THE ANGRY SILENCE

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GB
1960
1hr 35mins
Dir: Guy Green
Starring: Richard Attenborough and Pier Angeli

A factory worker suffers victimisation at work when he refuses to join in on strike action

The opening scene of this pretty good drama features ex-LMS Fowler Class 3P 2-6-2T No.40010 arriving at Willesden Junction (Low Level) station, which is masquerading in the film as ‘Melsham’. The shots include a very unusual low angle view of the train approaching a camera placed in the ‘four foot’, along with a shot of the footbridge and the station approach road. There is a brief shot of newspapers arriving at the station later on in the film, and at the very end, there is a shot of another train departing from the same platforms. Suburban stock appears in this final scene, one of which is No.24459, one of the old LMS suburban brake thirds converted to push-pull use. Although the loco is visible at the head of the train as it pulls out it is not identifiable, though it looks to be another Fowler tank. The low level platforms of Willesden Junction on the West Coast main line were closed in 1962 and quickly demolished. Modern day comparisons can therefore not be replicated. Ian Allen kindly contacted me with an OS map of the period showing the unusual, though not unique, single through road with platforms on either side that is seen in the film, thereby helping to confirm the location.

An over-the-camera shot is not an everyday occurrence, and was a rare thing indeed during the era of the black and whites. The locomotive is ex-LMS Fowler Class 3P 2-6-2T No.40010, based at Willesden until May 1960 when it was transferred to Nuneaton shed. Interestingly, records show that the loco, on paper at least, was put into storage at Willesden from June 1959.
No.40010 draws to a stand at ‘Melsham’. Note the railway wagons just about visible beneath the station sign.
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No.40010 blows off angrily to break the silence
Proving to be a real star of the screen, No.40010 begins to pull away. The loco was seen during its LMS ownership as No.10 in the 1939 film Poison Pen (qv).
Alfred Burke trudges up the stairs of the footbridge at Willesden Junction
The footbridge is seen from a different angle. Note the sign for platform 9, which gives a clue as to the size of the station at the time.
This is the station approach road at Willesden Junction. Down in the cutting to the right are the canopies of the Watford DC Line platforms, still open today.
Alfred Burke leaves town at the end of the film
As his train departs with a former push-pull coach on the back, a freight train can again be seen on the far left. All these scenes were shot at Willesden Junction (Low Level).