GB 1985 2hrs 11mins Dir: John Glen Starring: Roger Moore and Grace Jones
James Bond fights a ruthless industrialist with plans to flood the Silicon Valley
This was the fourteenth James Bond spy film, and the last of Roger Moore’s seven appearances as Bond. The final scenes take place at a supposed silver mine in Silicon Valley, in reality, the 2ft narrow-gauge system at the Amberley Museum in West Sussex. The railway’s storage tunnel appeared as the entrance to the mine, with Hudson Hunslet 20hp 2ft gauge diesels No.3097 and ‘Blue Star’ making appearances along with narrow gauge tippler wagons. Later, both of the engines were sent to Pinewood Studios along with a quantity of wagons to film scenes ‘inside the mine’. Many of the railway’s skip wagons still carry ‘Zorin Green’ livery from filming to this day. It should be noted that some external scenes were also shot at a flooded gravel pit near Staines, where Pinewood set up a narrow-gauge railway for the purpose.
An establishing shot of proceedings filmed at the mine, aka a flooded gravel pit near Staines. The locomotive in the foreground is ‘Blue Star’, which has been borrowed from Amberley Museum.
The Zorin mine train at Amberley Museum
A narrow gauge train heads into the mineshaft at Amberley with Hudson Hunslet loco ‘Blue Star’ on the rear. The real identity of the loco has never been discovered, and it isn’t blue either. The 2ft gauge loco is ex-Star Construction, Partridge Green, West Sussex, hence its name.
This is the Pinewood Studio set depicting the scene inside the mine. The train of narrow-gauge tipplers can be scene rumbling across a raised trestle in the foreground.
The locomotive on this train is Hudson Hunslet No.3097
There are many shots of the little locos scuttling about underground, and this is one of the best. No.3097 heads towards the camera ‘light engine’.
Here it can be seen passing through the main hub of the underground operations
Christopher Walken and Patrick Bauchau onboard Hudson Hunslet No.3097, ex-Borough of Merton Sewage Works
An overall shot of the Quarry floor with narrow-gauge track a feature. The Amberley Museum was, at the time of filming, known as the Amberley Chalk Pits Museum. And its a throughly enjoyable day out.
