FUNNY BONES

Image result for Funny Bones 1995

GB / US
1995
2hrs 08mins
Dir: Peter Chelsom
Starring: Lee Evans and Oliver Platt

A failed American comedian goes to Blackpool and discovers his half-brother

This hard to find comedy was largely set in Blackpool, yet rather curiously there are no shots of the trams whatsoever, though there is a good aerial view of Blackpool North station. Instead, there is a most unusual sequence of a rendezvous taking place in a railway coach, an old GWR Hawksworth-type being used as living accommodation, which was filmed at the Didcot Railway Centre. Though the exact identity of the coach is not known, the opening shot gives a good view of three other vehicles. Unique WR Six-wheel ‘Beetle’ Cattle Van No. DW150420 (built in 1952), another unique vehicle in the form of the GWR ‘Rotank’ milk flat wagon built in 1947, plus 1955-built BR Mk.1 Corridor Composite No.15577 (in chocolate & cream livery but with NSE branding) in use as a dormitory coach, but scrapped in December 1998 due to its asbestos content.

In this aerial view of Blackpool, North station is visible to the right of the top of the tower
As scenes on preserved railways go, this is one of the more unusual. This establishing shot shows the storage sidings at the Didcot Railway Centre. The Mk.1 coach on the left is the now scrapped Corridor Composite No.15577 whilst the brown van in the centre of the shot is unique Six-wheel Cattle Van No. DW150420. The Hawksworth coach in which the scene is set is beyond the cattle van as evidenced by the washing on the line!!
The view inside the Hawksworth coach