GB 1939 1hr 28mins Dir: Anthony Kimmins Starring: George Formby and Patricia Kirkwood
A humble stable boy soothes a troublesome racehorse and rides it to victory
This typical Formby farce features a railway journey near the beginning that involves Formby walking on the roof of a train in motion and then having to duck for cover when it reaches a tunnel. A comedy scene precedes this, filmed at ‘Longford’ station, and although vintage LNER D3 Class 4-4-0 No.4309 features prominently, it is not known which station was used. Formby climbs up onto the D3 and hides in the tender of the locomotive and during the roof-walking scene we are treated to a shot of the footplate crew. The stunt used a combination of actual footage with a stuntman walking on the roof of LNER coaching stock, and film of Formby on a studio mock-up with back projection. The tunnel sequence, meanwhile, used a model. It is not known where this dramatic scenario was played out, but it appears to be a single track branch. There are a number of other railway scenes in the film, namely; a stock shot of an express in the Lune Gorge hauled by a relative rarity on film in the form of an ex-L&YR Class 8 4-6-0 ‘Lanky Dreadnought’, and a scene with a horsebox being unloaded at a cattle dock of another unknown station, playing the part of the fictional ‘Avonbury Goods Yard’ in the film. In the background of this scene an even rarer loco in the form of an LNER N5 Class 0-6-2T is shunting in the background. Finally, there is a bit of camera trickery near the end of the film as George jumps the gap of a partly constructed bridge in his car. Beneath is a four track main line, and although the location of this bridge is not recorded, it is likely to be the Home Counties end of the East Coast main line.
Despite the prominent sign board this is not Longford station. It is somewhere on the LNER network judging by the poster on the left and it is thought to be in the Home Counties.
This should be the platform side of the building shown above
Passengers cram aboard the train which has a D3 4-4-0 at the head
Thankfully we get some good clear glimpses of the locomotive, the identity of which is revealed to be No.4309, built by the Great Northern Railway in December 1897. The D3s are very rare on film.
Having been accused of theft (‘I didn’t do it’), George escapes onto the tracks…
…before climbing aboard the footplate of No.4309. This locomotive began life as D4 No.1309, and was rebuilt with a new boiler and reclassified D3 in February 1918. Withdrawals of the class started in 1935 but No.4309 survived into BR ownership, not being withdrawn until August 1948. However, it never received its allotted BR number of 62126. It has been suggested that these scenes were filmed at Hitchin which had four of these locomotives allocated to it in 1935. Thats food for thought?
More of the station is visible in this shot of horse trainers standing next to a horsebox. This is likely to be a different station and is probably the same one that plays ‘Avonbury’ in the later scenes.
When everything else is in the film is LNER this is the odd one out. A former L&YR Class 8 4-6-0 ‘Lanky Dreadnought’ hauls an LMS express through the Lune Gorge.
Back to the LNER again and the footplate crew of the D3 at work. Not hard at work, just at work! This is a single track line and assuming that the station scenes used Hitchin, this could be the branch to Bedford.
The stunt double at work, walking on top of the train. The coaching stock is classic LNER.
The fictional Avonbury Goods Yard with a Class N5 0-6-2T shunting in the background. The horsebox is still branded NE (North Eastern).
Another view of the horsebox which appears to have now been shunted into the dock siding when compared to the earlier view of it.
This is the view of the station building from the goods yard. The identity of this station is again not known.
The camera trickery used to make this shot is quite good by 1939 standards. The ‘bridge’ was probably an entirely brick built structure with the ‘steel’ girders added for effect. The four track main line beneath suggests this could well be the East Coast main line.
