THE QUIET MAN

US
1952
2hrs 09mins
Dir: John Ford
Starring: John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara

A disgraced American boxer returns to his Irish roots

This rather good Technicolor American romantic comedy-drama was based on a 1933 Saturday Evening Post short story of the same name by Maurice Walsh. It depicts what is possibly the most famous and most endearing image of ‘old Ireland’. The railway scenes in The Quiet Man are true gems, showing ex-GSWR Class 52 4-4-0 No.59 in steam working a train of vintage stock made up of coaches of GSW and MGW origin. The station in the film is called ‘Castletown’, but was in reality Ballyglunin, on the west coast route from Limerick to Claremorris which closed in 1976. Once again this is another Irish film that generates superb scenes from a bygone age and the beautiful 1945-55 period CIE green livery is very accurately shown. As John Wayne makes for the village in a horse and trap there is an excellent shot of No.59 and train crossing a bridge over the road, whilst the train appears one final time at the station, in a scene towards the end.

Class 52 4-4-0 No.59 arrives into Ballyglunin, which is playing the part of ‘Castletown’
This shot has been included for two reasons. Firstly, it shows what an attractive livery the period two-tone green CIE scheme really was, and secondly it shows the 1950s CIE logo on the carriage sides. Whereas our own familiar double-arrow emblem eventually became known as the ‘barbed-wire’ logo, the Irish christened this emblem ‘The Flying Snail’!!
John Wayne leaves the train. Note that the inside of the carriage door appears to consist of padded leather!
A general view of the station
This really fine view sees a pony and trap sedately approaching a railway bridge over which the approaching train is about to cross, equally sedately because this is Ireland
This very complete view of proceedings occurs towards the end of the film….
….as does this view of No.59 and her footplate crew who have been joined in discussion by the station master