POSTMAN’S KNOCK

GB
1962
1hr 28mins
Dir: Robert Lynn
Starring: Spike Milligan and Barbara Shelley

A country postman is transferred to London, where he manages to foil a major robbery

There are quite a few, varied sequences in this comedy that feature railway scenes, the best of which were shot on the ex-GER Buntingford branch in Hertfordshire with a ‘mail train’ hauled by ex-LNER J15 Class 0-6-0 No.65460. The scenes with Spike Milligan departing from the village on his way to London where filmed at West Mill station on the branch, renamed ‘Upper Fringly’ for the film, and No.65460 also appears in these scenes accompanied by a couple of Gresley suburban coaches. The London scenes feature some quite unusual shots. The first is an aerial view of London Marylebone station with a local train arriving behind an ex LMS 2-6-4T, whilst down at platform level a second loco is seen arriving, but it is unfortunately too dark to make out an exact identity. A mail train is being loaded prior to its departure with BR GUV No.W86078 in its formation. The ‘W’ prefix denoted it belonged to the Western Region but more interesting is another carriage seen at the station behind Spike Milligan in one shot. It is numbered SC 5572M, the ‘M’ suffix denoting Midland Region but the ‘SC’ prefix referred to the Scottish Region! The explanation for SC5572M is that the first one or two letters on a BR coach number indicated the region it was allocated to, here the Scottish. The letter at the end indicated that it was a pre-nationalisation vehicle and which company it came from: in this case M for LMS. The end letter was normally only applied to pre-nationalisation vehicles, but there were a number of wrong applications at the start of BR and a few later oddities. In addition to these scenes, there is a shot of ex-LMS ‘Coronation’ Class 7P 4-6-2 No.46241 City of Edinburgh on Camden shed and a comedy sequence with Spike Milligan on the London Underground. The station entrance that features is that of Moorgate, but the ‘interior’ shots and those of the platform with 1962-built tube stock used Aldwych. No surprise there then!

This is the rarely seen West Mill station in Hertfordshire, playing the role of ‘Upper Fringly’
Ex-LNER J15 Class 0-6-0 No.65460, originally classified by the Great Eastern Railway as a Class Y14.
Having thrown a mail bag out for the local postie to retrieve the train continues on its merry way
Banner waving locals say farewell to their postman at the station. West Mill again.
As the train departs we get a good view of the platform and its tiny ‘wendy house’ style building
A train is approaching the platforms in this bird’s-eye view of the station at Marylebone
Judging by this closer view, it looks like it is being hauled by an ex-LMS 2-6-4T. Note the white panels to Rossmore Road bridge, used as an aid to signal sighting
What is this I wonder? Down at platform level the train pulls in with the loco at the front too dark to positively identify, though it is another tank engine.
Here is coach SC 5572M. See the main synopsis above for the reason behind this unusual numbering. With thanks to Rory Wilson for clarification.
This view closer to the concourse shows a four-wheel van against the buffers. There is no platform here today in an area that has seen some drastic redevelopment.
Looking out onto Melcombe Place from Marylebone station concourse
This is the entrance to Moorgate station
Why take the lift……
……when you can take the stairs?
Passengers crowd onto the train somewhere underground
The train pulls out formed of 1962-stock with the destination blind displaying ‘SPECIAL’. The 1962-stock was synonymous with the Central Line leading many sources to state that these scenes filmed on the Underground used a station on the Central. However, that is not the case here. A train of ’62 stock worked the Aldwych shuttle for many years, and often with the ‘Special’ blind on display. So this is Aldwych, though in this instance the station signs read ‘? Road’.
Ex-LMS ‘Coronation’ No.46241 City of Edinburgh on Camden shed