THE HAPPIEST DAYS OF YOUR LIFE

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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 blazing comedy that were shot at Liss station on the Longmoor Military Railway, with a train hauled by War Department Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST No.75079 Lisieux. Note that in the later scene where Government inspectors arrive at the station, the train departs with a carriage door still open! The station at Liss curiously masquerades as ‘Nutbourne’, which is a real station on the West Coastway route between Havant and Chichester. The film was based on the 1947 play of the same name by John Dighton and in many respects, including the cast, was seen as a precursor to the St. Trinian’s films.

A Longmoor Military Railway train pulls into Liss hauled by ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST No.75079 Lisieux
John Bentley on the platform at Liss, with clear evidence of its identity change. The pitched roof behind the ‘Nutbourne’ sign is the goods shed of the BR station.
This later view shows Lisieux arriving from a different angle
Alastair Sim, Kenneth Downey, Laurence Naismith and Stringer Davis on the platform at Liss. In the background the train is slowly departing with the carriage door gently swinging on its hinges!