THE INTERRUPTED JOURNEY

GB
1949
1hr 20mins
Dir: Daniel Birt
Starring: Richard Todd and Valerie Hobson

An author runs off with another man’s wife and causes tragedy

An integral part of the plot of this film noir thriller has the eloping couple head off by train with the author having second thoughts on the ensuing journey. Eager to make his escape, he pulls the communication cord and flees from the train across fields to his nearby home. However, as the train is being examined it is run into by another train. Most of the train scenes were filmed in the studio, but the aftermath of the crash was filmed over a few nights on the Longmoor Military Railway, reportedly using a couple of Ambulance coaches painted up on one side for the cameras and one of Longmoor’s resident ex-GWR 2301 Class ‘Dean Goods’ 0-6-0s, though nothing is seen of the locomotive. This story bears a tragic resemblance to the Winsford rail crash only the year before in which 24 people were killed in remarkably similar circumstances.

As the train comes to a stand, Richard Todd makes his way from the train to his house nearby. The coaches are real.
As Richard Todd makes his way across fields the train is standing on the line behind. The smoke and steam is apparently emanating from a Dean Goods.
Having gone back to the train, Richard Todd is looking for his friend’s wife…..
….only to find her body among the wreckage