ROCK SPRINGS – Pawhuska, Okla., is about as removed from the glitz of Hollywood as one could imagine, but one local trucking company helped bridge the gap between the two during the filming of a recently released, critically-acclaimed film.

The lands around Osage County, Okla., were the setting for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” a Martin Scorsese film currently playing in theaters. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro and focuses on the murders of Osage Native Americans during the early 20th century over the oil wealth tribal members possessed. The film opens with DiCaprio’s Ernest Burkhart riding a train to meet his wealthy cattle baron uncle following the end of World War I. That train was transported more than 3,000 miles round trip for use in the movie by Rock Springs-based Corthell Transportation.

Corthell Transportation isn’t a standard trucking company. It specializes in hauling oversized and overweight loads such as oil rigs, fire trucks, power generators, and in this case a steam locomotive and its passenger cars. Mark Corthell, co-owner of Corthell Transportation, said the job came from a client who specializes in moving trains for film projects. The train rented for “Killers of the Flower Moon” was too heavy for the client’s equipment, which necessitated the use of specialized trailers to move the steam engine, coal tender, and three passenger cars.

“It was really heavy because of the steam engine,” Corthell said. “Trains don’t normally weigh that much.”

Corthell said the steam engine is in service between Virginia City, Nev., and Carson City, Nev., operating during the summer tourism season. The trains were originally moved during May 2021 and loaded by laying rail onto the trailers and pushing the train and cars from the line to the different trailers. In total, five trucks were used to move the train to and from Pawhuska, Okla.

“It was one of the more unique moves that we’ve done,” Corthell said.