Films that feature the railways

[Crisso]

An old 1957 Film showed last Saturday on TPTV called ‘The Secret Place’, featured much on-location footage in the East End of London. Numerous views showed the Great Eastern Main Line between, I guess, Bethnal Green and Stratford on the continuous viaduct, complete with original DC Overhead infrastructure. In one scene, behind the actors could clearly be seen passing, a 9 car 306 formation, complete with its diamond pantograph, on each leading motor coach of the 3 DC units as built! Incidentally, in other on-street footage could be seen much Trolleybuses overhead wiring plus, an occasional brief glimpse of Trolleybus vehicles themselves.

 

[Harvester]

BBC2 is showing ‘Get Carter’ this evening at 11:05 pm, so if anyone who has not seen this, and is interested in footage of the ECML in the Deltic era tune in. All the railway scenes are in the first 5 to 10 minutes of the movie.

 

[scarby]

Tread Softly Stranger (1958), filmed mostly in Rotherham, features short scenes early on at Parkgate and Rawmarsh station. Later there are quite a few short shots of a working loco at Parkgate Iron and Steel Company.

The film is very evocative of the time and features Diana Dors at her stunning best.

 

[Taunton]

Caught on a Train is currently here. However the DVD is worth seeking out, as it also has separately a full length commentary over it by writer Stephen Poliakoff and the director about how they filmed it.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

I'm not sure whether it's already been mentioned (and my apologies if it has) but the Highland Railway "Jones Goods " 4-6-0 No. 103 appeared in the 1965 film Those Magnificent men in their Flying Machines. It played the part of a French locomotive, complete with NORD lettering on the tender, and hauled the train on which Terry-Thomas crashed his plane.

 

[Gloster]

I'm not sure whether it's already been mentioned (and my apologies if it has) but the Highland Railway "Jones Goods " 4-6-0 No. 103 appeared in the 1965 film Those Magnificent men in their Flying Machines. It played the part of a French locomotive, complete with NORD lettering on the tender, and hauled the train on which Terry-Thomas crashed his plane.

See #190 and #197. The choice of 103 might have been because the French C.F.de.l’Etat acquired fifty locos almost identical to the Highland’s Castle Class in 1911. If they did so for this reason it would be an unusually determined attempt by film crew to be as accurate as possible, even though the Etat was in another part of the country. Ah hae ma doots.

 

[Taunton]

Tread Softly Stranger (1958), filmed mostly in Rotherham, features short scenes early on at Parkgate and Rawmarsh station. Later there are quite a few short shots of a working loco at Parkgate Iron and Steel Company.

Bit lacking in continuity - opening shot hauled by a WR King, has ticket inspected in a main line compartment, but then arrives behind an LMS 4-4-0 and steps out of a BR non-corridor coach.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

See #190 and #197. The choice of 103 might have been because the French C.F.de.l’Etat acquired fifty locos almost identical to the Highland’s Castle Class in 1911. If they did so for this reason it would be an unusually determined attempt by film crew to be as accurate as possible, even though the Etat was in another part of the country. Ah hae ma doots.

Ah, thanks; I would have been surprised if it hadn't been mentioned before.

 

[75A]

The 1964 film Crooks in Cloisters was on Talking Pictures this morning.
The opening scenes show a Mail Train being stopped, coach separated and moved on (driven by Barbara Windsor)
The Loco is D140 - later 46003.

 

[Gloster]

The 1964 film Crooks in Cloisters was on Talking Pictures this morning.
The opening scenes show a Mail Train being stopped, coach separated and moved on (driven by Barbara Windsor)
The Loco is D140 - later 46003.

According to British Railway Movie Database the shots in the credits were taken near Elstree, but have been reversed. The rest were probably done in Brent Yard or possibly Scratchwood Sidings.

 

[Mag_seven]

The immediate opening scene (immediately following the opening credits) of S1E3 of "Juliet Bravo" has some footage of Preston station:

 

[side effect]

Can't remember if someone has posted this earlier on but just watching High hopes with Phil Davis and it looks like they are on the top of a tower block overlooking King's Cross Station.

 

[Rover]

I've just rewatched "Whistle Down the Wind" after 50 odd years made in 1961, it very briefly shows the frontage of Clitheroe station, it starred a 15 year old Hayley Mills, she was lovely, I had a crush on her. I was 12!

 

[Falcon1200]

Watching (again) 'Back to the Future 3' recently, right at the end of the movie the DeLorean, which is on a railroad track, is smashed to smithereens by a freight train - Which does not slow down, never mind stop! Which, even in the USA, seems almost as unlikely as a time-travelling car.....

 

[Gloster]

I've just rewatched "Whistle Down the Wind" after 50 odd years made in 1961, it very briefly shows the frontage of Clitheroe station, it starred a 15 year old Hayley Mills, she was lovely, I had a crush on her. I was 12!

According to British Railway Movie Database there are scenes shot around Newline (or Britannia) Tunnel and Bacup Engine Shed Signal Box. The Bacup-Rochdale line was temporarily closed to passengers in June 1947 and permanent in December 1949; the line from Bacup Junction to Facit closed completely in October 1954 along with the engine shed.

 

[Rover]

According to British Railway Movie Database there are scenes shot around Newline (or Britannia) Tunnel and Bacup Engine Shed Signal Box. The Bacup-Rochdale line was temporarily closed to passengers in June 1947 and permanent in December 1949; the line from Bacup Junction to Facit closed completely in October 1954 along with the engine shed.

That's very interesting thanks.

 

[John Webb]

According to British Railway Movie Database the shots in the credits were taken near Elstree, but have been reversed. The rest were probably done in Brent Yard or possibly Scratchwood Sidings.

"Horton's Guide to British Railways in Feature Films" (Silver Link Publishing, 2007) says it was Brent Sidings at Cricklewood.

 

[Mr. SW]

This came up in my YouTube feed.
Doctor Who from the Pertwee era.
Views of St Pancras undercroft etc.

 

[Old Oak]

I'm surprised there's been no mention of the 1967 Stanley Baker film 'Robbery' so far - based on the great train robbery of '63 it shot in March and April '67 using the Rugby - Market Harborough - Peterborough line and the Northampton - Market Harborough line which had been closed by BR in June '66, plus some short scenes shot at Marylebone. Standing in for D326 was D318 (now preserved of course) which was manned by Rugby based Driver Mick Burton and Secondman John Atkinson for two weeks, a set of Willesden based men were also used for some scenes as well. The secondman in the film was played by a very young Robert Powell, he had to borrow Atkinson's BR uniform because the one provided by the props department didn't fit him. The robbery scene itself was shot at a small overbridge just east of Theddingworth station and during the daytime D318 was stabled on Rugby Shed between filming sessions. When the crew arrived at Theddingworth to start shooting they had to clean the surface rust from the top of the rails...

 

[EYFanatic]

Last image...

Did Inspector Clouseau wonder into the frame?

 

[scarby]

The Clouded Yellow (1950) offers a smörgåsbord of rail locations including Newcastle Central station, Holborn underground station, the Liverpool Overhead Railway and a dockyard railway in Liverpool, plus lots of buses, trams and trolleybuses.

The rail-related shots are brief but overall it's a great film if you are into outdoor locations from this period. The movie itself holds one's attention even if the story is rather contrived.

 

[70014IronDuke]

See #190 and #197. The choice of 103 might have been because the French C.F.de.l’Etat acquired fifty locos almost identical to the Highland’s Castle Class in 1911. If they did so for this reason it would be an unusually determined attempt by film crew to be as accurate as possible, even though the Etat was in another part of the country. Ah hae ma doots.

I have, indeed, why they went to all the trouble (and cost) of bringing 103 all the way down from Glasgow(?) to shoot these scenes, when there has to have been a reasonably aged loco much closer (not sure if Midland Compound 1000 was still steamable in '64) - but if that was the reason the loco-caster should have got an Oscar.

I've just rewatched "Whistle Down the Wind" after 50 odd years made in 1961, it very briefly shows the frontage of Clitheroe station, it starred a 15 year old Hayley Mills, she was lovely, I had a crush on her. I was 12!

Hayley Mills, aged 15?

All that long, blonde hair?

<Knees give way> <Collapses in a heap.>

End of working day.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

I have, indeed, why they went to all the trouble (and cost) of bringing 103 all the way down from Glasgow(?) to shoot these scenes, when there has to have been a reasonably aged loco much closer (not sure if Midland Compound 1000 was still steamable in '64) - but if that was the reason the loco-caster should have got an Oscar.

Those nice people at Wikipedia say the following on their page about the film:
"The location where Sir Percy's aircraft lands on a train is the now-closed line from Bedford to Hitchin. The tunnel into which they fly is the Old Warden Tunnel near the village of the same name in Bedfordshire; the tunnel had only recently been closed, and in the panning shot through the railway cutting, the cooling towers of the now-demolished Goldington Pwer Station can be seen. The locomotive is former Highland Railway Jones Goods Class No 103. About 1910, French Railways built duplicates of a Highland Railway Class "The Castles" which were a passenger version of the Jones Goods."

It's an interesting question about why they chose No. 103 for the train. She spent much of 1965 hauling special trains in Scotland and, as far as I've been able to find, didn't come south of the border on any of them. Still, I'm glad that they used her .... !

 

[Gloster]

Those nice people at Wikipedia say the following on their page about the film:
"The location where Sir Percy's aircraft lands on a train is the now-closed line from Bedford to Hitchin. The tunnel into which they fly is the Old Warden Tunnel near the village of the same name in Bedfordshire; the tunnel had only recently been closed, and in the panning shot through the railway cutting, the cooling towers of the now-demolished Goldington Pwer Station can be seen. The locomotive is former Highland Railway Jones Goods Class No 103. About 1910, French Railways built duplicates of a Highland Railway Class "The Castles" which were a passenger version of the Jones Goods."

It's an interesting question about why they chose No. 103 for the train. She spent much of 1965 hauling special trains in Scotland and, as far as I've been able to find, didn't come south of the border on any of them. Still, I'm glad that they used her .... !

Frankly. I suspect that 103 was used because it was the most easily available of a limited number of sufficiently old locos in running order that would fit with the aircraft. Coming down from Scotland and painting NORD on the tender is likely to be far less work than resuscitating another loco. The alternative of using a 5MT, as would happen now, might well jar at a time when the type was still in use. That 103 is a near-relative of a type used in France might just be coincidence or it might be a bit of imaginative thinking and salesmanship by someone in BR.

 

[Martyr]

Perhaps they just chose 103 because of its nice bright yellow colour.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Frankly. I suspect that 103 was used because it was the most easily available of a limited number of sufficiently old locos in running order that would fit with the aircraft. Coming down from Scotland and painting NORD on the tender is likely to be far less work than resuscitating another loco. The alternative of using a 5MT, as would happen now, might well jar at a time when the type was still in use. That 103 is a near-relative of a type used in France might just be coincidence or it might be a bit of imaginative thinking and salesmanship by someone in BR.

Perhaps they just chose 103 because of its nice bright yellow colour.

You could both be right ... but, as I say, I'm glad that they did!