GB 2000 1hr 32mins Dir: Steven Woodcock Starring: Barbara Marten and Julia Deakin
A housewife forms an intense relationship with a female schoolteacher
This drama was set in 1950s Northern England and makes excellent use of both the East Lancashire and the Keighley & Worth Valley Railways. The East Lancashire Railway scenes were filmed at Bury Bolton Street and feature ex-LMS ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 No.45337, BR Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 No.46441 and a rare thing in the form of the unique two-car Derby Lightweight BMU (vehicles 79998+79999). The Keighley & Worth Valley scenes were shot largely at Damems level crossing and Ingrow Tunnel and feature BR Standard 2-6-4T No.80002, ex-LMS 8F 2-8-0 No.48431, ex-LNER Class J27 0-6-0 No.65894 and one of the former Manchester Ship Canal Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T’s (probably No.31 Hamburg), though this loco is only very briefly seen (which is just as well, because it would spoil the otherwise accurate railway cast). In addition to these railway scenes there are some shots of viaducts in the Huddersfield area, the identities of which were confirmed to the author of this website via an email from director Steven Woodcock. The viaducts are Milne Viaduct at Milnsbridge on the Trans-Pennine route to Standedge, and Paddock Viaduct on the Penistone line. The region 2 UK version (79 mins) is shorter than the region 1 US version (93 mins) and is the preferred version of the director. The film was remastered in 2005 and cut back by 15 minutes for its 2006 British release, that is six years after its initial release stateside. However, the UK version on DVD contains behind-the-scenes documentaries, giving nearly an hour of extras with the trailer. Most people prefer the longer version because greater character interplay is evident between the two women on screen. The second documentary on the UK DVD release features deleted scenes and in it Woodcock explains that he felt the interplay worked well in the novel but slowed the story down on screen. Either way, the movie is devastatingly romantic, in an intimate, bottom of the heart way, but the longer version of the two should be sought. It also features a lot of very good railway footage. For once, a film accurately portrays its said period, in this case the 1950s, very well indeed, and it is very refreshing to see the trains of the period forming the backdrop to the entire story.
The credits rather unfortunately take precedent in this shot of a steam-hauled train on the Keighley & Worth, but it is a taste of things to come. The loco is ex-LMS 8F 2-8-0 No.48431.
Ex-LMS ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 No.45337 at Bury Castlecroft on the East Lancashire Railway
BR Standard 2-6-4T No.80002 steams out of Ingrow Tunnel on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway
A shot of the western entrance to Ingrow Tunnel, 150 yards in length
The period accuracy of the film even extends to the portrayal of a freight train. Quite a rare thing in a ‘modern day’ film. Ex-LMS 8F 2-8-0 No.48431 running tender first is the train loco, seen more clearly this time around without any credits to spoil the view! It is seen on the approach to Ingrow Tunnel.
Ex-LNER Class J27 0-6-0 No.65894 at Damems level crossing on the Keighley & Worth. This is not the best view of the loco, but it is the only time it appears in the film.
The view of the crossing from Damems Lane
A steam train rounds the curve just after its departure from Keighley
The 1950s saw the beginning of the transition period from steam to diesel and electric so this is a very refreshing thing to see. This is an excellent shot of the wholly unique 1958 Derby-built Battery Multiple Unit (vehicle numbers 79998 and 79999). It is captured here arriving into Bury Bolton Street on the East Lancashire Railway.
The author does like a Standard 4 tank. Thankfully, No.80002 is seen several times in the film. Here it has just left Ingrow Tunnel.
Just how much influence has that other film shot on the Keighley & Worth Valley had over the years. In a scene similar to The Railway Children, a young boy enters the tunnel at Ingrow.
‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 No.45337 passes Bury Castlecroft again
The BMU arrives into Bury Bolton Street station. Remember, as a Battery Multiple Unit this has no engines at all, so it must have been quiet. The idea was that battery units could provide a cheap alternative to steam on lightly used lines, but in reality, the finite limitations of batteries really prevented their wholesale use. The unit worked largely on Deeside in Aberdeenshire where, by a strange quirk of fate, it currently resides.
The final scenes were filmed at Bury Bolton Street on the East Lancashire Railway and used a train hauled by BR Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 No.46441. Here, it begins to pull away.
We close with this image of a railway viaduct. It appears several times in the film but it is on neither the East Lancs nor the Keighley & Worth. So where is it? Director Steven Woodcock confirms this as Paddock Viaduct (aka Longroyd Bridge) in Huddersfield, with the Huddersfield Narrow Canal on the right. A more expansive shot of the viaduct appears in the 2007 Serbian drama Hadersfild.
