The film was released ten years after its source novel was published.
On an episode of "The $25,000 Pyramid", John Schuck says that the movie he is in is entitled THE NEXT-TO-LAST TRAIN RIDE, which is what the story upon which it is based is entitled. The movie had not been released at the time, so the title had not yet been changed.
In the 1976 railroad movie "Silver Streak", the name of the train company was AM Road, and in this movie it's AM Rail.
Michael O'Keefe turned down the opportunity of working with Jack Lemmon, playing the young priest in Prêchi-prêcha (1984), to do this movie. The part was cast with Zeljko Ivanek.