*ANNA KARENINA
GB
2012
2hrs 10mins
Dir: Joe Wright
Starring: Jude Law and Keira Knightley
In late 19th century Russian high society, an aristocrat enters into a life-changing affair with a dashing Count
Despite this 2012 version of Tolstoy’s novel being a lengthy lavish remake of the by now familiar tale, it was poorly received and described by
many as being little more than average. It is very theatrical and at times, difficult to come to terms with. The film has some quite odd model work but does feature a railway scene filmed at the Didcot Railway Centre, the engine shed of which masquerades as Moscow station. The shed is decked out with various back cloths and GWR locomotives in the form of 2884 Class 2-8-0 No.3822 and 4300 Class 2-6-0 No.5322 appear in this
scene, the latter rather elaborately ‘caked’ in fake snow. Some vintage coaching stock is also visible but be warned, a wheel tapper is crushed to
death beneath the wheels of No.5322 in one rather gruesome scene.
*THE BLISS OF MRS. BLOSSOM
GB
1968
1hr 33mins
Dir: Joseph McGrath
Starring: Shirley MacLaine and Richard Attenborough
The wife of a bra manufacturer keeps her lover in the attic
There is a very odd dream sequence in this strange comedy whereby GWR 6100 Class 2-6-2T No.6106 (along with one coach) is ‘painted’ in a swirling psychedelic livery, seen as absolute sacrilege in some quarters! Filming took place in the Transfer Shed at the Didcot Railway Centre and despite the centre’s own website stating that Taplow station was used for filming, the sequence in the movie appears to only show the transfer shed, plus plenty of fake snow and some 16T minerals thrown in for good measure! The film was adapted from a play by Alec Coppel that was in turn based on a short story by Josef Shaftel.
*DISTANT VOICES STILL LIVES
GB
1988
1hr 25mins
Dir: Terence Davies
Starring: Freda Dowie and Pete Postlethwaite
Life for a Liverpool working class family during the 1940s and ’50s
This drama was originally made for television and is inspired by Terence Davies’ family memories of growing up in a working-class family in
Liverpool during the 1940s. It does in fact consist of the two films, ‘Distant Voices’ and ‘Still Lives’, which were made two years apart with the same crew. Whilst ‘Distant Voices’ portrays the main characters growing up in Britain in the 1940s during World War II, ‘Still Lives’ portrays
them as grown-ups in Britain in the early 1950s after the war. There are some brief scenes depicting railway journeys that appear in ‘Distant Voices’, with shots onboard a train that were apparently filmed at the Didcot Railway Centre.
*THE FILM-MAKER’S SON
GB
2013
1hr 44mins
Dir: Bart Gavigan
Starring: Gregg Burton and Carol Adkins
After an unexpected tragedy, an inner-city teen struggles to put together disturbing pieces of his life
This drama features a scene filmed in the yard at the Didcot Railway Centre, with ex-GWR 2884 Class 2-8-0 No.3822 in steam and ‘Toad’ brake van No.68684 on an adjacent siding.
*FUNNY BONES
GB / US
1995
2hrs 08mins
Dir: Peter Chelsom
Starring: Lee Evans and Oliver Platt
A failed American comedian goes to Blackpool and discovers his half-brother
This comedy was largely set in Blackpool but curiously there are no shots of the trams, though there is a good aerial view of Blackpool North station. Instead, there is a most unusual sequence of a rendezvous taking place in a railway coach, an old GWR Hawksworth-type being used as living accommodation, which was filmed at the Didcot Railway Centre. Though the exact identity of the coach is not known the opening shot gives a good view of three other vehicles. Unique GWR Six-wheel ‘Beetle’ Cattle Van No.DW150420 (built in 1952), the GWR ‘Rotank’ milk flat wagon built in 1947 and which is another unique example, plus BR Mk.1 Corridor Composite No.15577 (in chocolate & cream livery but with NSE branding) in use as a dormitory coach, but scrapped in December 1998 due to its asbestos content.
*THE INCREDIBLE SARAH
GB
1976
1hr 46mins
Dir: Richard Fleischer
Starring: Glenda Jackson and Daniel Massey
A film about the life of French actress Sarah Bernhardt
‘London’ station in the film, unusual in that no particular station is specified, is in fact the main engine shed at the Didcot Railway Centre, with wooden platforms and a station ‘frontage’ added by the film company. Victorian GWR four-wheel Dean Third No.975 and GWR Dean Third Clerestory No.1941 were provided as stock and there are some very good shots of GWR ‘Manor’ Class 4-6-0 No.7808 Cookham Manor. Both the loco and carriages had additional LC&DR lettering applied and although this is a largely successful and somewhat atmospheric attempt at a recreation of a Victorian railway scene, the only real problem is that the loco was not built until 1938, fifteen years after Sarah’s death! GWR four-wheel non-vent Riding Van No.56 and GWR four-wheel non-vent Tool Van No.135 are also visible in the background of one shot. There are some additional scenes filmed onboard Victorian coaches and some indistinct views of trains at night, one crossing a viaduct, but it is not clear where these were filmed or what they depict.
*MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE MEN
GB
1979
1hr 48mins
Dir: Peter Brook
Starring: Dragan Maksimović and Terence Stamp
The life of Greek-Armenian mystic George Ivanovich Gurdjieff
This biographical drama is based on the book of the same name by G. I. Gurdjieff, first published in English in 1963. Although largely shot on location in Afghanistan there are a handful of English scenes one of which, most unusually, is set in a railway works. This was filmed at the Didcot Railway Centre with actors and members of the Great Western Society working on the frames of GWR ‘Castle’ Class 4-6-0 No.5051 Drysllwyn Castle. A number of other locomotives are briefly visible in the background of a general view of the shed.
*SHERLOCK HOLMES A GAME OF SHADOWS
GB / US
2011
2hrs 09mins
Dir: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law
Holmes and Watson travel across Europe with a Gypsy adventuress to foil an intricate plot by Professor Moriarty to instigate a war
This lavish and typically elaborate Warner Brothers remake of the classic Sherlock tale features much CGI and could not be further from the original stories if it tried. However, it was largely a commercial success leaving its best scenes to one-on-ones between Holmes and Moriarty. The film features two railway sequences, but both are not what they seem. There are a number of scenes filmed in the engine shed at the Didcot Railway Centre which doubles up as the German armaments factory. Several GWR locos are present and though the only one readily identifiable is 6100 Class 2-6-2T No.6106, others including 5700-series 0-6-0PT No.3738 and 5600 Class 0-6-2T No.6697 can be made out. Many railway wagons and other items of stock are outside in the yard, hidden amongst all the military hardware. The Warner Brothers film also features a sequence where Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr) pushes Dr. Watson’s (Jude Law) new wife Mary (Kelly Reilly) from a steam train as it crosses the Severn Valley Railway’s Victoria Bridge. No steam train, or actors, were at the location, nor was a dummy thrown into the River Severn. All filming was undertaken by a camera on a crane jib mounted on a flat wagon pushed across the bridge by a diesel to obtain mid-air views of the bridge. Everything else, including the highly authentic looking train and the ‘lady plunging into the river’, was created digitally in the studio and was then added to the footage of the bridge. In fact, the railway journey starts at the expansive ‘London’ terminus of the ‘South England Railway’ with several steam-hauled trains present, but again this is all a computer-generated image, and a highly authentic one at that.
*THESE FOOLISH THINGS
GB
2006
1hr 47mins
Dir: Julia Taylor-Stanley
Starring: Andrew Lincoln and Eve Myles
A young actress seeks to follow in her famous mother’s footsteps
This comedy drama is based on Noel Langley’s 1936 novel There’s a Porpoise Close Behind Us and features a station scene near the end that was in fact filmed in the transfer shed at the Didcot Railway Centre, with GWR 4500 Class 2-6-2T No.5572 in the platform.