HORROR HOSPITAL

Horror Hospital - Wikipedia

GB
1973
1hr 25mins
Dir: Antony Balch
Starring: Robin Askwith and Vanessa Shaw

A songwriter goes to a health hotel run by a mysterious doctor

This horror classic uses quite a few railway scenes to depict the journey from London to the health spa resort. These start with some shots on London Waterloo station with EMUs visible that include SR 2 EPBs (unit No.5673 is identified through the vehicle No’s. 14581 and 16125) and BR Class 421 4 CIGs, one of which is No.7342. The journey itself then features the usual odd continuity expected of film-makers, a shot of a Class 52 ‘Western’ diesel-hydraulic on an express (1B90), green Class 40 No. D370 with an express (1S75) passing a Class 24-hauled van train on the WCML, and decent shots of Merton Park station, renamed ‘Brittlehurst’ for the film. SR Class 416/2 2 EPB EMUs No’s.5781 and 5789 are seen at the station. Both are former Tyneside sets and the shot of 5789 arriving on headcode 2 (West Croydon-Wimbledon) is particularly good. The overgrown track is the former line to Tooting. There are additional shots of the exterior to Merton Park station and interior scenes filmed onboard an EPB and a BR express unit, probably a 4 CIG. The WCML shot of the Class 24 and 40 was one of a large number that were apparently filmed in the 1960s for a movie about the Great Train Robbery which was then never produced. The shot along with all the other unused footage can be found on Video 125’s DVD Diesel & Electrics on 35mm.

Robin Askwith at London Waterloo watching the arrivals board for his departure!
The old wooden departure boards at Waterloo. Christchurch was the author’s hometown. Happy days indeed (a curious way of displaying Isle of Wight destinations though – the trains never called at Yarmouth!).
Robin Askwith runs for his train, with 4 CIG unit No.7342 on the rear
But as he reaches the front, the train has changed from express stock to vintage SR suburban stock in the form of 2-car EPB’s.
The opening shot of the train journey starts with this by now familiar scene, a stock footage shot of a Class 52 on an express passing Ruscombe on the Western Region
The train then changes to a Class 40-hauled express on the West Coast main line. The locomotive is D370.
As the camera pans round a Class 24 briefly comes into view, a rare beast on camera
The railway scenes end at Merton Park, a station that has appeared in a number of films. The shot of this arriving 2 EPB No.5789 is particularly good.
The former Tooting line platform at Merton Park. The passenger service was removed in 1929 and the remaining track was in use for freight until 1975.
Robin Askwith and Vanessa Shaw sat outside Merton Park. Note the Southern Region ‘Brittlehurst’ sausage totem sign hanging from the canopy.