THE FIRST GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY

Image result for The First Great Train Robbery 1979 movie

GB
1979
1hr 40mins
Dir: Michael Crichton
Starring: Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland

In 1855, a ruthless crook picks a gang to rob the London-Folkestone express

All the railway scenes for this frequently shown caper film where shot in Ireland. Dublin Heuston was used for all the ‘London Bridge’ scenes, including a number of atmospheric night shots, and Cork station appeared as ‘Folkestone Harbour’. All the train journey scenes were filmed at various locations on the CIE system, including Moate which appeared as ‘Ashford’. Moate was located on the former Midland Great Western Railway’s Dublin-Galway route via Mullingar and closed in 1987. Preserved GSR Class J15 0-6-0 No.184 was the loco that was used in the film, painted in a fictional livery based on that of the South Eastern Railway. It was renumbered No.134 and was equipped with dummy side frames which lay in Mullingar shed for many years after. The four-wheel coaches and vans were created specially by the production company. They paid to have mock carriage bodies built onto the frames of redundant old long-wheelbase flat wagons, yet the plywood bodies really looked the part. The other preserved J15 No.186 also makes an appearance in the film but is particularly noticeable in the closing scenes filmed at Cork.

Inside Dublin Heuston, playing the part of London Bridge rather well
Dublin Heuston in all its period finery with No.184 arriving with its train. The carriages are all complete fakes.
Looking the other way now, and we get a better glimpse of No.184 decked out in mock South Eastern Railway livery.
This fine shot shows the mock carriages to great effect. In fact, the station ‘offices’ at the end of the platform were also a set. An awful lot went into recreating the period and the production company should be applauded for largely pulling it off. It just goes to show what can be achieved with a little bit of effort, time and money.
This is ‘Ashford’ station. Well its not really for this is Moate station in County Westmeath, which closed in 1987.
Moate station from a different perspective. Loco 184 and its vintage train have arrived.
This closer image of the J15 Class 0-6-0 shows the mock South Eastern Railway livery and spurious outside frames. No doubt if one stood by the loco these details would be seen as fake, but from this angle and for the purposes of the film they really look the biz.
Journey’s end at Folkestone Harbour. No, this is Cork.
Outside Cork station and the robbery draws to its conclusion (all screenshots courtesy of reelstreets)