THE HOURS

Image result for The Hours 2002

GB / US
2002
1hr 54mins
Dir: Stephen Daldry
Starring: Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore

The story of three women in different times, related only by a parallel in their personal lives – the novel Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

This drama is based on Michael Cunningham’s 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same title. One scene features Nicole Kidman and Stephen Dillane on the platform of ‘Richmond’ station, in reality Loughborough Central on the Great Central Railway. The locomotive is ex-LNER Class O4/1 2-8-0 No.63601 on a train of historic LSWR coaches. What is astonishing is that these coaches were brought to the line from the Isle of Wight Steam Railway by the production team, only to then be paired up with a loco in BR livery. For a scene that was supposedly set in 1941, a much more accurate ‘Southern’ station could so easily have been sought at the Bluebell Railway, or at Swanage. Or the Isle of Wight come to think of it. In reality very little of the train is actually seen but despite all this the scene filmed at Loughborough Central is quite lengthy and, in the opinion of the author, one of the best railway scenes of recent times. For the large part it is just the two main characters acting out their troubled life together, and one really does get the feel of a quiet country station between trains when very little activity would really have been taking place. A good variety of other rolling stock is visible during this sequence, including LNER teak carriages.

This is Loughborough Central and as the porter enters his office Stephen Dillane walks towards Nicole Kidman. Photographs exist in various books and magazines of ‘Richmond’ station signage provided for this station by the production team. In reality though, other than some Southern Railway green paint there is little to suggest that this is anything other than Loughborough Central when one sees the film. Note the LNER teak carriages on the right.
Nicole Kidman on her own at Loughborough Central
Stephen Dillane and Nicole Kidman meet on the platform
Nicole Kidman, Stephen Dillane and a view down the line
As passengers begin to arrive for a train the porter gets ready to carry out his duties. It is clearly a quiet day as the ‘Telegraph Office’ is closed.
This is all we see of the London train. Though carrying BR livery the O4 Class 2-8-0 is a locomotive appropriate for a film set in 1941 as it was built in 1911.