Railway footage in feature films and television...

[Ohmisterporter]

I recently watched Killers of Kilimanjaro which had some all too brief footage of an EAR class 11 tank engine. I have an interest in East African Railways and put the Stop and Rewind function on the Sky box to some use.

[keefer]

3 hours ago, Porcy Mane said:

 

 

I've never seen the film since my parents took me to see it "at the pictures" when it was first released. From what I can remember it was at the beginning during the establishing shots. Rail blue and a bit of footage following the loco from the roadside. I've been told some of the discarded footage found its way onto some Huntley videos.

 

Maybe I dreamt it?

 

P

 

Possibly from 6:56 in this video?: 

(which I believe is from 'diesels &electrics on 35mm' or similar - but with added period radio soundtrack)

[Porcy Mane]

1 hour ago, keefer said:

Possibly from 6:56 in this video?: 

 

That could be what I was thinking of.

 

Ring of Bright Water is on you tube at the moment in HQ but I cannot watch it. I'll end up wanting to do a mischief to the the man with the spade.

 

P

 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Porcy Mane

[Damo666]

Experiments to Derail Trains (1944)

 

 

 

[steve1]

We watched Murder She Said last night, a 1961 comedy/murder mystery based on an Agatha Christie book.

 

The first 5 minutes contain enough railway to keep anyone here spotting continuity errors a plenty. Miss Marple leaves Paddington in a Mk 1 First Class comp behind what looks to be a King and from then on it's any old train they had stock footage available for! 

 

I'll give them one thing though. It's set next to a mainline that has to be the Western, going on the trains seen going by. These include, amazingly, a D600 Warship on a passenger.

 

Oh, although the film creaks a bit, it's worth a watch.

 

steve

[DY444]

1 hour ago, steve1 said:

We watched Murder She Said last night, a 1961 comedy/murder mystery based on an Agatha Christie book.

 

The first 5 minutes contain enough railway to keep anyone here spotting continuity errors a plenty. Miss Marple leaves Paddington in a Mk 1 First Class comp behind what looks to be a King and from then on it's any old train they had stock footage available for! 

 

I'll give them one thing though. It's set next to a mainline that has to be the Western, going on the trains seen going by. These include, amazingly, a D600 Warship on a passenger.

 

Oh, although the film creaks a bit, it's worth a watch.

 

steve

 

D603 Conquest was the Warship.  Sequence shot just west of Taplow.

[montyburns56]

I found these pictures of Marylebone being used for filming in August 1988 and I was wondering if anyone knows what the suburban coaches are (115 DMU trailers???) and what film/TV show it might have been for?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[melmerby]

2141 looks like a non corridor BR Suburban from c1954 (lot 30037 from Swindon)+

 

EDIT incorrect as the coach shown is 9 comp and the BR suburban is 10 comp

(2141 should be a Hawksworth corridor coach.)

A Hawksworth 63' C83 suburban has the right compartment layout but the droplights are wrong

 

"445" is a LMS Hughes corridor third dia 1695  from 1924.

Coach No 1295 running as departmental DM395498

 

Second edit

I'm going for a 9 compartment BR Mk 1 suburban for 2141

 

but the bogies are wrong

Edited May 25, 2020 by melmerby

[Rugd1022]

1 hour ago, montyburns56 said:

I found these pictures of Marylebone being used for filming in August 1988 and I was wondering if anyone knows what the suburban coaches are (115 DMU trailers???) and what film/TV show it might have been for?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quick guess - might have been the Michael Caine / Lewis Collins version of 'Jack The Ripper', I haven't seen it for many years but it's the first thing that came to mind from 1988.

[montyburns56]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

2141 looks like a non corridor BR Suburban from c1954 (lot 30037 from Swindon)+

 

EDIT incorrect as the coach shown is 9 comp and the BR suburban is 10 comp

(2141 should be a Hawksworth corridor coach.)

A Hawksworth 63' C83 suburban has the right compartment layout but the droplights are wrong

 

"445" is a LMS Hughes corridor third dia 1695  from 1924.

Coach No 1295 running as departmental DM395498

 

Second edit

I'm going for a 9 compartment BR Mk 1 suburban for 2141

 

but the bogies are wrong

 

It was the cabling at the end of the coach that made me think it was a DMU.

 

 

[melmerby]

9 minutes ago, montyburns56 said:

 

It was the cabling at the end of the coach that made me think it was a DMU.

 

 

Could be

I don't know what the trailer off a 115 looks like and pictures seem like hen's teeth.

[montyburns56]

I've found out where its from as using IMDB you can find films/TV shows that have been filmed a specific locations and it suggested the TV version of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: 4.50 from Paddington from 1987. I found it online and at 2:45 there seems to be shot of the carriages in what looks like Marylebone. The odd thing is that this version seems to be set in the 50s so I don't think that much if any suburban stock would still be in GWR brown and cream at that time.

 

 

[Bon Accord]

1 minute ago, montyburns56 said:

I've found out where its from as using IMDB you can find films/TV shows that have been filmed a specific locations and it suggested the TV version of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: 4.50 from Paddington from 1987. I found it online and at 2:45 there seems to be shot of the carriages in what looks like Marylebone. The odd thing is that this version seems to be set in the 50s so I don't think that much if any suburban stock would still be in GWR brown and cream at that time.

 

 

 

Presumably Clan Line as the locomotive, but rather oddly with an LTS based 4MT smokebox numberplate (80079)?!

[montyburns56]

2 minutes ago, Bon Accord said:

 

Presumably Clan Line as the locomotive, but rather oddly with an LTS based 4MT smokebox numberplate (80079)?!

 

It looks like the whole film is a pedant's nightmare!

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, montyburns56 said:

 

It looks like the whole film is a pedant's nightmare!

 

To be pedantic it would be a pedants dream!

 

Mike.

[keefer]

2 hours ago, melmerby said:

Could be

I don't know what the trailer off a 115 looks like and pictures seem like hen's teeth.

The suburban-type coaches:

with those type and position of end jumper cables (two control jumpers at the side and another jumper cable towards the centre), I'd guess at TS coaches from cl.501 EMUs. Notice that they also have dual-pipe air brakes, so not DMU coaches.

As has been mentioned they are 9-compt so 57ft long and they are screw-coupled.

I initially thought an SR DEMU trailer, but the jumper cable arrangement/hardware on those is different and those have buckeye couplings/rubbing plates/no buffers

Edited May 25, 2020 by keefer

[73c]

If I've got this right, the First class 445 on the stops is DM 395498 ( number just above buffer ) It's a departmental staff & dormitory vehicle TOPS code QPV.

Was 1295, built 1924 Derby.

[montyburns56]

15 hours ago, keefer said:

The suburban-type coaches:

with those type and position of end jumper cables (two control jumpers at the side and another jumper cable towards the centre), I'd guess at TS coaches from cl.501 EMUs. Notice that they also have dual-pipe air brakes, so not DMU coaches.

As has been mentioned they are 9-compt so 57ft long and they are screw-coupled.

I initially thought an SR DEMU trailer, but the jumper cable arrangement/hardware on those is different and those have buckeye couplings/rubbing plates/no buffers

 

I think you are right, I found this picture on Flickr which virtually confirms it. Cheers!

 

This would make for a great trivia question. Name me a class of EMU that was painted in GWR cream and brown!

 

 

Edited May 26, 2020 by montyburns56

[montyburns56]

20 hours ago, melmerby said:

2141 looks like a non corridor BR Suburban from c1954 (lot 30037 from Swindon)+

 

EDIT incorrect as the coach shown is 9 comp and the BR suburban is 10 comp

(2141 should be a Hawksworth corridor coach.)

A Hawksworth 63' C83 suburban has the right compartment layout but the droplights are wrong

 

"445" is a LMS Hughes corridor third dia 1695  from 1924.

Coach No 1295 running as departmental

 

 

Yep, you are right as I found this reference on the LMS Carriage Association website

 

"Its last appearance necessitated its superficial conversion to an LNWR carriage for the film ‘Miss Marple’. The LNWR crests can be clearly seen together with the covering of some windows internally with opaque material, dummy door ventilators complete the illusion."

 

http://www.lmsca.org.uk/stock/1295.php

 

The coach actually seems to be in GWR colours, but with LNWR crests!

 

So in summary this "1950s" train consist of an EMU trailer masquerading as a GWR coach and a LMS coach masquerading as a LNWR coach, but in GWR colours. Nice.

[montyburns56]

14 hours ago, 73c said:

If I've got this right, the First class 445 on the stops is DM 395498 ( number just above buffer ) It's a departmental staff & dormitory vehicle TOPS code QPV.

Was 1295, built 1924 Derby.

 

Cheers and funnily enough the Departmentals website actually has a picture of it at Marylebone in 1987.

 

http://www.departmentals.com/photo/395498

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, montyburns56 said:

 

Cheers and funnily enough the Departmentals website actually has a picture of it at Marylebone in 1987.

 

http://www.departmentals.com/photo/395498

A different formation than that in your original picture as there seems to be two ex LMS coaches rather than just the one plus two EMU trailers

Indeed a strange combination.

 

I wonder whether they were used for more than one filming session?

 

One of the comments suggests the second coach was ex GWR W329W, that was a Hawksworth corridor coach which it ain't!

[montyburns56]

3 hours ago, melmerby said:

A different formation than that in your original picture as there seems to be two ex LMS coaches rather than just the one plus two EMU trailers

Indeed a strange combination.

 

I wonder whether they were used for more than one filming session?

 

One of the comments suggests the second coach was ex GWR W329W, that was a Hawksworth corridor coach which it ain't!

 

Well this does look like a Hawksworth Full Brake to my eyes

 

 

Edited May 26, 2020 by montyburns56

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, montyburns56 said:

 

Well this does look like a Hawksworth Full Brake to my eyes

 

 

On second viewing the door/window layout does look like a K46 but the roof has been messed with somewhat

329 was broken up early 2009

[Aire Head]

18 hours ago, montyburns56 said:

So in summary this "1950s" train consist of an EMU trailer masquerading as a GWR coach and a LMS coach masquerading as a LNWR coach, but in GWR colours. Nice.

 

You missed the part where a SR Locomotive wearing a BR standard number pulls said GWR and LMS coaches masquerading as LNWR coaches in GWR liveries out of an LNER station! 

[whart57]

In the spirit of a rockband who demanded promoters remove one colour from the M&Ms put in the dressing room as a way of testing said promoters' attention to detail, I look at the railway depictions in films and television dramas less for strict accuracy than as a measure of how much effort the producers put in to make the railway scenes fit period and place. And I regard the former as more important.