NEARLY A NASTY ACCIDENT

GB
1961
1hr 26mins
Dir: Don Chaffey
Starring: Kenneth Connor and Jimmy Edwards

Adventures of an accident-prone aircraftman

This comedy features a railway journey filmed on the Marlow branch, a sequence where Kenneth Connor attempts to fix the train’s faulty steam heat supply but only succeeds in flooding the carriages in warm steam! Marlow station appears in the early shots along with BR suburban coaching stock but no locomotive is visible. The arrival scene then uses Marlow again, but there is a going away shot of a train on the branch plus one stock shot of a GWR express hauled by a ‘Castle’ Class 4-6-0. The journey includes a scene whereby Jimmy Handley gets stuck on a mail bag hook and then gets caught in the lineside net, all a set of course, but the scene later on where he telephones his RAF base after being left behind at an unpronounceable station uses Marlow again! A large station nameboard proudly displays the name ‘Llangollyponrhynffegawddy – ap – Clywrtydd’ and behind the sign is what appears to be the old engine shed at Marlow.

This is the old Marlow station, used in a number of films over the years.
The later arrival scene uses Marlow again, in this shot looking towards Bourne End. With all services on the Marlow branch usually formed of a single auto-trailer, this more sizeable formation of at least four maroon coaches gives the station a temporary air of importance!
Jimmy Handley’s view as he hangs from the side of the carriage shows a siding or loop line running in from the right
This shot of the train going away was probably also filmed on the Marlow branch
Kenneth Connor fiddles with the pipes beneath a real carriage. Note the brickwork of the platform behind him.
The only locomotive to appear in the film is this stock shot of a GWR express hauled by a ‘Castle’
This is the comedy signboard. Perhaps more important is the old loco shed behind.