GB
1991
1hr 43mins
Dir: Fraser Clarke Heston
Starring: Charlton Heston and Edward Fox
Sherlock Holmes helps a former army captain break free of the curse surrounding stolen treasure
Based on the play of the same name by Paul Giovanni this TV crime drama would not normally warrant a listing, but it does feature something very unusual. A railway journey sequence opens with an over-the-camera shot of a GWR Pannier Tank on a short train, followed immediately by a broadside view of a vintage train passing through the countryside hauled by GWR 5700-series 0-6-0PT No.5775. These shots of the ‘Old Gentlemen’s’ train were filmed initially for The Railway Children (qv) 21 years previously and are ‘stock footage’ taken from that film! The station scenes, however, were filmed at Quainton Road, headquarters of the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, and used Hunslet 0-6-0ST No.3782 Arthur. The loco was in fact unserviceable at the time and the production company used Arthur with a smoke bomb in the smokebox and various other filming ‘magic’ so as to represent a working loco. The train which Arthur was coupled to was propelled from the rear by Class 04 No.D2298, which remained out of sight throughout. Quainton Road masqueraded as ‘Maidenhead’.
