The Spiked Switch

Jun 3, 1916

0h 12m

★ 0.0

Overview

Trent returns to the throttle too soon after his recovery from illness. On the following day Ruth, his daughter, and Hume plan to elope. Trent, with a new fireman, is suddenly taken with a weak spell and when the fireman becomes panic-stricken there is a scuffle which ends with the fireman thrown to the ground while the fast freight speeds on.

Genres

Thriller

Production Companies

Kalem Company

The Spiked Switch Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Helen

Helen Gibson

Engineer Trent

George A. Williams

The Chief Dispatcher

Roy Watson

Ruth Trent - the Engineer's Daughter

Pearl Anibus

Hume - the Fireman

Scott Pembroke

Helen, the telegraph operator at Lone Point, receives a telegram for Sydney Wayne, superintendent of the Graham Gravel plant, advising him that the plant has changed ownership and that Stanton Grey accompanied by his daughter Edith, is on his way to Lone Point to inspect the property. Wayne is startled because he has gambled away the company's money and realizes that his books will not balance. Fortune appears to favor him when Grey is carried into the station unconscious as the result of an automobile accident. He extracts Grey's wallet from his pocket but Cole, the gambler, who has trailed Wayne gets a photograph of him in the act. With the photographic evidence, the gambler tries to blackmail Wayne.

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The Lineman's Peril

Dec 9, 1916

Film #109 in the Hazards of Helen series

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The Gate of Death

Nov 4, 1916

Film 104 in the Hazards of Helen series

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Near Eternity

Jun 19, 1915

A quarryman, dismissed because of intoxication, blames Billy, the mail clerk, and seeks revenge. He steals several sticks of dynamite, climbs to the top of the mail crane and ties to the explosives to the mail bag. Helen sees what is taking place, climbs to the arm and unties the dynamite. With the passenger train a short distance away, she hurls the explosive away just as the train approaches.

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A Wild Ride

Jul 10, 1915

The bad blood existing between Reardon and Haley results in a fight in which Reardon is worsted. Reardon, vowing vengeance, climbs back aboard his engine while Haley resumes his station. The fight is witnessed by a number of railroad men. In climbing back to the water tank, Haley stumbles and falls between the cars.

No Image Available

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The White Wolf

Sep 30, 1914

Swift Wind, a young chief, loves Dancing Fawn. In their ramblings, they too, see white wolves, which is an object of fear and veneration among the Indians, and return to the village. The two are betrothed by the old chief, but old Red Nose, the medicine man, demands her hand for himself. The chief, fearing his magic powers, considers. Dancing Fawn runs away to her lover. Swift Wind is taught a secret by an old trapper, "If a trap is baited with an animal's own hair the iron jaws will never fail to catch it." The Indian decides how he will overthrow his rival. At his instruction Dancing Fawn cuts off a lock of hair from the sleeping medicine man. With it Swift Wind baits the trap. The next day a wolf is caught and as the Indians approach the trap the beast turns into the medicine man. The hand of the great father has proven his love again and Swift Wind and his sweetheart are united.

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The Red Signal

Feb 13, 1915

Brent, the night operator has been knocked unconscious by a piece of lumber projecting from a passing freight, and has been rendered temporarily insane. Meantime, a furious storm arises, a track walker discovers a washout and wires a warning to Helen, who sets the danger signal for the Limited which is due in ten minutes.

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The Girl Who Dared

Mar 18, 1916

The smugglers seem in a fair way to escape on a stolen engine when Helen, unhitching a team from a nearby wagon, races down the road towards the railroad bridge from which a rope is hanging directly over the track. Standing astride the two speeding horses Helen leaps to the rope, and swaying in mid-air makes a perilous drop to the stolen engine as it dashes past.

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Tapped Wires

Jan 29, 1916

After binding Helen to prevent her from stopping the express train to have it await an armed guard, crooks board the train, disable the messenger and dynamite the safe. Helen later takes a short cut in an auto and overtakes the train, but the crooks leap from the speeding train into her car before she can warn the engineer and train crew.

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When Seconds Count

Jan 8, 1916

#61 in the Hazards of Helen series

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The Human Chain

Jun 5, 1915

Deering and his gang rifle the station safe and gain possession of some valuable gems; Helen seizes the package and throws it into the river. In order to recover the package, a human chain is formed by the railroad men, which Helen climbs down and attempts to catch the package with her feet. Meanwhile, Deering and his men have boarded a launch, and succeed in grabbing both Helen and the package. Morton takes over a freight train, captures the crooks, and rescues Helen and the gems.

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The Girl Telegrapher's Peril

Jan 2, 1915

Blake, a quarrelsome lineman, and a widower with two daughters, is in love with Helen, but she rejects his advances. Helen spies Myra, Blake's three year old daughter, who has ventured onto the tracks of the oncoming Elwood Express, and just in the nick of time, grasps the girl off the tracks, but in so doing, must leap off a trestle into a river thirty feet below

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Battling Brewster

Dec 1, 1924

An action movie serial that premiered in 1924

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Medicine Bend

Jul 3, 1916

Whispering Smith, a railroad detective, is sent to Medicine Bend to suppress the looting of cars.

No Image Available

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The Maniac

Oct 16, 1911

An escaped mental patient assumes the identity of a society girl's dead father and threatens her marriage.

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The Bridge of Danger

May 13, 1916

The new superintendent's first order on taking the post eliminates the men whom he terms old, which costs "Pop" Bates his job as Helen's relief operator. His next declaration is that active railroad work is no place for women, and Helen is also dropped from the service. While Helen is breaking the news to Bob Bates, the new superintendent is hustling about the road yard speeding up the work. "Put more snap into your switching," he tells the men. A minute later, while he is making an inspection inside a boxcar with defective air brakes, a switching engine rams the car. The force of the impact, heightened by the recent orders, throws the superintendent to the floor stunned, and starts the car on the down grade. In the few moments it is speeding along the road and there is consternation among the men for a washout down the road means that it is headed to certain destruction.

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The Human Telegram

May 6, 1916

To prevent a three mile journey around the mountain the telegraph wires at the construction camp have been strung over the precipice from the station on the mountain top. The operator is discharged when the superintendent suspects him of treachery and Helen is transferred to the station. Later, after the former operator has enlisted the aid of crooked brokers to use his knowledge in ruining the value of the road's stock, he receives an opportunity to get revenge on the superintendent.

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The Girl at the Throttle

Nov 28, 1914

Helen, the telegrapher at Downing Junction, receives word that an engineer has been accidentally shot by a partridge hunter, and the runaway train will collide with the Eastbound Express. Helen jumps onto a nearby standing locomotive, opens it up full throttle, catches up the Express, warns the engineer of the impending danger

The Spiked Switch

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

The Spiked Switch Trailers