THE HALFWAY HOUSE

GB
1944
1hr 35mins
Dir: Basil Dearden
Starring: Mervyn Johns and Sally Ann Howes

A diverse group of people meet at an isolated inn but there is something odd about the owner and his family

This rather nice supernatural film is based on the play The Peaceful Inn by Dennis Ogden and opens with a street scene outside Cardiff Castle. One of the city’s double-deck trams is passing and although the film is supposedly set in rural Wales this is the only Welsh scene as the inn was in fact Barlynch Abbey, on the Devon/Somerset border. This location setting explains the appearance of a real rarity in the form of East Anstey station on the former Norton Fitzwarren-Barnstaple line. The station poses as ‘Ynysgwyn’ for the film and some of the characters arrive by a train hauled by GWR 4300-series 2-6-0 No.6364. There are also shots of London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads stations and a very distant shot of a steam train passing through a valley landscape.

Cardiff Castle forms the backdrop and the tram is in the centre partly obscured by the on-screen caption
This is the Station Approach to Bristol Temple Meads as seen from Temple Gate
A train beneath the curved roof of Bristol Temple Meads
And in a continuity error the departing train is leaving London Paddington!
This is East Anstey station in Devon, closed to passengers from 1st October 1966. The locomotive is 4300-series 2-6-0 No.6364.
Just off the main platform and the goods shed and signal box are behind the passengers. Unusually freight services ceased before passenger services. Freight facilities were withdrawn from 6th July 1964.
Although the sign on the door reads Ynysgwyn this is East Anstey. The main station building seen here is still extant and is now in use as a private residence. (All photos courtesy of reelstreets)