THE MONSTER OF HIGHGATE PONDS

GB
1961
59mins
Dir: Alberto Cavalcanti
Starring: Michael Wade and Rachel Clay

Three young friends acquire a giant egg which hatches out into an amiable monster

Scenes towards the end of this Children’s Film Foundation production were shot around the Regent’s Canal with some North London Line traffic getting into shot. There is a rare image of a pair of Class 20s running light, then a steam loco runs light bunker first. Though it is obscured by a wall it is clearly a large tank engine. Finally, in a scene viewed from Torbay Street in Camden, there is a much clearer view of a freight of vans passing that is hauled by an ex-LMS Class 3F ‘Jinty’ 0-6-0T. The level crossing at Gate 19 of the Port of London’s King George V Dock is also seen in one shot at the very end.

This view close to the Regent’s Canal in north London gives a fabulous glimpse of a pair of Class 20’s working light. A none to common loco to appear in feature film.
As a lorry is unloaded in Torbay Street, Camden, an ex-LMS ‘Jinty’ tank comes into view on the North London Line viaduct.
This is Gate 19 of the Port of London’s King George V Dock