While filming the 1979 ABC television movie Disaster on the Coastliner on a railway line in Connecticut, William Shatner personally suggested performing one of the production’s most perilous shots. In character, he stood on top of a moving F40PH locomotive—reportedly without a safety cable—as the train traveled at speed. The stunt was staged for an action sequence involving an attempted passenger-train collision, but the real danger came from the exposed position: a slip, sudden movement, low obstruction, or loss of balance could have thrown Shatner onto the tracks. Years later, Shatner described it as “the most truly dangerous stunt I ever did” and admitted that he could not imagine what he had been thinking when he volunteered. He compared the experience with the notoriously uncomfortable tarantula work he had done for Kingdom of the Spiders, joking that he was unsure which was worse: standing on a speeding locomotive without a safety cable or having tarantulas glued to his face. Unlike several famous cursed productions, Disaster on the Coastliner did not result in a recorded fatality or major injury; its lasting notoriety comes from the extraordinary risk a major television star willingly accepted for a single stunt.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s
William Shatner’s 1979 Decision to Stand Unsecured on a Moving Locomotive
Disaster on the Coastliner / 1970s
While filming the 1979 ABC television movie Disaster on the Coastliner on a railway line in Connecticut, William Shatner personally suggested performing one of the production’s most perilous shots. In character, he stood on top of a moving F40PH locomotive—reportedly without a safety cable—as the train traveled at speed. The stunt was staged for an action sequence involving an attempted passenger-train collision, but the real danger came from the exposed position: a slip, sudden movement, low obstruction, or loss of balance could have thrown Shatner onto the tracks. Years later, Shatner described it as “the most truly dangerous stunt I ever did” and admitted that he could not imagine what he had been thinking when he volunteered. He compared the experience with the notoriously uncomfortable tarantula work he had done for Kingdom of the Spiders, joking that he was unsure which was worse: standing on a speeding locomotive without a safety cable or having tarantulas glued to his face. Unlike several famous cursed productions, Disaster on the Coastliner did not result in a recorded fatality or major injury; its lasting notoriety comes from the extraordinary risk a major television star willingly accepted for a single stunt.
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