GB
1973
1hr 43mins
Dir: James Hill
Starring: Eric Porter and Rachel Roberts
A fox and hound grow up together which leads to tragedy for the humans
One sequence in this live-action family film has the hounds follow the fox onto a railway line only to be run down and killed by a train. This quite horrific scene for what was basically a family movie, was filmed on the Minehead branch in its first year of private ownership, with very good shots Class 35 ‘Hymek’ D7100 on a goods train, headcode 2T30. Indeed, the emergency stop carried out by the train was a well executed piece of filming. The cutting where this took place was north of Crowcombe Heathfield as was the level crossing, thought to be that at Roebuck Gate. The film is based on the 1970 David Rook novel, The Ballad of the Belstone Fox.