COME ON GEORGE!

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GB
1939
1hr 28mins
Dir: Anthony Kimmins
Starring: George Formby and Patricia Kirkwood

A humble stable boy soothes a troublesome racehorse and rides it victory

This typical Formby farce features a railway journey 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 is prominent at the head of an arriving train it is not known which station this really was. The roof-walking scene is a combination of actual footage using a stuntman, and film of Formby on a roof mock-up in a studio with back projection. Locations are unknown, but the stunt scenes use LNER coaches and the Hertford Loop was popular for filming at the time. 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, the fictional Avonbury Goods Yard. 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 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 the bridge is not recorded, it is likely to be the Home Counties end of the East Coast mainline.

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.
In this platform scene a train has arrived with D3 Class 4-4-0 No.4309 at the front
The fictional Avonbury Goods Yard with a Class N5 0-6-2T shunting in the background.
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. (All shots courtesy of reelstreets).