ADOLF HITLER – MY PART IN HIS DOWNFALL
GB
1972
1hr 42mins
Dir: Norman Cohen
Starring: Spike Milligan and Jim Dale
Dramatisation of Spike Milligan’s experiences as a World War II recruit
This film adaptation of the first volume of Spike Milligan’s autobiography has a closing scene featuring ‘Aldershot’ station, in reality Horsted
Keynes station on the Bluebell Railway. Ex-GWR ‘Dukedog’ 4-4-0 No.3217 is hauling the arriving train and there is also a run by of the train
from a bridge at Holywell.
*THE BEAST IN THE CELLAR
GB
1970
1hr 41mins
Dir: James Kelly
Starring: Flora Robson and Beryl Reid
Two elderly spinsters keep their disfigured brother locked up in the cellar, but he escapes
This pretty dreadful horror movie has one railway scene filmed at Horsted Keynes station on the fledging Bluebell Railway. A train is seen and although the locomotive is too far off to positively identify it looks to be one of the line’s ex-SECR P Class 0-6-0Ts.
*BLACK BEAUTY
GB
1994
1hr 28mins
Dir: Caroline Thompson
Starring: David Thewlis and Peter Davison
Adventures of a horse from birth to pasture
The fifth film adaptation of the 1877 classic novel by Anna Sewell features a scene filmed on the Bluebell Railway at Horsted Keynes station,
though no locomotives are visible. It is nice to see that Horsted Keynes played itself and did not masquerade as a different place entirely.
*BULLSHOT
GB
1983
1hr 25mins
Dir: Dick Clement
Starring: Alan Shearman and Frances Tomelty
Spoof comedy featuring hero Bullshot Crummond, a parody on Bulldog Drummond
The film has some comedy scenes shot on the Bluebell Railway utilising trains hauled by SR ‘Schools’ V Class 4-4-0 No.928 Stowe and ex-SECR C Class 0-6-0 No.592.
GB
1983
1hr 25mins
Dir: Dick Clement
Starring: Alan Shearman and Frances Tomelty
Spoof comedy featuring hero Bullshot Crummond, a parody on Bulldog Drummond
The film has some comedy scenes shot on the Bluebell Railway utilising trains hauled by SR ‘Schools’ V Class 4-4-0 No.928 Stowe and ex-SECR C Class 0-6-0 No.592.
*CHAPLIN
GB / US
1992
2hrs 23mins
Dir: Richard Attenborough
Starring: Robert Downey Jr and Dan Aykroyd
The life of British silent-movie comedian Charlie Chaplin
This biographical comedy-drama includes one scene filmed at London St Pancras station with Southern Railway coaches present and some shots filmed on the Bluebell Railway with the line’s Southern Railway Maunsell-designed Q Class 0-6-0 No.541.
*CHARLOTTE GRAY
GB / AUS / GER
2001
2hrs 01mins
Dir: Gillian Armstrong
Starring: Cate Blanchett and Michael Gambon
A woman is recruited as a spy and is sent to France to join up with the Resistance movement
Adapted from the novel of the same name by Sebastian Faulks the film is set in Vichy, France, during World War II but despite this all the trains featured depict post-war traction and BR liveries. The opening shots show ex-LNER K1 Class 2-6-0 No.62005 on a train of six maroon-liveried Mk1s on the West Highland Line, including a shot of it crossing Glenfinnan Viaduct. The scenes onboard the train, however, could well be an elaborate stage set. These West Highland scenes are followed by a train arriving at Sheffield Park station on the Bluebell Railway behind BR Standard Class 5MT 4-6-0 No.73082 Camelot. Although the smokebox numberplate and the nameplate remain, the cabside number and BR crest on the tender have been painted over in an unusual attempt at hiding their origin. Just visible on the adjacent track as the train arrives is Class 4MT
4-6-0 No.75027. The Bluebell was then used for one of the biggest scenes in the film, the blowing up of an ammunition train. BR Standard 9F
2-10-0 No.92240 was used on a train complete with wagons carrying armoured vehicles. The explosion, which demolished a couple of balsa wood vans built by the special effects crew, was filmed between Caseford Bridge and Three Arch Bridge but the aftermath scenes were filmed at Longcross Studios using various mock-ups.
*DRACULA
GB
1973
1hr 40mins
Dir: Dan Curtis
Starring: Jack Palance and Nigel Davenport
Count Dracula comes to England and is pursued by Van Helsing
This 1973 adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel features a scene at Tenterden Town station on the Kent & East Sussex Railway with a short train
arriving behind one of the lines diminutive ex-LBSCR A1X Class ‘Terrier’ 0-6-0Ts. Tenterden Town masquerades as ‘Whitby’. The later railway scenes, however, feature two ground level run-bys of GWR 5700-series 0-6-0PT No.5775 from the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. Painted in the fictitious light brown livery of the ‘Great Northern & Southern Railway’ and working the ‘Old Gentleman’s Train’, it can be assumed that these shots were filmed for The Railway Children (qv) and then not used. The onboard scene shown in this sequence is almost undoubtedly filmed
on the Kent & East Sussex Railway.
*EMILY (aka THE AWAKENING OF EMILY)
GB
1976
1hr 27mins
Dir: Henry Herbert
Starring: Koo Stark and Victor Spinetti
A young girl’s sexual awakening in 1920s England
This awful coming-of-age drama features opening scenic shots filmed on the Bluebell Railway. The three-coach train is hauled by ex-LBSCR A1X Class ‘Terrier’ 0-6-0T No.72 Fenchurch with an arrival scene filmed at Horsted Keynes station.
*FLYBOYS
GB / US
2006
2hrs 18mins
Dir: Tony Bill
Starring: James Franco and Tyler Labine
American pilots join the First World War with the Lafayette Escadrille, the 124th air squadron formed by the French in 1916
The railway scenes of this war drama were all filmed on the Bluebell Railway, though you would never know it. Kingscote station was used to depict Lincoln, Nebraska, with BR Standard 5MT 4-6-0 No.73082 used for the scene. The loco was renumbered 2759 and adorned with US railway insignia, though the Camelot nameplates were retained! Computer imagery was added so that when the train departs, instead of revealing the up platform we see typical Midwest prairie land. Horsted Keynes was likewise transformed and became ‘Paris’ with computer generation giving it a large overall roof and making it appear as a major station. In these scenes two locomotives were used, namely ex-GWR ‘Dukedog’
4-4-0 No.3217 and ex-LBSCR E4 Class 0-6-2T No.32473 Birch Grove.
*THE GATHERING STORM
GB / US
2002
1hr 36mins
Dir: John Schlesinger
Starring: Albert Finney and Vanessa Redgrave
The life of Winston Churchill during the 1930s and the build up to the Second World War
The railway scenes in this biographical film were shot at Horsted Keynes station on the Bluebell Railway with period Southern Railway coaching stock present but no locomotive. There is also a shot of the frontage to St. James’s Park Underground station.
*A GHOST IN MONTE CARLO
GB
1990
1hr 31mins
Dir: John Hough
Starring: Sarah Miles and Oliver Reed
A courtesan takes her niece to Monte Carlo to begin a new life
There is a night scene at the very end of this romantic drama that was filmed on the Bluebell Railway at Horsted Keynes station, masquerading as ‘Monte-Carlo’ of all places. Ex-LSWR Adams Radial 0415 Class 4-4-2T No.488 is seen at the head of the ‘Chesham rake’, and then again passing through the station light engine. The movie was based on the 1951 novel of the same name by Barbara Cartland.
*A HANDFUL OF DUST
GB
1988
1hr 58mins
Dir: Charles Sturridge
Starring: James Wilby and Kristin Scott Thomas
The wife’s affair and a death in the family hasten the demise of an upper-class English marriage
This romance features a number of scenes that were filmed on the Bluebell Railway, with Sheffield Park station and various lineside locations featuring, along with some good shots of Southern Railway U Class 2-6-0 No.1618. There is also a scene filmed on platform 1 of London Paddington station though without the presence of any trains.
*HARDCORE (aka FIONA)
GB
1977
1hr 20mins
Dir: James Kenelm Clarke
Starring: Fiona Richmond and Anthony Steel
The sexual adventures of an actress
This typical soft-core ’70s romp does at least feature a number of railway scenes. Fiona Richmond takes a train journey which starts with a low ground level shot of a Class 52 ‘Western’ diesel-hydraulic-hauled WR express followed by scenes onboard early Mk2 corridor stock where she seduces the guard of the train. This is followed by a shot of Mk2 air-cons entering an unknown tunnel on a line with OHLE. There are then a number of scenes on the Bluebell Railway where a flimsily clad Richmond is picked up from the lineside by the driver of USA Class 0-6-0T No.30064. Richmond and the steam loco driver then make love on the footplate with the train in motion and we are treated to a number of run bys of the train and a shot of the interior of ex-LNWR Observation Car No.1503 at the rear. As the driver of the steam train and the guard of the express are one and the same we realise that it is a visual scenario used to depict her climax, with such obvious cliches as moving motion, escaping steam and a sounding whistle. All this ends with a bare-breasted Richmond sat on the train opposite two old aged pensioners who were asleep at the time Richmond entered the carriage but who are now very much awake! The railway scenes end with another low ground level shot of a WR express which is now hauled by a Class 47 diesel suggesting a change of traction on route.
*HAUNTED
GB
1995
1hr 48mins
Dir: Lewis Gilbert
Starring: Aidan Quinn and Kate Beckinsale
A sceptic of psychic phenomena is invited to stay at a haunted house
This horror movie features some good scenes filmed on the Bluebell Railway with Horsted Keynes station masquerading as ‘Edbrook’. Southern Railway Maunsell S15 Class 4-6-0 No.847 features heavily, the scenes include a run by filmed at Waterworks Bridge.
*HEAD IN THE CLOUDS
GB / CAN
2004
2hrs 12mins
Dir: John Duigan
Starring: Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend
Three women in Paris find themselves caught up in the events of the Nazi occupation
This film includes a wartime scene set in a French marshalling yard where the Resistance blow up a German munitions train. This was actually filmed at Sheffield Park on the Bluebell Railway, with heavily-disguised BR Standard Class 4MT 2-6-4T No.80151 together with a snowplough painted in camouflage colours. The snowplough was ADS70225, an ex-Schools Class tenderplough which was also fitted with a mock machine-
gun nest for filming. It remained in this condition afterwards and can be still be seen amongst the stored stock on the railway.
*HOPE AND GLORY
GB
1987
1hr 53mins
Dir: John Boorman
Starring: Sarah Miles and David Hayman
Adventures of a small boy and his family in wartime London
This hugely successful film, based on John Boorman’s own experiences of growing up in the Blitz, features an atmospheric wartime evacuation scene recreated at London Marylebone station with SR ‘King Arthur’ N15 Class 4-6-0 No.777 Sir Lamiel. There is another railway scene which was shot at Horsted Keynes station on the Bluebell Railway, which interestingly acts as the location of a romantic scene in a movie that the family are watching in a cinema, therefore a film within a film!
*I’LL NEVER FORGET WHAT’S’ISNAME
GB
1967
1hr 37mins
Dir: Michael Winner
Starring: Oliver Reed and Orson Welles
An advertising executive rebels against society
This satire features a surreal advertising film shot on the Bluebell Railway, with a lady tied to the track as in the old ‘Perils of Pauline’ westerns. Bluebell Halt was painted white to appear as a ‘ghost’ station, with North London Railway 75 Class 0-6-0T No.2650 and the ‘Chesham’ rake similarly painted as a ‘ghost train’.
*THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
GB / US
2002
1hr 37mins
Dir: Oliver Parker
Starring: Colin Firth and Rupert Everett
Two friends use the same pseudonym which causes confusion
This romantic comedy drama is based on Oscar Wilde’s classic comedy of manners play of the same name. It includes a low-level run by on the Bluebell Railway of ex-SECR Class O1 0-6-0 No.65 at the head of a train and a brief dream sequence filmed at Horsted Keynes station. A lot more railway footage was shot for the film but then cut from the completed movie. This included a scene where former BR Chairman Sir Peter Parker played a station porter helping Judi Dench get off the train. This was only a short while before his death. This cameo appearance of Mr Parker can be viewed on the additional scene featurettes available on the DVD, along with some good shots of the O1 and some footage of Judi Dench being interviewed on Platform 3 of Horsted Keynes station.
*THE INNOCENTS
GB
1961
1hr 40mins
Dir: Jack Clayton
Starring: Deborah Kerr and Michael Redgrave
A governess at a lonely house suspects that her charges are possessed by the dead
This supernatural gothic horror is based on the 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. It includes a nice shot of a train arriving at Horsted Keynes station on the Bluebell Railway with Southern Railway ‘birdcage’ coaches visible but no locomotive. However, in the far background of one shot we do see what is possibly one of the line’s ex-SECR P Class 0-6-0Ts in the distance. This is believed to be the first occasion that the Bluebell Railway, or indeed any other preserved standard gauge line, was used in a feature film.
*KHARTOUM
GB
1966
2hrs 14mins
Dir: Basil Dearden
Starring: Charlton Heston and Laurence Olivier
The last years of British General Charles Gordon
During this epic adventure, there is a scene where General Gordon meets with Prime Minister William Gladstone, which was filmed on the Bluebell Railway at Horsted Keynes station with North London Railway 75 Class 0-6-0T No.2650 on the ‘Chesham’ stock. The film also includes scenes on London Marylebone station but without any trains.
*LAST PASSENGER
GB
2013
1hr 37mins
Dir: Omid Nooshin
Starring: Dougray Scott and Kara Tointon
A small group of everyday passengers trapped on a speeding train battle their warped driver who has a dark plan for everyone onboard
This modern-day suspense film centres around a train driver who is hell bent on murder suicide, and takes place on a fictitious train running between London and Tunbridge Wells. The identity of the driver and his motivations for committing a murder-suicide are left unknown throughout. The film was generally well received, with some good ‘cause and effect’ scenarios, though the completed movie doesn’t quite work and it lacks serious bite with several weak characters and even weaker links. None the less it is infinitely better than the classic ‘over-the-top’ Hollywood blockbuster and the lead characters, particularly Kara Tointon, work their roles nicely. The film was set onboard two Class 421 4 CIG EMU carriages, vehicle numbers 76747 (a DTC) and 62385 (an MBSO), from unit 1399, and painted in mock Connex livery. Despite being part of an electric train, artistic licence was taken and the carriages were portrayed as diesel powered for the purpose of the storyline. The film is presumably set when ‘slam door’ trains were still in service. The two Class 421 carriages were delivered to Shepperton Studios and mounted on off-set hydraulic rams. Instead of using the more common technique of green screen to create the illusion of movement outside the train’s windows, Nooshin designed a six-screen system of rear projection, maintaining a near 360 degree view, something only now viable with digital projectors. Some sequences, however, required a more complex combination of techniques. The ‘train surfing’ scene towards the end of the film was shot in four different locations over six months, the main bulk on Shepperton’s ‘H’ Stage, pick-ups on Pinewood’s Bond Stage, and on the Bluebell Railway, who are owners of a similar Class 423 4 VEP unit, along with background plates shot from a freight train. The Last Passenger production team visited the Kent & East Sussex Railway in November 2011 to shoot the carriage fire scenes at the end of the film. The level crossing crash scene was filmed using CGI, but the location used was Milford, in Surrey, a bit of a distance from the Hastings route on which the train was supposedly running. Milford station also appears in a later scene, masquerading as ‘Crowhurst’. The train displays Headcode 74, which on the South Eastern section would be either a Charing Cross-Gravesend or Maidstone West via Bexleyheath service, or a Victoria-Dover Western Docks via Herne Hill and Chatham service. However, in the tunnel scene, passengers trapped on the train cannot alight due to the narrowness of the tunnels preventing the doors from opening. This is clearly aimed at replicating the restricted width tunnels on the Hastings line, although they are now single track and this would not have been a problem for the passengers. Guildford station was used for several scenes and the opening credits feature a cab ride at night on the Great Western mainline passing through stations in the following order: Reading, Taplow, Twyford, Goring & Streatley, Maidenhead and Slough. HST sets pass in this sequence and a Class 165 ‘Turbo’ is seen at Reading, in the old east facing bay platform 6. There are plenty of other night scenes in the film that show the train moving around various locations. The new Reading Traincare depot, under construction at the time of filming, is notably visible in one shot but the others are largely unidentifiable, including the large station in which the runaway train passes through. The train incidentally is entirely a CGI creation as it is a three-car unit.
“LET’S GET LAID!”
GB
1978
1hr 30mins
Dir: James Kenelm Clarke
Starring: Robin Askwith and Fiona Richmond
A dim-witted soldier returns to London after being demobbed at the end of the Second World War only to find himself suspected of a murder
This is a typical seventies comedy caper that has some railway scenes that were filmed on the Bluebell Railway, with interior scenes shot onboard Bulleid coaches. A couple of other shots were filmed at London Marylebone, with no trains visible, and three stock shots of 1950s Western Region expresses feature, two hauled by ‘Castle’ Class 4-6-0s (one of which is No.5060 Earl of Berkeley) and one by a ‘Hall’ Class 4-6-0. Not bad realism for images that supposedly represent trains at the end of the 1940s.
*LISZTOMANIA
GB
1975
1hr 43mins
Dir: Ken Russell
Starring: Roger Daltrey and Sara Kestelman
A fantasia based on the life of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt
This film is developed in part from a biography of Franz Liszt, and in part from an actual ‘kiss-and-tell’ book, Nélida, by Marie d’Agoult, about the couple’s affair. It is a surreal and oddly flamboyant movie that rather than following a straightforward narrative, presents Liszt’s life through a series of episodes. There is a bizarre scene in which a train smashes through a grand piano that has been left on a railway line. This was filmed on Freshfield Bank on the Bluebell Railway and the locomotive that demolished the dummy fibreglass piano is ex-LBSCR Class A1X ‘Terrier’ 0-6-0
T No.72 Fenchurch.
*MAHLER
GB
1974
1hr 55mins
Dir: Ken Russell
Starring: Robert Powell and Georgina Hale
A film exploring the music and life of the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler
Most of this biographical film is made up of flashbacks, some of which are surrealistic and nightmarish, taking place as Mahler and his wife Alma (played by Georgina Hale) take a train journey from Bavaria to Vienna. Most of these scenes were filmed on the Bluebell Railway and made use of Sheffield Park and Horsted Keynes stations. BR Standard Class 4MT 4-6-0 No.75027 is in evidence but is hardly a typical Austrian loco from the 1920s! The station nameboards were changed to such exotic places as ‘Lambach’ and ‘Vocklabruck’ but even odder is the scene at the end of the film. This was shot at London Marylebone with BR blue-liveried Class 115 DMUs in attendance!
*MAURICE
GB
1987
2hrs 20mins
Dir: James Ivory
Starring: James Wilby and Hugh Grant
The life of a Cambridge homosexual in the early 20th century
This romantic drama film is based on the 1971 novel of the same name by E. M. Forster and features several scenes filmed at Horsted Keynes station on the Bluebell Railway. In one of these scenes, a train formed of period Southern Railway coaching stock is seen departing but due to the angle of filming, the locomotive at the front of the train is not clear. A close look at the image suggests that it could possibly be ex-LSWR Class B4 0-4-0T No.30096 Normandy. There is also a scene filmed onboard the carriages at night.
*MISS POTTER
US / GB
2006
1hr 32mins
Dir: Chris Noonan
Starring: Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor
The life of children’s author and illustrator Beatrix Potter
This popular biographical film has one scene that was shot at Horsted Keynes station on the Bluebell Railway with a train departing that is hauled by ex-SR Maunsell U Class 2-6-0 No.1638. To recognise Miss Potter’s Lake District connections the locomotive has spurious ‘NORTHERN’ lettering on its tender. There are various items of rolling stock visible in what is a very wet and atmospheric scene. The viaduct seen twice in the film is Arten Gill Viaduct on the Settle-Carlisle Railway line though the steam trains crossing it are entirely a CGI creation.
*MR. HOLMES
GB / US
2015
1hr 44mins
Dir: Bill Condon
Starring: Ian McKellen and Laura Linney
A 93-year old Sherlock Holmes struggles to recall the details of his final case because his mind is slowly deteriorating
This mystery is based on Mitch Cullin’s 2005 novel A Slight Trick of the Mind, a US portrait of Sherlock Holmes in old age that bears little resemblance to the Arthur Conan Doyle novels known to all. Despite this and the fact that it lacks Baker Street bite, concentrating as it does on the fleeting musings of Mr. Holmes, the film is a pleasant delight, with Ian McKellen excelling in his portrayal of an ailing Holmes. It features the usual period scenes filmed on the Bluebell Railway, with Horsted Keynes and Sheffield Park stations featuring. Vintage Southern Railway coaching stock and more modern BR ‘blood and custard’ liveried Mk1’s are present in these scenes, along with ex-GWR 5600 Class 0-6-2T No. 5643, visible in the background of the scene at Sheffield Park. The opening aerial views, however, feature some rather good shots of ex-LMS Class 5MT ‘Black 5’ 4-6-0 No.44767 George Stephenson with maroon Mk1s on the North Norfolk Railway. Horsted Keynes masquerades as ‘Cuckmere Haven’. The Japanese station in the film meanwhile is portrayed by Tilbury Riverside, closed in 1992 but still intact and in use as an Arts Centre. The station building appears with much additional furniture and signage though the trains beyond the barriers are a CGI creation.
*THE NAKED RUNNER
GB
1967
1hr 41mins
Dir: Sidney Furie
Starring: Frank Sinatra and Peter Vaughan
An American businessman is unwittingly duped into killing a spy
This unsuccessful British espionage film features a background story whereby a defecting spy is taking a train journey to Russia across Europe. The part of the journey from France to Frankfurt actually uses the Bluebell Railway (!) with one of the line’s ex-LBSCR Class AIX ‘Terrier’
0-6-0Ts and ex-GWR ‘Dukedog’ 4-4-0 No.3217 working trains. Stations used appear to be Kingscote and Horsted Keynes. There is also a shot of an express on the Southern Region hauled by one of the Bulleid ‘Pacific’s’ in their last year of operation, and the wheels and motion of a passing train that is possibly hauled by A3 ‘Pacific’ ‘Flying Scotsman’. All rather odd given the context of the film. The movie was based on Francis Clifford’s 1966 novel of the same name.
*102 DALMATIANS
GB
2000
1hr 40mins
Dir: Kevin Lima
Starring: Glenn Close and Tim McInnerny
Cruella de Vil gets out of prison and goes after Dalmatian puppies once again
This Walt Disney live action comedy is the sequel to the 1996 film 101 Dalmatians and stars Glenn Close reprising her role as Cruella de Vil as she attempts to steal puppies for her ‘grandest’ fur coat yet. Cruella de Vil takes the Orient Express from London to Paris and this sequence features a dramatic scene filmed at London St Pancras station whereby a puppy attempting to board the train falls of the back and lands on the track. A parrot then picks up the puppy and they both fly into the open rear gangway door as the guard leans out to check that the tail lamp is in position! This sequence features good shots of the VSOE pullman cars, including Minerva, and the Mk1 baggage car at the rear, and a shot of LNER A3 Class 4-6-2 No.4472 Flying Scotsman pulling away. Look out for a pair of Midland Mainline Class 170 ‘Turbostar’ DMUs which are present in the initial establishing shot of the station platforms. There is also a shot of the interior of one of the opulent carriages though the scene inside the baggage car with the animals is a set. The view of the Orient Express on route is depicted with a shot of BR Standard Class 5MT 4-6-0 No.73082 Camelot on the Bluebell Railway, and although Pullman cars are in the train’s formation, the Southern Railway Bulleid coach immediately behind the loco is not exactly typical fair for the VSOE! There is also a brief shot at night of Horsted Keynes Signal Box, oddly masquerading as ‘Green Park’.
*RICHARD III
GB
1995
1hr 44mins
Dir: Richard Loncraine
Starring: Ian McKellen and Annete Bening
The classic Shakespearean play about a murderously scheming king staged in an alternative fascist England setting of the 1930s
This lavish drama features a number of railway scenes. The run by shots of Richard III’s Royal Train were filmed on the Bluebell Railway and it is hauled by BR Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 No.92240. Although the arrival scenes in London are shot at St Pancras station, no trains feature at this location. The film is notable for its unconventional use of famous British landmarks, often using special effects to move them to new locations. St Pancras railway station was relocated to Westminster and becomes King Edward’s seat of government! Meanwhile, Richard III’s military headquarters is in fact the former Steamtown base at Carnforth, with ex-L&YR Aspinall Class 27 0-6-0 No.1300, an ex-LMS Class 8F 2-8-0 and German DRG Class 01-10 No.01 1104 all featuring. The German loco was a surprisingly effective fixture for this scene though it has since been repatriated back to Germany.
*A ROOM WITH A VIEW
GB
1985
1hr 57mins
Dir: James Ivory
Starring: Maggie Smith and Denholm Elliott
In Edwardian times, an innocent girl has her eyes opened to life and romance
This very successful romantic drama is based on E.M. Forster’s 1908 novel of the same name. It features a scene filmed at Horsted Keynes station on the Bluebell Railway with a train hauled by ex-LBSCR Class A1X ‘Terrier’ 0-6-0T No.72 Fenchurch.
*SAVAGE MESSIAH
GB
1972
1hr 43mins
Dir: Ken Russell
Starring: Dorothy Tutin and Scott Anthony
A film of the life of French sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
This brilliant biographical film is based on the 1931 book of the same title by H.S. Ede and features good scenes filmed at Horsted Keynes station on the Bluebell Railway with not one, but three trains appearing. First there is a train arriving behind ex-GWR 3200 Class ‘Dukedog’ 4-4-0 No. 9017 Earl of Berkeley. The only survivor of the class is a shy locomotive rarely appearing on film, its name was bestowed upon it during preservation. In the background to this scene another steam-hauled train is approaching, which is hauled by ex-SECR P Class 0-6-0T No.323 Bluebell with ex-LNWR Observation Car No.1503 at the rear of its train. Good shots of this vehicle appear in the 1977 film Hardcore (qv). As if this wasn’t good enough, the railway scenes end with a very exhilarating sequence whereby Scott Anthony is nearly run down by a train hauled by ex-SR USA Class 0-6-0T No. 30064. Horsted Keynes masquerades in the film as ‘Portland’. Dorothy Tutin, as herself, is truly wonderful.
*SECRET PLACES
GB
1984
1hr 38mins
Dir: Zelda Barron
Starring: Jenny Agutter and Claudine Auger
During the Second World War, a schoolgirl becomes friends with a German refugee
This drama was based on the 1984 novel of the same name by Janice Elliott and features a scene filmed on the Bluebell Railway. BR suburban
coaches are present but no locomotives, though curiously a stock shot of an LMS ‘Royal Scot’ Class 6P 4-6-0 is included. There are also a couple
of good shots of double-deck electric trams at Beamish Open Air Museum.
*TESS
GB
1979
3hrs 06mins
Dir: Roman Polanski
Starring: Nastassja Kinski and Peter Firth
A strong-willed young peasant girl attracts the affection of two men
This epic drama, based on Thomas Hardy’s 1891 novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles, features several railway scenes towards the end that were filmed on the Bluebell Railway including Horsted Keynes station. Trains that appear are hauled by ex-SECR H Class 0-4-4T No.263. The film premiered in France in 1979 at a length of 186 minutes and the following year premiered in the US at a re-edited length of 170 minutes. Later overseas releases of the film ran to as little as 136 minutes.
*THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
GB
2014
2hrs 03mins
Dir: James Marsh
Starring: Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones
A look at the relationship between the famous physicist Stephen Hawking and his wife
This biographical romantic drama was adapted by Anthony McCarten from the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen by Jane Wilde
Hawking. There is a scene filmed at a railway station, supposedly Cambridge but in reality the ever-popular Horsted Keynes on the Bluebell
Railway, and although there are good shots of BR Green-liveried Mk1 coaches, no locomotives feature.
*TOM & VIV
GB / US
1994
2hrs 05mins
Dir: Brian Gilbert
Starring: Willem Dafoe and Miranda Richardson
The story of American poet T.S. Eliot’s marriage and his wife’s mental health problems
This period drama is based on the 1984 play of the same name by British playwright Michael Hastings. It features a couple of brief and rather pointless railway shots. There is a distant landscape view of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway with an approaching train obscured by foliage with only the smoke visible, which is immediately followed by a very brief, close-up image from track level of a passing train filmed on the Bluebell Railway. The train is being hauled by ex-LSWR 0415 Class 4-4-2T No.488 in BR livery as No.30583. This is a clear example of the apparent need for film directors to shoot a railway scene. No doubt to film on an actual railway would have been too time consuming yet these two shots give nothing to the story. They are quite probably stock shots and the film would have been none the worse without them.
*TOMMY
GB
1975
1hr 48mins
Dir: Ken Russell
Starring: Roger Daltrey and Oliver Reed
A deaf, dumb and blind child is cured and becomes a rock star
This surreal musical fantasy is based upon The Who’s 1969 rock opera album of the same name. It includes a night scene filmed on the Bluebell
Railway with a train hauled by BR Standard Class 4MT 4-6-0 No.75027.
TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT (see HAPPY EVER AFTER)
*TWO MEN WENT TO WAR
GB
2002
1hr 49mins
Dir: John Henderson
Starring: Kenneth Cranham and Leo Bill
The story of two Royal Army Dental Corps soldiers who sneak off on their own personal invasion of France
This wartime drama, based on a true World War II story from Raymond Foxall’s book Amateur Commandos, features some good railway scenes as the two soldiers head from Aldershot to Plymouth by train. Filmed on the Bluebell Railway, Sheffield Park doubled as ‘Aldershot’ and Horsted Keynes as ‘Plymouth’, and the train was hauled by Bulleid ‘West Country’ Class 4-6-2 No.21C123 Blackmoor Vale (a loco not built until 1946). When in France, the two men derail an ammunition train by getting into a signal box. These scenes were filmed on the Mid-Hants Railway at Ropley with a train hauled by Maunsell N Class 2-6-0 No.31874, disguised for filming as it was running as No.5 James from Thomas the Tank Engine at the time! Unlike the Bulleid ‘Pacific’, this loco is more appropriate for a film set in the Second World War as it was built in 1925. The wreckage after the crash was filmed using models.
*WALTZ OF THE TOREADORS
GB
1962
1hr 45mins
Dir: John Guillermin
Starring: Peter Sellers and Margaret Leighton
A retired military general loses his mistress to his own son
This wonderful comedy was based on a play of the same name by Jean Anouilh, though with its setting moved from France to Sussex. It has a few scenes filmed on the then newly formed Bluebell Railway with a train hauled by an ex-SECR P Class 0-6-0T at Sheffield Park station.
*WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD
GB
1991
1hr 56mins
Dir: Charles Sturridge
Starring: Rupert Graves and Barbara Jefford
After a rich Edwardian widow dies in childbirth in Tuscany, her English in-laws try to gain custody of the baby
This drama is based on the 1905 novel of the same title by E. M. Forster but was largely seen as a disappointment. Although a large chunk of it
was filmed in Italy there are a couple of British railway scenes. These were filmed on the Bluebell Railway, with Horsted Keynes station posing as ‘Sawton’, and a train hauled by ex-NLR 75 Class 0-6-0T No.58850.
*THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS (aka MR. TOAD’S WILD RIDE)
GB
1996
1hr 27mins
Dir: Terry Jones
Starring: Eric Idle and Steve Coogan
Weasel property developers threaten the homes of Mole and Toad
This enjoyable and light-hearted children’s movie is only a loose adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 classic novel of the same name, and it
received some unjustified criticism as a result. It includes a spectacular railway sequence filmed on the Bluebell Railway, effectively standing in as the South Eastern & Chatham Railway. Toad has escaped from prison with the police in pursuit and he heads for the railway station. Seeing the moving, steaming, monstrous engine, he gets all worked up and boards the footplate as it arrives. He is forced to take the controls after losing the crew with the police shooting from the carriages behind. The highly complex scenes, with special equipment attached to the loco, tender and carriages to allow the film crew and actors room to move around, used ex-SECR C Class 0-6-0 No.592 and the vintage train rake from the Kent & East Sussex Railway. Horsted Keynes is the station where Toad and his friends board the train and much of the filming, where Toad drives the train up to 106mph (!), takes place between Monteswood Lane bridge and Waterworks bridge, with West Hoathley Tunnel (731 yards) also appearing in one scene. The final dramatic climax where the by now uncoupled engine leaves the rails used a very realistic wood and fibreglass replica of 592’s tender placed next to the line in the trees as well as a lot of speeded-up trick photography.
*THE WOMAN IN BLACK
GB / US / SWE / CAN
2012
1hr 35mins
Dir: James Watkins
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe and Janet McTeer
A young solicitor travels to a remote village where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals
This hugely effective supernatural horror is the second adaptation of Susan Hill’s 1983 novel of the same name, a television production had previously been filmed in 1989. There are a number of railway scenes in the film and these open with a rather nice shot of Southern Railway U Class 2-6-0 No.1638 on the Bluebell Railway, wonderfully backlight by the setting sun. This is followed by shots of Daniel Radcliffe onboard a train, with fake ‘M & D R’ antimacassars, and then scenes with him sat on Sheffield Park station at night in the pouring rain. The train passing through the countryside at night appears to be a CGI creation, but the second train interior scene is real, and has Daniel Radcliffe sitting inside vintage wooden carriages. The final chilling scenes were filmed at Horsted Keynes station and though Southern Railway coaching stock is present the locomotive is not identifiable. It is fitted with a very large central headlight but freeze framing the scene gives the suggestion that it could be No.1638 again.
*THE WOMAN IN BLACK ANGEL OF DEATH
GB / US / CAN
2014
1hr 38mins
Dir: Tom Harper
Starring: Phoebe Fox and Jeremy Irvine
A group of children evacuated from a blitz ravaged London arrive at a dilapidated country house awakening its darkest inhabitant
This sequel to The Woman in Black (qv) was set 30 years after the first in WWII, but it was seen by many to be an unnecessary deviation from the original. None the less it is quite a potent thriller. It opens with a scene filmed at Aldwych station, which is being used as an underground air raid shelter. This is followed by smoked filled evacuation scenes filmed at King’s Cross. The platforms are full of maroon-liveried Mk.1 coaching stock, most of which is CGI created. Quite a good attempt has been made to recreate a wartime scenario with the overhead wires and other modern paraphernalia all removed, though of course the carriages are too young for such a scene. One is TSO No.4994, built in 1961. Following on from this is another very good backlit shot of Southern Railway U Class 2-6-0 No.1638 on the Bluebell Railway, almost certainly one filmed for the original 2012 film which was then not used in that production (qv). The railway sequence ends with a scene filmed onboard what is possibly a Bulleid coach, followed by a shot from the roof of a steam-hauled train entering a tunnel, a shot of wheels and motion, and then a final view of a distant steam-hauled train passing through the countryside at night. Officially, the film was not given the number 2 to denote its status as a sequel but it was released in some countries as The Woman in Black 2 Angel of Death.
*THE WRONG BOX
GB
1966
1hr 47mins
Dir: Bryan Forbes
Starring: Michael Caine and Cicely Courtneidge
Two elderly brothers are the surviving members of a tontine in which the last member stands to receive a fortune
This quiet little black comedy has a superb cast and the witty script keeps it running along quite nicely, though it is a little on the dull side at times.
It was based on the 1889 novel of the same name by Robert Louis Stevenson and his step-son Lloyd Osbourne. Part of the story involves a head-on crash between two Bournemouth expresses which involved some clever editing and an elaborate set involving a couple of full-size replica locomotives, placed in a jack-knifed position and locked buffer-to-buffer. The replica locomotives, both in LSWR light green, are Adams T3 Class 4-4-0 No.563 and Class A1 ‘Terrier’ 0-6-0T No.72 Fenchurch, renamed Franklin in the film. The ‘crash’ was filmed on the Longmoor Military Railway and the wagons and coaches were real, though the smoke entering the loco funnels is interesting and suggests some sort of reversal of shot. Just before the crash there are a couple of shots of one of the approaching expresses which seems to show it hauled by a light green-liveried Class A1X ‘Terrier’ 0-6-0T, which ties in nicely with the mock-up loco used in the crash. This indicates that the scenes of the train moving were filmed elsewhere, probably on the Bluebell Railway (home to the real No.72), and the lengthy scene filmed onboard and the footplate shots do also appear to be ‘real’. Later in the film there is a scene with Dudley Moore at Bath Green Park station with ex-LMS Class 3F ‘Jinty’ 0-6-0T No.47676 at the buffer stops. The loco is again painted light green so as to represent an LSWR locomotive, bringing as it does an unusual diligent attempt at continuity, but in the finished film little of the loco is visible. This was the year that Bath Green Park closed to passengers though it remained open for goods and parcels traffic until 1971.