IRE 1986 1hr 30mins Dir: Peter Ormrod Starring: Stephen Brennan and Catherine Byrne
Two recently unemployed Irish men decide to build their own motorcycle ‘Wall of Death’
This obscure and often bizarre Irish comedy takes its equally obscure title from the T. S. Eliot poem The Love Story of J. Alfred Prufrock. It was filmed on location in the Bog of Allen, County Kildare, a vast, 370 square mile stretch of raised bog. Bleak, barren and windswept, the bog has miles of narrow-gauge industrial railway for transporting turf to processing plants. Trains feature prominently throughout the film, and though most of these feature small 4-wheeled diesel locomotives on trains of hopper wagons a works train consisting of a more interesting combination of vehicles is seen several times.
This shot appears 45 seconds into the film and gives us a taste of what is to come. The industrial narrow-gauge train of hopper wagons undulates its way cautiously along the trackwork, which has some alarming ‘kinks’!
In this overall view of a peat dig, a works train can be seen trundling across the background vista
As Stephen Brennan inspects his little garden a tiny 4-wheeled diesel locomotive trundles passed light engine
Stephen Brennan unloads items from the works train
Another view of the yellow train. The scrambler bikes are used as a means of transport in this vast expanse of bog.
Judging by the state of the track, which is normal for such lines, travelling by motorbike seems a quicker, and somewhat safer, bet!
The little yellow locomotive is seen passing the homemade ‘Wall of Death’
As Eamon Morissey and Stephen Brennan work on their project a peat train passes behind
This final view shows a peat train approaching in the distance as a Volkswagen bus runs along the adjacent road.
