GB 2017 1hr 57mins Dir: Danny Boyle Starring: Ewan McGregor and Anjela Nedyalkova
After 20 years abroad, a former Scottish heroin addict returns home to reunite with his friends
This sequel to Trainspotting (qv) is deliberately self-referential, with film-clips, music and echoes from the first film. The screenplay is loosely based on Porno, the follow-up novel to Trainspotting, with characters and elements lifted from the first novel. It has quite a bit more in relation to railways than the first film did 21 years previously. The classic scene at Corrour in Trainspotting was recreated for this film, with a Class 156 DMU pulling out, but at the beginning there are some good, albeit brief shots of Edinburgh Trams, with front and roof-mounted cameras offering some very unusual views. The Port Sunlight pub in the film is in fact the former Globe Hotel in Clydebank, and in a couple of scenes trains pass by on the line between Clydebank and Yoker stations. Although most are unidentifiable because they pass by at night, there is one excellent shot of a Class 334 ‘Juniper’ EMU during the day. In addition to these there is a shot of a passing Virgin East Coast-liveried HST, a distant shot of a pair of Class 156 DMU’s crossing Rannoch Moor, a view of the Forth Bridge from the adjacent road bridge, and a scene filmed at Leith Docks with abandoned railway lines in evidence. As an aside, there is a scene where Ewen Bremner reminisces about the past and the shot of Edinburgh Waverley station as seen through the Calton Road arch is replayed from the first movie. This is one of only two locations that appeared in both Trainspotting movies, the other was of course Corrour station. Unlike the first movie, Edinburgh Waverley does later feature briefly in the film, and there is also a shot of a Class 91-hauled ECML express arriving at the station in the deleted scenes. The Corrour and Rannoch scenes also reappear in the deleted scenes on the DVD release, as does an additional one filmed onboard a ‘Sprinter’ DMU, a good ground level shot of an Edinburgh tram, and a lengthy scene filmed in the abandoned and derelict former Shrubhill tram depot in Leith. All in all then, this movie does more for the rail enthusiast than the first one ever did.
This is the first of the roof mounted views from the top of an Edinburgh Tram. Here we cross the viaduct through Edinburgh Park with the Edinburgh Park Novotel in front and Network Rail’s Haymarket – Newbridge Junction line visible beneath and to the left.
This is the view from the front of a tram as it approaches Haymarket. Immediately out of shot to the left is Murrayfield Stadium whilst just to the right of the approaching tram is a Class 158 ‘Sprinter’ DMU on the line into Haymarket depot.
The tram begins its on street running at Haymarket, with the COSLA Conference Centre straight ahead and Haymarket station to the right, with a Class 170 ‘Turbostar’ DMU in platform 4.
Here the tram passes a National Express coach on Haymarket Terrace with Ryrie’s & Co. public house on the right
Further into Edinburgh now and this is Shandwick Place, right in the heart of the city centre
This is Princes Street tram stop with Princes Street Gardens to the right and the Royal Scottish Academy down the end
Here we are looking down The Mound onto Princes Street with a tram passing through the centre of the shot (that is a bus far left)
Princes Street again, this time at night. The corner of the Royal Scottish Academy is on the left and Edinburgh Castle is nicely lit up on ‘The Rock’ behind.
This shot is taken from the deleted scenes and shows a ground level view of a tram running down North St Andrew Street in the rain. St Andrew Square is in the background.
The former Globe Hotel in Clydebank forms the centre point to an otherwise barren, featureless landscape. A train is visible on the left, running between Clydebank and Yoker stations. It is possibly a Class 158 DMU.
This is the scene reused from the original Trainspotting of 1996. Waverley station is dead ahead in this view looking through the arch that carries Waterloo Place over Calton Road. Notice the station footbridge to the right, more of which we will see a little later.
A tram passes Harvey Nichols in St George’s Square, Edinburgh
A class 334 ‘Juniper’ EMU passes by in closeup, probably in the Clydebank area.
Jonny Lee Miller stands on Corrour station in a re-enactment of the famous scene from the first movie. the only difference is that the Class 156 ‘Sprinter’ DMU is now in the modern ScotRail colours.
A pair of Class 156 ‘Sprinters’ head across the bleak Rannoch Moor and look completely lost beneath the most frightening of skies
Although the exact location has not yet been found, the derelict railway line in the foreground once formed part of the system at Leith Docks
Both Forth Bridges are viewed against the setting sun. The Forth Road Bridge is in the foreground with the Forth Bridge behind. This is now often called the Forth Rail Bridge to distinguish the two, but as it was here long before the road one it is, officially, just the Forth Bridge.
This is the entrance to Edinburgh Waverley station off Calton Road. Note the footbridge on the right, seen earlier in the view looking through the arch of Waterloo Place.
A Virgin East Coast HST set passes the camera. The location is not known, but it is without overhead electrification so it is most probably somewhere to the north west of Edinburgh.
Ewan McGregor and Ewen Bremner reach the old Shrubhill tram depot in Leith where a lengthy scene was filmed only for it to be deleted
The pair inside one of the derelict tram sheds
The final shot is another deleted scene, and it shows a Class 91-hauled express arriving into Edinburgh Waverley from King’s Cross
