THE SECRET OF BOYNE CASTLE

US / GB
1969
2hrs 23mins
Dir: Robert Butler
Starring: Kurt Russell and Alfred Burke

Two school boys in Ireland get caught up in the world of Cold War espionage

This Walt Disney adventure film was originally broadcast in the US as a three-part made for television film on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, under the title Guns in the Heather. It was then re-edited for a European theatrical release under the title The Secret of Boyne Castle. It was later re-broadcast on American television in 1978 under yet another title, Spy-Busters. The story is based on the 1963 novel Guns in the Heather by Lockhart Amerman and the original made for television three-part version was 180 minutes in length. The film is a wonderful romp through late-1960s Ireland, in a time when Disney made delightful family adventures, and it features a scene on Irish Railways with GM 141 Class diesel No.B151 on a local passenger train. The railway sequence appears at the start of Part Two of the film and begins with shots of the train at Crusheen station, County Clare. The journey includes genuine shots filmed onboard and some exhilarating stunts that end with a jump from the roof of a carriage whilst the train is in motion. As the children board the train at Crusheen, it is assumed that this sequence used the Athenry-Limerick ‘Long Pavement’ branch.

Star of the show is this Class 141 diesel, No.B151 in original black and tan livery
Passengers board the waiting train at Crusheen station, in County Clare. The station closed to passengers in 1976 though the line remained open until the late 1990s for freight traffic. Although passenger services were restored in 2010, Crusheen remained closed.
As the train pulls away from Crusheen, we get an excellent closeup glimpse of locomotive B151. Standing at the northern end of the up platform, the GSW-style signal cabin on the right looks very homely.
A view inside an old Irish Rail corridor coach
The stunt scene filmed from the back of the train as it rounds a bend
As the train slows down for some cows on the line we are treated to this view of the locomotive as seen from the roof of the first coach
After riding the train for a while, the three main characters are ready to jump off the roof