Snow in the month of April

[CaptainRaiden]

My friend who works as an assistant director for a famous Indian film actor/director (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pankaj_Kapoor) asked me where they could find snow in April in Europe. They want to shoot a scene with a train going through snow covered tracks.

So, I told him his best bets are Nordic countries like Finland, Norway, Sweden etctera, because I guess the snow has started to clear already in Western and Eastern Europe? Another good place I think would be the Swiss Alps, but can they find railway tracks in the mountains there? Did I give him the right info or is April too late to find snow covered railway tracks?

[Mark]

The Alps is going to be the place if anywhere, and certainly Switzerland has a good railway network.

However he'd be better off just going to any old railway tracks, wherever, and hiring a company to come out and make it look like there is snow on the ground. This is what many films / TV productions do as it's cheaper and easier than finding real snow on location.

[Eki]

I believe there will be a good chance to find snow in Finnish Lapland in April, but it's melting rapidly, so better go early. You can probably find snow covered tracks there too, but maybe not ones that are in use, so you maybe have to get your own train. The tracks in use are kept clear of snow, so there probably won't be much snow on them in April.

I found a piece of news about closing down a track in Salla in last July that was used for transporting timber:

http://yle.fi/alueet/lappi/2010/07/sallan_rata_hiljenee_1865553.html

The track are still there, so maybe they can rent a train and use it.

They could ask the town administration (sallan.kunta@salla.fi) or the tourist services (tourist.info@salla.fi) for advice.

http://www.salla.fi/Etusivu
http://loma.salla.fi/en/

[schmenke]

Do they need real snow?
Many of the "snow" scenes in the classic movie Dr. Zhivago were filmed using artificial snow :mark:

I would think the logistics of finding a sufficiently long unused section of track, not to mention a locomotive and cars, to film the moving train would be more difficult :s

[Bob Riebe]

My friend who works as an assistant director for a famous Indian film actor/director (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pankaj_Kapoor) asked me where they could find snow in April in Europe. They want to shoot a scene with a train going through snow covered tracks.

So, I told him his best bets are Nordic countries like Finland, Norway, Sweden etctera, because I guess the snow has started to clear already in Western and Eastern Europe? Another good place I think would be the Swiss Alps, but can they find railway tracks in the mountains there? Did I give him the right info or is April too late to find snow covered railway tracks?They could try southern Argentina or Chile in July or August.

[inimitablestoo]

Judging by this week's news, Greece would be a candidate :s

It does occasionally snow in Britain in April, but we get such small volumes you'd be better off covering the floor in talcum powder... Still, if you did find any British snow-covered railway tracks, you can be damn sure you won't see a train coming by any time soon...

[BleAivano]

I'd say that northern half or at least nothern third of Sweden will still have snow in april.

There are also several railways there like

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Ore_Line

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bothnia_Line

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85dalen_Line

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Line