Episode 10: "The Legacy of Gadwall"
Entry posted by S.A.C Martin
243 views
Air Date:
4th July 2008
These are the stories they tell...
A few weeks after Scott's outburst, Stephen decides that now is the time to reveal the truth behind Sir Ralph's name...and the tragic story that follows... Stories from before the second world war, and the tragedy of the war and its effects on the railways of Britain, and the loss of a brother are recounted by Stephen, and finally, Scott sees, that the engine before him, is indeed his friend, and Sir Ralph Wedgwood...
In this episode, there were many different scenes filmed on several separate sets: new buildings were also made to change the look of the set dramatically, and it was in the models that we found more detail the nameplates for Gadwall and Herring Gull were given close ups several times, and the liveries were changed to reflect the time period of the second world war and thereafter. In another change from the norm, this episode would be the first to be narrated, not by the erstwhile omniscient narrator as such, but by Stephen the Holden B12, who would recount the story in every epic detail.
A little bit of trivia - the Dambusters Theme is played in every episode of the series! The end credit tune is one I had composed myself, but recorded for the series by a Loughborough student band. I love electric guitars, and had always wanted to hear that tune played by one...!
The episode's opening credits was also an opportunity to use film that had not seen the light of day (for example, Tavish pulling a goods train and Stephen acting as banker on the hill), and to have the team's name appear at the start of an episode for the first time. The episode title screen was changed too, (the original layout would reappear for Episode Eleven, but it was felt that in order to give the impression of a half hour special, the episode needed that extra 'film' quality to it).
This would also be the first episode in which real footage in this case, of British Military aircraft in action would be used to help tell a story. In homage to the film that lent its theme music, several shots of Dambuster aircraft (Lancaster Bombers) are seen, taking off or flying away. Not only that, but hundreds of photographs (used with full permission of course), were used to build up the story further it is never actually said in the episode which war it is, but of course it is the second world war, and the true, bloody details of the conflict are given, right at the end, in the sombre aftermath of the Baedeker bombing. I must emphasise at this point: all the real wartime shots used therein were either used with permission by their copyright owners, or copyright free in that they had been released into the public domain.
The story which Stephen recounts is entirely in black and white first and foremost, this helps to distinguish the 'present-day' from the 'past', in terms of filming, and firmly puts Stephen's tale in the past. This was a distinction that needed to be made for the viewer in order to make full sense of the scope of the story. Black and white sequences had been used before, but only for the opening The London and North Eastern Railway.. opening sequence (which incidentally, did not appear in this episode).
New models are everywhere: the apple green Scott model (which had made a previous appearance in a trailer for Episode Eight), the two garter blue A4s (Herring Gull and Gadwall), the apple green model of Stephen the Green Engine made its final appearance in the series, and of course, the wartime black model of Stephen that proved surprisingly popular with Youtubers.
There were more models: Thompson the B1 made his first (non speaking) appearance, as did Holden the J83 tank engine. Arthur reappears briefly in the yard sequences, and every one of the main characters is mentioned in the build up to the main body of the episode.
I debated with myself the script for some time before it was finalized for filming. The research done on the Baedeker bombings of York indicated that the locomotive 4469 (the hapless Gadwall), had not been destroyed in the station, but in York's Motive Power Depot indeed, all the evidence pointed this way. The problems with setting the bombing in the MPD would be ten fold: firstly, it would require that both Herring Gull and Stephen were present at Gadwall's death, and this would be more distressing in terms of viewing than Gadwall as Sir Ralph Wedgwood 'dying' alone.
Secondly, York's MPD is, like its station, very distinctive, and I felt that it would be easier to recreate the station bombing than the MPD which would also require the damaging of more than one model locomotive (a neighbouring B16 was destroyed in the same blast), and thus I would have to acknowledge the other locomotive which was unnecessary to the script. This presented something of a dilemma: re-write history to suit the episode's needs? It went against everything I had done before (and yes, before its pointed out... excluding Hawk! 
).
However, several books and articles were found which firmly placed the bombing of the Night Scotsman, hauled by 4469, in the station, at platform nine and we decided to go against the majority view and use these articles and books as a reference to our story. Therefore, the actual bombing in the story is not the actual bombing itself: 4469 was destroyed, separately to the Night Scotsman (which was indeed at platform nine, and damaged badly), in the MPD in reality.
The actual station bombing was exceedingly difficult to shoot the station was actually 'blown up' using various powders and snaps (tiny explosive charges used for film making), and the fact that very little of the actual explosions can be seen in the shots is down to the editing. Shots of the model of 4469 being destroyed had indeed been filmed, but it was felt that, as with the crash sequence in Episode Six, this was going too far to present to a young audience, and thus the bombing of the station was cut down, and the damage implied more than actually seen.
It was a chance editing session with a Loughborough music student, Fiona Grey-Staff, that the music "Danny Boy" (this version, sung by Carly Simon), was added to the bombing sequence, which had been intended originally to be silent, save for the sounds of the explosions and the air raid sirens. This made, in my opinion, the sequence so much more powerful, particularly with the close up of the battered nameplate at the end. Certainly by the end of the month, I had lots of Youtube PMs flooding in commenting on that scene.
The end of the episode brought with it the end of the first story arc in the series the back story to Sir Ralph had been told, finally, explaining his behaviour in Episode Five, his sadness in Episode six, and his erratic and timid behaviour in episodes Eight and Nine.
Ultimately, the Episode's drawback came in the limitations of Youtube of the time the account used by myself was allowed a maximum of ten minutes per video, so the episode came in four parts (and incidentally, is the longest episode to date, at the time of writing).
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