Frappington Jct Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Whilst reading the 'Reality Check' feature on the GER J15s in this months Hornby Magazine, I've come across a reference to no. 65464 starring in the film "O'leary's Night" and carrying an Irish Railways emblem on the tender. The article then goes on to say that the loco wore the emblem for a few months afterwards. My question is, how much of this is true? I can't even find reference to the film online (a consequence perhaps of it sharing a name with a famous TV presenter), but if it did happen and the loco really did carry the logo in service after shooting. If so, it really would be an interesting little project to run a Hornby J15 in that livery. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 IIRC there are pictures in the Middleton Press "Branch Line to Buntingford". I'll try to look it out later if no-one beats me to it. Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatofludham Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 The film was released as "Happy Ever After" and "Tonight's the Night" (in the USA) and starred David Niven according to the BFI. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EHertsGER Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 Well if it is any assurance of this I have 65464 on my bench right now - and yes, it will appear with the bionic snail on the left hand side of the tender in the appropriate yellow. Decals already sourced and bought. No, it is not a Hornby one...it is #3 of the Gibson batch that has long been an hallucination on these pages. Watch this space...if you have the patience! I promise it will apppear in the next couple of weeks...along with 65460 (another unique livery, being lined in red after 'Postman's Knock') and an LNER version. Honest. This has taken years - I owe it to myself to get them off the bench! Now, for the matching CIE liveried coaches...oh, yes they were... Best, Marcus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EHertsGER Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 IIRC there are pictures in the Middleton Press "Branch Line to Buntingford". I'll try to look it out later if no-one beats me to it. Ed Oh, please do, a photo would be priceless! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Hi guys. The book isn't Middleton Press, but appears to be published by John Masters of Bishop's Stortford. The author is Peter Paye and the title is simply "The Buntingford Branch".If you google "Buntingford Railway and Local History Society" and click on sales you will see the book listed. The contact, Stephen Ruff, is well-known locally for giving talks on the line and his knowledge is growing all the time. #Whilst the book talks about the making of the film, and shows the J15, the Irish logo is not clearly displayed. If anyone does have photo's it will be Stephen. I enjoyed the station being re-painted and re-named for its part in the film, but the proper name-boards were re=instated when a service train called so as not to confuse the passengers! Sorry I haven't been as definitive as I'd hoped, but I hope to have been of some help. Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EHertsGER Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Hi guys. The book isn't Middleton Press, but appears to be published by John Masters of Bishop's Stortford. The author is Peter Paye and the title is simply "The Buntingford Branch".If you google "Buntingford Railway and Local History Society" and click on sales you will see the book listed. The contact, Stephen Ruff, is well-known locally for giving talks on the line and his knowledge is growing all the time. #Whilst the book talks about the making of the film, and shows the J15, the Irish logo is not clearly displayed. If anyone does have photo's it will be Stephen. I enjoyed the station being re-painted and re-named for its part in the film, but the proper name-boards were re=instated when a service train called so as not to confuse the passengers! Sorry I haven't been as definitive as I'd hoped, but I hope to have been of some help. Ed Well if ever there was an excuse to sit down an actually watch the movie, there it is. It's one of those dank rainy days here, so perfect for movie watching over a cuppa. Lets see... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EHertsGER Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Well this is about as good as it gets...clearly the passenger rolling stock is marked out as CIE, but it's almost impossible to identify the logo on the tender. Given this was released in 1954 it might be the early crest, it might be the CIE logo in yellow or it might be the CIE logo in white. If the coaches were marked as CIE, I feel it is reasonable to presume the loco was too. Me? I am going with CIE logo in yellow (as black CIE locos of this period were marked up with a yellow insignia). Of course, the studio may only have had a can of white paint... The rolling stock appears to be a couple of diag 203/204 54' 9" Gresley coaches tagged off by a brake 3rd of some kind. These were stored at Peterborough after the movie and seemed to last until at least 1955, still sitting in the CIE livery used on the set at that point. These were 'Ilford Stock' dating from 1935 (one identified as possibly #3280) but made redundant with the onset of specifically designed saloon type stock in 1949. Most were stored in the open at Stratford until some underframes were used for the 1953 stock on the LTSR services, while others, no doubt including those used in the movie, eventually gave up their underframes to the 71000-34 motor car vans in the mid-1950s, which fits our set sitting at Peterborough. Best I can manage for now... Marcus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Hi guys. The book isn't Middleton Press, but appears to be published by John Masters of Bishop's Stortford. The author is Peter Paye and the title is simply "The Buntingford Branch".If you google "Buntingford Railway and Local History Society" and click on sales you will see the book listed. The contact, Stephen Ruff, is well-known locally for giving talks on the line and his knowledge is growing all the time. The text from the original (1980) edition of Peter Paye's book is quoted verbatim by Huntley in "Railways On The Screen" (see entry under "Happy Ever After"). I suspect the source for the reference in the Hornby Magazine article was the RCTS "Green Book" ("Locomotives of the LNER" vol. 5) which briefly mentions the adornment of 65464 for "O'Leary's Night". The RCTS book also described two other J15s, nos 7835 and 7541 sold by the LNER in 1936 to London Film Productions, who modified them to represent Russian locomotives for the film "Knights without Armour". Subsequently becoming WD nos. 212 and 221 respectively, they saw service on the Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Railway before being returned to Stratford in 1944 for scrapping following accidents. I think Evan Green-Hughes did well to write an article about J15s without using the phrase "maids of all work". It may be a first... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EHertsGER Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 I wonder if we should start a new post: "J15s you are unlikely to see Hornby producing in the near future", coupled with our contributors' 'oddball' J15s. I know there are already several out there with tender cabs, as we have seen the sterling efforts of those who have done them so far under the main 'Hornby producing a J15' pages. Great set of posts, by the way... But the 'CIE' version of 'O'leary Night'? I think I am down for that one. Ditto the red lined one seen in 'Postman's Knock'. Then we have the Colne Valley window sided cabs, the WD ones in France, the 'Scottish shipyard' one (forget the name of the yard for now, you know which one I mean), the two referenced above in Russian guise, etc. Any actually armoured? My RCTS book is calling me, but this could be a colourful offering... Best, Marcus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EHertsGER Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 The text from the original (1980) edition of Peter Paye's book is quoted verbatim by Huntley in "Railways On The Screen" (see entry under "Happy Ever After"). I suspect the source for the reference in the Hornby Magazine article was the RCTS "Green Book" ("Locomotives of the LNER" vol. 5) which briefly mentions the adornment of 65464 for "O'Leary's Night". The RCTS book also described two other J15s, nos 7835 and 7541 sold by the LNER in 1936 to London Film Productions, who modified them to represent Russian locomotives for the film "Knights without Armour". Subsequently becoming WD nos. 212 and 221 respectively, they saw service on the Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Railway before being returned to Stratford in 1944 for scrapping following accidents. I think Evan Green-Hughes did well to write an article about J15s without using the phrase "maids of all work". It may be a first... J15s featured in 'Knight without Armour (1937) - with my apologies for the quality... Best, Marcus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Andy Kirkham Posted May 14, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 14, 2015 Here is a quote from Sounds of Railways - the memoir of the sound recordist Peter Handford. Denham Studios had some advantages for a railway enthusiast ...... Even the studio grounds had something to offer, for a railway, about half a mile long, had been built there, complete with a station that which was frequently revamped to suit the setting and period of a particular film, be it English, such as South Riding, or Russian, such as the Marlene Dietrich, Robert Donat film Knight Without Armour. The line was worked by an ex-LNER J15 class 0-6-0 which, like the station, was altered in appearance to suit the film. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EHertsGER Posted July 6, 2016 Share Posted July 6, 2016 I seem to have forgotten my promise to 'show off' a bit, but here it is. It is only my interpretation of what it may have looked like for that brief period. I am basing my assertions on CIE livery practice for black locomotives, which, as I understand things, was to use a 'yellow' logo. As I mentioned ealier, the studio may only have had a tin of white paint, so nothing here is definitive... Of course, if anyone has a photograph of the real thing in CIE livery, you will be very popular very quickly... Best, Marcus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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