Unstoppable

The film is inspired by the "Crazy Eights" unmanned train incident in 2001. The train, led by CSX Transportation SD40-2 #8888, left its Walbridge, Ohio rail yard and began a 66-mile journey through northwest Ohio with no one at the controls, after the engineer got out of the originally slow-moving train to correctly line a switch, mistakenly believing he had properly set the train's dynamic braking system, just as his counterpart in the movie did. Two of the real train's tank cars also contained thousands of gallons of molten phenol, similar to the fictional train in the film.

Through several crossings we heard a train's air horns. One train was not manned and we saw close-ups of the actors in the other - no-one was on the horns. This is not necessarily incorrect - in some areas designated "quiet zones" by the DOT, trains are not required to blow their horns in the same manner as ordinary crossings unless the engineer thinks there may be a need; some of these zones have "wayside horns" mounted at the crossing that automatically trigger as the train approaches.