Plot

An engine moves from the roundhouse to a track where it couples with several passenger cars. At 2:10 in the afternoon, it starts a trip out of the station through the countryside to its destination. The film consists of a montage of shots, some close up, of the engine and its gears and wheels. With the accompanying ambient sounds and an orchestral score, the emphasis is on the engine's power and speed. Parallel lines of multiple tracks, telephone wires, and trees confirm a careful composition.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

There is no plot as such to this movie, in one of the first screens it is described as, "... not a documentary, but an attempt to create an atmosphere by associating visual impressions and familiar sounds, intimately mingled with a musical score." The film shows the rhythms of machinery and the rhythm of the passing countryside. A steam train starts on a turntable, gradually gets faster and faster, and then the movie is over when it reaches its destination. The editing is designed to match the visuals with excerpts from Arthur Honegger's Pacific 231.