GB 1948 1hr 52mins Dir: Anthony Asquith Starring: Robert Donat and Margaret Leighton
A youngster is expelled from a naval academy over a petty theft, but his parents raise a political furore by demanding a trial to clear his name
This adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s play of the same name is a well-respected drama and it features an excellent opening shot of ex-LNER F6 Class 2-4-2T No.7228 arriving at Highams Park, the penultimate station on the Chingford branch in Essex. A short while later there is a departure scene at London Liverpool Street which used a studio-bound set interspersed with real shots of the station. Here, several locomotives can be seen, though all a somewhat obscured and as a result they can not be identified.
The year is 1948, and nationalisation has just taken place. A local train arrives into Highams Park station on the new Eastern Region of BR. The loco is a former LNER Holden F6 Class 2-4-2T.
Thankfully we get to see the identity of the locomotive. No.7228 was built in 1911 and delivered as No.69. The LNER initially renumbered it in 1924 as No.7069, then again in December 1946 as No.7228. At the time of filming it was allocated to Stratford, and it would not be until May 1950 that it would become 67228 under the BR numbering scheme. It was withdrawn from Stratford shed on 21/04/1958. Its train is formed of LNER ‘quint-art’ set No.105A. Incidentally, the film is set in the period leading up to the First World War, long before this loco was numbered 7228.
This is the concourse at London Liverpool Street station with at least two locomotives visible on the left beyond the barriers
In this final view of the platforms at Liverpool Street, a pair of tank engines stand in platforms 16 and 17 having brought in local suburban passenger services.
