The Open Track

"The Open Track" is a short action film from the action series of short films "The Hazards of Helen". This is episode 63 from a total of 119 weekly one reel films produced by Kalem. Helen's cleverness exposes a band of counterfeiters who later succeed in turning the tables on the railroad detectives and tying the two men to the cowcatcher of a train which they then start off down the grade. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2010.

The Detective's Peril

Hanging from a rope over the track, the detective seems certain to plunge to death when the oncoming train splits the knot of the rope which has been tied to a rail and slung over the bridge girder. Helen's presence of mind and nerve in swinging out over the river on the other end of the rope and thus balancing the detective until the train has passed prevents the terrible catastrophe. Later, when pursuing the culprits, Helen once more takes her life in her hands by throwing a lasso from the hand car on which they are pursuing the freight ov...

Nerves of Steel

Detective Strong is warned that an attempt will be made to free the crooks he is taking to the penitentiary. In spite of his vigilance, the prisoners escape when confederates start a gunfight on the train. Strong and his men scour the countryside for the fugitives.

Crossed Wires

Crossed telephone wires enable Helen to overhear a plot between Joe and Bill, escaped convicts, to join a number of Chinese who are being smuggled into the country in a freight train.

The Tramp Telegrapher

Beaten by Dun and Corson, Trent is hurled unconscious to the tracks. Helen, who witnesses the attack, drags Trent from the rails just in time to save him from death beneath the wheels of an oncoming train. When the tramp revives, he accompanies his rescuer back to the station.

The Watertank Plot

Fearing lest Cameron's horse beat the pony he has plunged on, Tony Dorgan orders one of his men to bribe the stableman to drug the animal. Saratoga Johnny tries to carry out Tony's order, but receives a beating at the hands of the irate Cameron employee.

The Switchman's Story

Number 68 in the Hazards of Helen series.

The Peril of the Rails

Apparent carelessness causes Conductor Lawton and his train crew to be laid off for thirty days. A gang of car thieves, pursued by police, jump aboard a freight, and after a stiff combat, succeed in throwing the crew off the speeding train to the ground.

The Broken Wire

When the Limited is forced to stop because of an obstruction on the tracks, the passengers alight for a stroll. In the excitement of boarding again one of the passengers loses a handbag containing her jewels and money. Two crooks aboard the train hear of this and at Helen's station they alight.

The Haunted Station

A fall from a semaphore weakens Wood's mind and when he later disappears circumstances point to suicide. His ghostly appearances make the post known as the "Haunted Station," and Helen is appointed as a last resort after many others have quit.

When Seconds Count

#61 in the Hazards of Helen series

At the Risk of Her Life

Tony, a half-breed Mexican is kicked from pillar to post, but he grasps a chance for revenge on society when he peers through the station window and sees Helen, the operator at Lone Point, opening the express company bag containing a valuable shipment to a local rancher.

The Girl and the Special

Disguised as baggage man, Burgess and Whelan board the train to which is coupled the special carrying Nina Mallotte and her theatrical troupe. The thieves plan to steal the actress' gems.

A Race for a Life

A college boy's prank imperils the life of the railroad president's son who has worked his way up to engineer in his course that starts "from the bottom." Tied to the engine, the son is speeding on a runaway engine toward the Flicker Creek bridge which has been swept away by the floods.

The Girl Who Dared

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.

Tapped Wires

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.

Danger Ahead!

Sterling and Ella steal a jewelry salesman's sample bag and make their getaway by boarding a passenger train. Word is flashed ahead to Helen, who in turn notifies Bowring, a railroad detective. The train is flagged.

The Wrong Train Order

In this episode everything goes wrong. Helen ends up on the rear observation deck of a runaway express train with the door to the inside closed, with the air-brake of the engine damaged, the engine itself full of steam and inaccessible, and the train speeding ahead on the wrong track.

The Quest

John Douglas, a high-society playboy, is a cynic concerning the women of his social set, and has a pictured ideal of the girl of his dreams. Wising to avoid the upcoming social season, he hops a freighter bound for the Orient. It sinks in mid-ocean and he, as the sole survivor, is washed upon a island, where he is rescued by Nia, daughter of the tribal chief, Neto.John is puzzled as all of the tribe are white people, but he learns from the tribal chief they are descendant's of English-origin who also are on the island because of a ship wreck...

The Dynamite Train

The shifting of the dynamite contained in a boxcar causes the latter to be cut from the freight and set out as unsafe. While this is being done, the Jones gang waylays Emerick, a cattleman who has just sold a herd of stock. Detectives are sent after the thieves.