A WEEKEND WITH LULU

GB
1961
1hr 29mins
Dir: John Paddy Carstairs
Starring: Leslie Philips and Shirley Eaton

A group of British tourists experience misadventures whilst caravanning in France

This quite delightful comedy, the name of which refers to the caravan that is hitched to the back of an ice cream truck, features a sequence whereby Lulu is accidentally parked on a flat wagon with the party subsequently finding themselves on a train heading for France. The sequence was filmed on the Longmoor Military Railway with one of the line’s Hunslet WD ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST’s on a delightful assortment of freight stock. All the ‘French’ scenes, including the shot of ‘Chateauron sur Bois’ signal box, were all filmed on the LMR, probably in the yard at Longmoor itself, but to aid continuity there is a decent shot of a French ‘Pacific’ passing on an express as Leslie Philips hangs out of the caravan door. The ‘Pacific’ is correctly running on the left, but the scene is actually a stage set up with back-projection added. The French countryside seen in several shots is also a moving backcloth. It is not all filmed on the LMR though, there is an aerial shot of an Toton Marshalling Yard, and then some scenes filmed in Feltham station goods yard with a number of different wagon types present. Despite the inconsistencies this is a well thought out, and quite well executed railway sequence.

A War Department Austerity saddle tank on the Longmoor Military Railway, opens the railway sequence in this film.
The Ice Cream Van and Lulu forming part of the freight train consist
The French signal box at Chateauron sur Bois, really a signal box on the Longmoor Military Railway
This aerial view is a stock shot of Toton Marshalling Yard in Nottinghamshire
Now the film has moved to Feltham, Middlesex, and three different types of wagon can be seen in this shot of the yard
An overall view of Lulu on her wagon, stabled in Feltham station goods yard. The goods yard here closed in September 1968 and was a different location to the much larger Marshalling Yard to the east which closed in January 1969.
Having been removed from the flatbed wagon Lulu is now back on firmer ground. It looks as though she is being filled with water and indeed, the water crane plays a part in a comedy sequence a little later on.