. If I put the camera out in a field looking at it in the distance, that would be the point of view of a cow."
That would be my guess.
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