BHOWANI JUNCTION
GB / US / PAK
1956
1hr 50mins
Dir: George Cukor
Starring: Stewart Granger and Ava Gardner
Drama set in India during the last days of the British Raj
A large amount of filming for this historical drama took place in Lahore, Pakistan, and some of that country’s British-built Beyer-Peacock steam locomotives feature prominently. There is a crash scene that was filmed on the Longmoor Military Railway, however, which used WD 2-10-0 No.600 Gordon heavily disguised as an Indian locomotive. The tunnel scenes used the closed Kingsway tram subway in Holborn, with plenty of additional studio effects. The film was an adaptation of the 1954 novel of the same name by John Masters.
*THE CHALLENGE (aka IT TAKES A THIEF)
GB
1960
1hr 41mins
Dir: John Gilling
Starring: Jayne Mansfield and Anthony Quayle
A lady mobster kidnaps the son of an ex-convict to get at stolen loot
This crime film has a railway central to the latter half of the story. The climax sees a race against time to prevent the child getting killed by playing chicken on a railway under duress from the gang of villains. This was filmed on the ever faithful Longmoor Military Railway with Longmoor Downs station masquerading as ‘Fourways’. The main motive power that featured was WD ‘Austerity’ 2-10-0 No.601 Kitchener, seen a number of times in the film, though the other of Longmoor’s 2-10-0s, No.600 Gordon, and one of their Hunslet 0-6-0STs are also seen. Added to this
footage are a number of stock shots seen throughout the film that include LMS 4-6-0s on the Midland Main Line, a GWR ‘Castle Class
4-6-0 and an LNER A1/2 Class 4-6-2. There are also some shots filmed on London Marylebone station and another of the old taxi rank adjacent to London Paddington.
*CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG
GB
1968
2hrs 24mins
Dir: Ken Hughes
Starring: Dick Van Dyke and Sally Ann Howes
An eccentric inventor creates a flying car with magical properties
This classic and now highly popular musical, features a surprisingly good railway scene where the car rides alongside a rather wacky-looking GWR train. Filmed on the Hollywater Loop of the Longmoor Military Railway and using Hunslet WD ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST No.196, the loco was given a tall dummy chimney and copper-painted dome, with the letters ‘GWR’ painted on the tanks in elaborate Pullman-style font. This is made even odder by the two Southern coaches in tow, both of which were also painted blue and branded ‘GWR’. Another scene where the Vulgarian spies hang a fake bridge backdrop from the parapet of an actual railway bridge was filmed at Ilmer, just northwest of Princes Risborough, on the double track GW&GC Joint main line to Bicester.
*THE GREAT ST. TRINIAN’S TRAIN ROBBERY
GB
1966
1hr 30mins
Dirs: Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat
Starring: Frankie Howerd and Dora Bryan
St. Trinian’s is infiltrated by a gang of train robbers who are foiled in their attempts by the schoolgirls
The fourth in the series of five films that were based on St. Trinian’s is by far the best remembered with the most notable railway scenes. It is now considered a movie classic by enthusiasts and its frequent television screenings show that its popularity hasn’t wained. It was another movie to use the substantial system of the Longmoor Military Railway (LMR), three years before the ever faithful system closed. The railway scenes dominate the last 20 minutes or so of the film, although there is a train robbery sequence at the start that features night shots of Royal Mail sorting vans interspersed with views of a European steam locomotive! The girls arrive at ‘Hamingwell Halt’, actually Oakhanger station, behind an LMR Hunslet ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST with Southern Railway ‘Birdcage’ stock. For the final chase sequence, the train that the crooks use is a short goods hauled by another of the lines Hunslet ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0STs disguised with sloping side tanks, BR emblems and fictitious number ‘68961’, therefore representing an LNER Class J50/3. This is seen leaving Oakhanger and joining the LMR’s ‘main line’. The schoolgirls give chase by hijacking a waiting local at ‘Nutcombe’, actually Longmoor Downs, and the train is formed of Hunslet ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST No.196 Errol Lonsdale and two old BR suburban non-corridor coaches. Curiously, whereas a previous Hunslet ‘Austerity’ was disguised heavily with side tanks, No.196 just has BR emblems and fictitious number ‘68011’, a scheme it was to later carry in preservation. A couple of girls also give chase in a permanent way pump trolley whilst the schoolmistresses find a Wickham Trolley which they all cram into. The trolley is No.WD9033 which had also appeared the year before in Runaway Railway (qv). The Wickham is now preserved. The police join the scene rather late, arriving at Longmoor Downs aboard three-car Class 205 DEMU No.1102, on loan from British Rail for filming and displaying headcode 99. The final scenes where the crooks are arrested takes place at ‘Pudham’, actually Liss station and the BR (Southern Region) platforms can be seen in the background. At one stage, the girls manage to couple the box van containing the loot to their train and the following chase is fast and frenzied (and much speeded up), with trains being switched at regular intervals from ‘up lines and down lines’. It remains one of the funniest chase sequences involving British trains. Look out for the scene involving Wickham petrol trolley No.WD9033 and one of the LMR’s two Derby-built 0-6-0 diesel shunters, No.878 Basra on a freight. They head towards each other on the same section of track, filmed at Whitehill Bridge, the only overbridge on the Longmoor system. No.878 was in LMR blue but with ‘BR’ replacing ‘LMR’ on its sides. It is now preserved, this being the only time that one of these vintage 1945-built shunters featured in a movie.
THE HAPPIEST DAYS OF YOUR LIFE
GB
1950
1hr 21mins
Dir: Frank Launder
Starring: Alastair Sim and Margaret Rutherford
Chaos ensues after a government error accidentally sees a girls’ school billeted at a boys’ school
There are several scenes in this film that were shot at Liss on the Longmoor Military Railway. Government inspectors arrive on a service hauled by War Department Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST No.75079 Lisieux and in another scene at the station a train is seen departing with a carriage door still open! The station curiously masquerades as ‘Nutbourne’, which is a real station on the West Coastway route between Havant and Chichester.
*THE INN OF SIXTH HAPPINESS
GB
1958
2hrs 38mins
Dir: Mark Robson
Starring: Ingrid Bergman and Robert Donat
An English missionary’s experience in China
This classic DeLuxe Color film tells the story of Gladys Aylward, evangelical Christian missionary to China, and is based on the 1957 book The Small Woman by Alan Burgess. Shot almost entirely on location in Snowdonia, there are excellent opening scenes at London Liverpool Street station with a number of N7 Class 0-6-2Ts present including a good shot of Class N7/1 No.69665 arriving with a train. The railway in China is actually the Longmoor Military Railway, with a fairly substantial mock-up station constructed in Longmoor Yard and one of the railway’s USA
Class 0-6-0Ts disguised as a Chinese locomotive.
*THE INTERRUPTED JOURNEY
GB
1949
1hr 20mins
Dir: Daniel Birt
Starring: Richard Todd and Valerie Hobson
An author runs off with another man’s wife and causes tragedy
An integral part of the plot of this film noir thriller has the eloping couple head off by train with the author having second thoughts on the ensuing journey. Eager to make his escape, he pulls the communication cord and flees from the train across fields to his nearby home. However, as the train is being examined it is run into by another train. Most of the train scenes were filmed in the studio, with the crash scene using models, but the aftermath was filmed over a few nights on the Longmoor Military Railway using a couple of Ambulance coaches painted up on one side for the cameras and one of Longmoor’s resident ex-GWR 2301 Class ‘Dean Goods’ 0-6-0s. This story bears a tragic resemblance to the Winsford rail crash only the year before in which 24 people were killed in remarkably similar circumstances.
*JUMPING FOR JOY
GB
1956
1hr 31mins
Dir: John Paddy Carstairs
Starring: Frankie Howerd and Stanley Holloway
A sacked dog track attendant acquires his own greyhound to race
One of the quirks of this comedy is that Stanley Holloway lives in a railway carriage in scenes reminiscent of The Titfield Thunderbolt. A group of crooks sabotage the coach by pushing it onto a main line where it is demolished by a passing express. Most of these scenes appear to use models and studio reconstructions but there is one shot of an ex-GWR coach slotted in, No. W2342W. The coach is decorated with window boxes and is attached to a GWR ‘Toad’ brake van at the rear of a goods train. The crooks overpower the guard and then uncouple the coach mid journey, and this sequence of events sees good shots of the coach passing the camera coupled to the rear of a train of vans, but the locomotive is out of shot. Filmed on the Longmoor Military Railway, the detached coach comes to a stand only to be demolished by the express. This uses models, and an unrealistic explosion, with one shot of a GWR express hauled by a ‘King’ Class 4-6-0 slotted in. The coach which acts as Stanley Holloway’s home is undoubtedly a studio-set but a real coach, the one listed above, does appear to be used in certain shots. In one particular scene for instance, where Frankie Howerd comes to visit, several 16T mineral wagons are visible behind him.
*KNIGHT WITHOUT ARMOUR
GB
1937
1hr 47mins
Dir: Jacques Feyder
Starring: Robert Donat and Marlene Dietrich
A countess is helped to escape from the Russian Revolution by a British translator
This historical drama often styled as Knight without Armor has some rather unusual railway scenes. This was the production for which a railway was specially built in the grounds of Denham Studios, with two ex-LNER J15 Class 0-6-0s, Nos.7541 and 7835, purchased by London Films and made to look like Russian locomotives together with some stock. The Denham scenes are most easily identifiable in the closing minutes though some earlier shots were filmed on the Longmoor Military Railway and in doing so, became one of the first feature films to use the Hampshire line. The J15s survived at Denham during the war before being sold to the Ministry of Defence and the tender of one very briefly appeared in South Riding (qv), probably by accident.
*THE MAGNIFICENT TWO
GB
1967
1hr 40mins
Dir: Cliff Owen
Starring: Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise
A travelling salesman in Latin America is persuaded to pose as a rebel leader
This was the third and final film of the comedy duo’s trio and is often considered to be the best. The opening scenes depict Morecambe and Wise travelling on a train in Latin America. This is in fact a thinly disguised War Department Hunslet ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST with dummy headlight and cow-catcher hauling non-corridor suburban coaches on the Longmoor Military Railway. There is a clever attempt to superimpose a mountain backcloth in one distant shot of the train and the station where the comedians get off is an extensively dressed Longmoor Downs, masquerading as ‘Campo Grande’.
MELBA
GB
1953
1hr 52mins
Dir: Lewis Milestone
Starring: Patrice Munsel and Robert Morley
The life of Australian-born soprano Dame Nellie Melba
This musical biopic includes a scene filmed on the Longmoor Military Railway.
*RUNAWAY RAILWAY
GB
1966
55mins
Dir: Jan Darnley-Smith
Starring: Sydney Tafler and Ronnie Barker
A group of children save their branch line and foil a railway robbery in the process
This Children’s Film Foundation short adventure story is filmed almost entirely on the Longmoor Military Railway, which together with The
Great St. Trinian’s Train Robbery (qv) stands as a great reminder to this long-gone system. This delightfully charming film centres on ‘Barming’, which was in fact Bordon BR station, the northerly terminus of the ex-LSWR Bordon Light Railway which was adjacent to Bordon station on the Longmoor system. The former LSWR owned Bentley and Bordon Light Railway had closed to passengers in 1957. The star of the film is Matilda, actually Hunslet ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST No.196 Errol Lonsdale disguised with fake outside cylinders, an extended chimney and given an elaborate lined-out livery. The loco hauls the branch train made up of a single ex-Southern Railway ‘birdcage’ coach. The crooks plan to use the locomotive to steal a mail coach, actually a Southern Railway PMV that they have detached from the morning express, and they help the children bring Matilda back to a fully operational condition after years of lack of maintenance. The robbery sequence, and the children’s attempt to foil it, make great use of the line, particularly at Borden, Whitehill Junction and on the Hollywater Loop, though Longmoor Yard is also used for some exciting parallel running. At one point, both Matilda and the mail train are following each other on the same block section! These quite exhilarating scenes are reminiscent in some ways of Oh, Mr. Porter! (qv) and are a real joy to watch. The scenes with some of the children climbing up the back of the train and hanging off the sides where actual stunts, though in reality the train was barely moving, and the completed film has been ‘speeded up’. Meanwhile, the express train is hauled by WD ‘Austerity’ 2-10-0 No.600 Gordon, now preserved. Note that the stock of the express varies in some shots suggesting that filming took place over a number of days. At one point a small inspection coach appears directly behind Gordon. Early in the film the railway inspectorate arrives at ‘Barming’ in Wickham petrol trolley No. WD9033 which, like Errol Lonsdale, also appeared in The Great St. Trinian’s Train Robbery. It isn’t all Longmoor though as a few other trains and interesting items feature in this film. There is a stock shot of an express departing from London Paddington station behind GWR ‘Castle’ Class 4-6-0 No. 7020 Gloucester Castle and a ‘reversed’ stock shot from Platform 7 at London Victoria with a distant unidentifiable steam-hauled train approaching. The shot pre-dates the film by many years as the signals to the right, which were installed in 1920, were replaced in 1939. There are a couple of driver’s eye views from the front of an EMU arriving at Brighton station and a 6 PUL EMU is visible in the adjacent platform. The final scenes at the end where the train reaches London, feature a cleverly disguised Longmoor Downs station with an art department ‘overlay’ to give it the look of a modern 1960s station similar to those being constructed at the time for the new route modernisation of Britain’s main lines. This is a retouched and animated picture of an original work entitled ‘London Midland Electrification, Stafford Station’, which was painted by John Greene in 1963. A very pleasing but somewhat unrealistic touch is that all the children help out with the running of the railway, from cleaning the trains, to uncoupling the coaches and even driving Matilda!
*SECRET AGENT
GB
1936
1hr 26mins
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: John Gielgud and Peter Lorre
After three British agents are assigned to assassinate a mysterious German spy during World War I, two of them become ambivalent to the task
This typical Hitchcock thriller is loosely based on two stories in Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. It is mainly set on the Continent, though one night-time scene is believed to have been filmed on the Longmoor Military Railway. If this is the case then this was the first time that the railway appeared in film, only one year after it had been renamed from the Woolmer Instructional Military Railway.
*SONS AND LOVERS
GB
1960
1hr 43mins
Dir: Jack Cardiff
Starring: Trevor Howard and Wendy Hiller
A Nottingham miner’s son learns about life and love
This classic drama is really rather good and is a film adaptation of the 1913 D. H. Lawrence novel of the same name. ‘Bestwood’ station in the film is in fact Longmoor Downs, on the Longmoor Military Railway, and there are some good shots of the station and yard. Trains appear in these scenes that are formed of vintage suburban stock, and the locomotive at the head of one train is one of the LMR’s Hunslet ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST’s. In an added touch of detail, the platform staff have ‘MR’ initials applied to their uniforms and a brake van and flat wagon in the yard have had their LMR lettering amended to read ‘MR’. In a later fight scene at night a passenger train passes in the background hauled by another ‘Austerity Saddle’, but the wagons in the background to this scene still have their LMR lettering. In addition to these scenes, there is a distant view of a short coal train being hauled through the landscape by an unidentified tank loco, and a night scene filmed adjacent to Weekday Cross Junction on the former Great Central Railway main line in Nottingham. A local train formed of teak coaches passes, hauled by ex-LNER J6 Class 0-6-0 No.64267.
*A WEEKEND WITH LULU
GB
1961
1hr 29mins
Dir: John Paddy Carstairs
Starring: Leslie Philips and Shirley Eaton
A group of British tourists experience misadventures whilst caravanning in France
This quite delightful comedy, the name of which refers to the caravan that is hitched to the back of an ice cream truck, features a sequence whereby Lulu is accidentally parked on a flat wagon with the party subsequently finding themselves on a train heading for France. The sequence was filmed on the Longmoor Military Railway with one of the line’s Hunslet WD ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0STs on a delightful assortment of freight stock. All the ‘French’ scenes, including the shot of ‘Chateauron sur Bois’ signal box, were all filmed on the LMR, probably in the yard at Longmoor itself, but to aid continuity there is a decent shot of a French ‘Pacific’ passing on an express as Leslie Philips hangs out of the caravan door. The ‘Pacific’ is correctly running on the left, but the scene is actually a stage set up with back-projection added. The French countryside seen in several shots is also a moving backcloth. It is not all filmed on the LMR though, there is an aerial shot of an Toton Marshalling Yard, and then some scenes filmed in Feltham station goods yard with a number of 16T mineral wagons present. Despite the inconsistencies this is a well thought out, and quite well executed railway sequence.
*THE WRONG BOX
GB
1966
1hr 47mins
Dir: Bryan Forbes
Starring: Michael Caine and Cicely Courtneidge
Two elderly brothers are the surviving members of a tontine in which the last member stands to receive a fortune
This quiet little black comedy has a superb cast and the witty script keeps it running along quite nicely, though it is a little on the dull side at times.
It was based on the 1889 novel of the same name by Robert Louis Stevenson and his step-son Lloyd Osbourne. Part of the story involves a head-on crash between two Bournemouth expresses which involved some clever editing and an elaborate set involving a couple of full-size replica locomotives, placed in a jack-knifed position and locked buffer-to-buffer. The replica locomotives, both in LSWR light green, are Adams T3 Class 4-4-0 No.563 and Class A1 ‘Terrier’ 0-6-0T No.72 Fenchurch, renamed Franklin in the film. The ‘crash’ was filmed on the Longmoor Military Railway and the wagons and coaches were real, though the smoke entering the loco funnels is interesting and suggests some sort of reversal of shot. Just before the crash there are a couple of shots of one of the approaching expresses which seems to show it hauled by a light green-liveried Class A1X ‘Terrier’ 0-6-0T, which ties in nicely with the mock-up loco used in the crash. This indicates that the scenes of the train moving were filmed elsewhere, probably on the Bluebell Railway (home to the real No.72), and the lengthy scene filmed onboard and the footplate shots do also appear to be ‘real’. Later in the film there is a scene with Dudley Moore at Bath Green Park station with ex-LMS Class 3F ‘Jinty’ 0-6-0T No.47676 at the buffer stops. The loco is again painted light green so as to represent an LSWR locomotive, bringing as it does an unusual diligent attempt at continuity, but in the finished film little of the loco is visible. This was the year that Bath Green Park closed to passengers though it remained open for goods and parcels traffic until 1971.
YOUNG WINSTON
GB
1972
2hrs 37mins
Dir: Richard Attenborough
Starring: Simon Ward and Robert Shaw
The early life of Winston Churchill including his time in the Boer War
This successful historical drama was based on the book My Early Life: A Roving Commission by Winston Churchill himself. Much of this lavish epic, deals with Churchill’s time in the British Army in South Africa, which called for a number of elaborate railway sequences. First of these is a scene in which an armoured train comes under attack in the hills. This was shot in South Wales on the Neath-Brecon line near Craig-y-Nos with a heavily disguised ex-GWR 1400 Class 0-4-2T No.1466 borrowed from the Great Western Society at Didcot. The loco was fitted with dummy armour plating, cow-catcher and large headlamp and was barely recognisable. The line through Craig-y-Nos had largely closed in October 1962 but some infrastructure still remained in place. The armoured train was formed of 16T mineral wagons, also with some armour plating, which were used to carry personnel, and several were derailed during the attack, but it seems that other wagons were modified ‘Toad’ brake vans and ‘Siphon G’ ventilated vans with cut down bodywork. It is known that a Class 08 shunter was borrowed from British Rail and used as motive power for a supply train during filming. There are some good rare colour glimpses of Craig-y-Nos (Penwyllt) station, masquerading as Chievely, at the start of the scenes. Later in the film when Churchill is making his escape from imprisonment, there are some scenes filmed on the Longmoor Military Railway using ex-SR USA Class 0-6-0T No.30064, borrowed from the Bluebell Railway, and BR Class 9F 2-10-0 No.92203 Black Prince, owned by the artist David Shepherd and based at Longmoor at the time. Both locos were disguised as South African Railway locomotives, and 30064 escaped fairly lightly with just a cow-catcher and ‘SAR’ on its side tanks. This was possibly because the USA-built loco already looked quite foreign but there was no such joy for the 9F which had its smoke deflectors (and nameplates) removed, and a large fibreglass chimney and dome, cow-catcher and headlight added, together with a large ‘SAR’ motif on its tender and the first and last digits of its number blacked out thus making it ‘220’. The once extensive Longmoor Military Railway had been used for many films over the years but had closed by the time this film was made. Young Winston would become the line’s last ever appearance in feature film.