QUADROPHENIA

GB
1979
1hr 57mins
Dir: Franc Roddam
Starring: Phil Daniels and Leslie Ash

A Mod gets involved in the Brighton riots of 1964

This hugely popular drama, loosely based on the 1973 rock opera of the same name by The Who, features a good number of trains, though all are anachronistic to the actual setting. Despite the story taking place in 1964, all the trains that feature are in 1970s BR corporate livery. The house where Jimmy Cooper (played by Phil Daniels) lives is in Wells House Road, North Acton, and overlooks the point where the High Wycombe route diverges from the Reading main line out of London Paddington. In one scene, a pair of Class 117 DMU’s are passing on the High Wycombe line into London and in another, a pair of Class 117 DMU’s can be seen heading towards Reading (in this second scene an HST can clearly be heard but not seen, presumably somebody thought that the stylish 1976 design was seen as too modern for the completed take so it was edited out!). In a later scene, Jimmy catches a train to Brighton from London Paddington (!) and there is a glimpse of a Class 50 on a train at platform one. The fifties were not introduced until 1967 (and were not on the Western Region until 1974) and most of the Mk.2 stock was introduced even later. In one scene filmed onboard an express, Phil Daniels has gone mad and throws his suitcase out of the window of a Mk.2 corridor coach. There are also a number of scenes filmed along the Goldhawk Road in Shepherds Bush and in several of these scenes both the eastern and northern entrances to Goldhawk Road Underground station are visible. Finally, there are several scenes filmed in an old scrapyard close to Latimer Road Underground station and a couple of C stock trains are passing behind on the viaduct over Freston Road. Even these are wrong for the period, as the first C stock trains were not introduced until September 1970!

Phil Daniels rides down the Goldhawk Road with the northern entrance to the station on the right. What happened to the London Goldhawk Building Society?
This is the more substantial eastern entrance to Goldhawk Road Underground station, in Wells Road, just around the corner from the shot above. Sadly, the distinctive curved glass entrance has now largely disappeared.
Although this scene in Freston Road was filmed at night, the Metropolitan Line train of C stock is clearly visible passing along the viaduct in the background
A similar train in a similar location, this time in daylight
As Phil Daniels looks forlornly out of his shed window, a Class 117 DMU passes by on its way into London Paddington. As the house is in Wells House Road, North Acton, the train is on the Wycombe line, just at it joins the GWR main line at Old Oak Common West Junction.
This clearer view gives a better indication of the layout. To clarify the above shot, the shed is on the right with the Wycombe lines in the foreground. The Great Western main line is in the background with a pair of Class 117 DMU’s working a service towards Reading. The train is crossing London Underground’s Central Line on the bridge just visible above Michael Elphick’s head.
This is London Paddington and a Western Region express stands in platform 1 with a Class 50 at the bufferstops. Class 50’s are the author’s favourite diesel locomotive but they are sadly rare in film. Unfortunately in this instance we see no more of the locomotive than the rear cab.