BBC War of the world gaff ?

[malc-c]

Just watched the first episode of this much publicised new series and I think there was a gaff at the beginning. Its based in Woking in surrey, yet shows a train with GWR on the loco.

Is this a mistake, or did the GWR serve woking? I can only find reference to LSWR as being the railway company around the time it is set

 

[Amlag]

A gaffe indeed !
3205 on the Buckfastleigh line was featured, a GWR 2251 class introduced in 1930, yet this new TV series is set in 1900-05 ish.

 

[transmanche]

A gaffe indeed !

A gaffe? Or an inability to source a suitable c1900 LSWR locomotive, on the basis that 99.999% of people won't even notice. Or care.

 

[malc-c]

Wow... big gaffe indeed.. I guess it might be hard to find a preserved loco of the right period, but they could have changed the railway company, either by repainting or electronically in post production

 

[malc-c]

A gaffe? Or an inability to source a suitable c1900 LSWR locomotive, on the basis that 99.999% of people won't even notice. Or care.

Surely that shouldn't be the attitude. Irrespective of people caring, if you are making a period drama then I would have thought the researchers would have made an effort to get this right

 

[transmanche]

Wow... big gaffe indeed.. I guess it might be hard to find a preserved loco of the right period, but they could have changed the railway company, either by repainting or electronically in post production

Surely that shouldn't be the attitude. Irrespective of people caring, if you are making a period drama then I would have thought the researchers would have made an effort to get this right

And use up all the budget on fixing it 'electronically in post-production'? What next? The guard's uniform had a style of button that was not introduced until 1920? Well, that's totally ruined my evening's viewing!

Some things that are not crucial to the plot are really not worth fussing about.

 

[Terry Tait]

If I had been there, I would have been immeasurably more concerned about giant alien machines melting everything.

 

[packermac]

Surely that shouldn't be the attitude. Irrespective of people caring, if you are making a period drama then I would have thought the researchers would have made an effort to get this right

I think 3205 has been out of ticket for some time so I guess old footage being used. It is only us saddo's that care. Horsted Keynes for example has been in Yorkshire for Downtown Abbey, and numerous other places around the country. All the LSWR are out of ticket so no moving shots possible anyway.
Think how many programmes show one aircraft type taking off, a different type for the cabin interior shot, and a third for landing. If you are an expert or interested in a subject you can always find errors.
I was more disappointed at the rewriting the story really, after the hype of it being a Victorian setting for once.

 

[Mag_seven]

Some things that are not crucial to the plot are really not worth fussing about.

Indeed - and we already have a couple of existing threads discussing this very issue:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/trains-on-tv-or-film.195085/

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/trains-in-movies.175150/

 

[Cowley]

If I had been there, I would have been immeasurably more concerned about giant alien machines melting everything.

Yep. Alien machines melting everything can really cause problems.

 

[GusB]

The chances of BBC getting it right are a million to one...

 

[transmanche]

The chances of BBC getting it right are a million to one...

If it was made by the BBC, you might have a point. But it wasn't. It was made by Mammoth Screen, which is actually owned by ITV.

 

[Cowley]

If it was made by the BBC, you might have a point. But it wasn't. It was made by Mammoth Screen, which is actually owned by ITV.

The joke was still good though.

 

[DarloRich]

If I had been there, I would have been immeasurably more concerned about giant alien machines melting everything.

Yep. Alien machines melting everything can really cause problems.

I was led to believe by a school master that HG Wells War of the Worlds is one of the earliest pieces of writing to complain about railway punctuality!

Just watched the first episode of this much publicised new series and I think there was a gaff at the beginning. Its based in Woking in surrey, yet shows a train with GWR on the loco.

Is this a mistake, or did the GWR serve woking? I can only find reference to LSWR as being the railway company around the time it is set

A gaffe indeed !
3205 on the Buckfastleigh line was featured, a GWR 2251 class introduced in 1930, yet this new TV series is set in 1900-05 ish.

Wow... big gaffe indeed.. I guess it might be hard to find a preserved loco of the right period, but they could have changed the railway company, either by repainting or electronically in post production

Surely that shouldn't be the attitude. Irrespective of people caring, if you are making a period drama then I would have thought the researchers would have made an effort to get this right

sigh. sigh. sigh. It is a TV programme designed to entertain. They have done a good job of sourcing a locomotive and scene that looks right enough within the confines of available time, finance, resource and equipment.

 

[65477]

I am hoping that next week's episode includes the following section of the book "About five o’clock the gathering crowd in the station [Waterloo] was immensely excited by the opening of the line of communication, which is almost invariably closed, between the South- Eastern and the South-Western stations, and the passage of carriage trucks bearing huge guns and carriages crammed with soldiers. These were the guns that were brought up from Woolwich and Chatham to cover Kingston, "

The only reference in literature to the line that used to bisect the Waterloo concourse.

 

[Ploughman]

No comment about the use of St Georges Hall in Liverpool as a location?
Similar comments about that could apply.

Or do we get this froth on building websites?

 

[John Webb]

I am hoping that next week's episode includes the following section of the book "About five o’clock the gathering crowd in the station [Waterloo] was immensely excited by the opening of the line of communication, which is almost invariably closed, between the South- Eastern and the South-Western stations, and the passage of carriage trucks bearing huge guns and carriages crammed with soldiers. These were the guns that were brought up from Woolwich and Chatham to cover Kingston, "

The only reference in literature to the line that used to bisect the Waterloo concourse.

I'd forgotten that! I suspect the link at Waterloo may not have been able to take 'huge guns' although they could have got there via the Woolwich Arsenal's railway connection at Plumstead with the SE line. I wonder if H G Wells checked about this connection? I bet he didn't!
If the connection wasn't usable for heavy goods, it would have been quite a circuitous route as the Lewisham connection to the Peckham Rye to Greenwich Park branch didn't exist at that time. Possible route via Bricklayer's Arms, then the LBSC through Crystal Palace, Herne Hill and back on the SE to Clapham Junction to join the SW line, perhaps?

 

[co-tr-paul]

The river and docks scenes are Sharpness, Glos. Midland Railway bridge in one shot !