GB
1995
2hrs 10mins
Dir: Martin Campbell
Starring: Pierce Brosnan and Sean Bean
James Bond goes to Russia to search for a master criminal intent on destroying the electronic world
The elaborate railway sequence in this, the seventeenth all action Bond movie, saw a Russian train crash into a tank parked in a tunnel. Filmed on the Nene Valley Railway, the scene involved Class 20 No.20188 coupled to a pair of already condemned Mk.1 coaches, the loco and stock being owned by Pete Waterman at the time. The 20 was heavily-disguised to look like an armoured Soviet loco, with a huge battering ram-type addition to the front end and side guard plates over the bogies. The loco was also renumbered 715-5623 and was adorned with large bodyside red stars and cabside soviet-style arms on a weathered grey livery that was very different to the LNWR black which it already carried. The first short scene was shot at the old sugar beet factory (now part of the Sugar Way housing estate, Woodston) and showed some of the characters boarding the train as it leaves on a short length of track temporarily laid down by the production company. The main sequence which followed was filmed at Mill Road Bridge, Castor, with the bridge ‘rebuilt’ to look as if it was actually a tunnel rather than just a bridge. In the film, the train hurtles down the track passing through Ferry Meadows station, before running into the tunnel where it crashes into the tank, which then explodes. Although the initial plan was to actually use a real tank, a fibreglass model was used instead when it became apparent that a real tank would probably cause damage to the Class 20. The two Mk.1 coaches had full underframe valancing, extended body panels, iron bars across the windows, red stars and a large roof-mounted ‘pod’ on one. The two Mk.1s were TSO No.4913 and BSK No.35454, both renumbered for filming. They remained on the line for a short while after before eventually being cut up on site still in their film disguise.
