Railway footage in feature films and television...

[Joseph_Pestell]

30 minutes ago, whart57 said:

The other thing that seems typically French in the "Tulle" scene is the clanging of the wheeltapper doing his round. I'm no SNCF expert but was that typical, either in the 1963 of the film or the 1973 of when it was filmed.

Very much so. I can recall wheeltappers at both Narbonne and Toulouse during some of the longer stops (for loco change). That as late as the 80s.

 

Indirectly that takes me back to the earlier question about loco changes. Toulouse (Montauban) - Bordeaux was only electrified in quite recent times so Marseille-Bordeaux trains had to change from electric to diesel. Another notable case was trains along the coast from Marseille - Nice and Ventimiglia. Most of those would have reversed anyway at Marseille St Charles but some changed locos on the chord north of the station.

[Pacific231G]

Interesting that such inspections went on in France quite so late but I certainly remember them in Britain in the 1960s. Given that it was a very responsible job requiring a fairly high level of judgement - I believe they checked axle boxes and brake gear as well- I always wondered whether the people carrying them out really were as lowly in the pecking order of railway staff as they were always portrayed. Was it their full time job or part of a wider responsibility for C&W inspection?

Ultrasound inspection to detect microscopic cracks much earlier was certainly fairly widespread by the late 1960s. The technicians who carried it out were somewhat specialist but they were certainly checking ships' machinery in port by then but I don't know when it was generally applied to railway wheels.

 

Edited October 2, 2020 by Pacific231G

[Joseph_Pestell]

9 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

Interesting that such inspections went on in France quite so late but I certainly remember them in Britain in the 1960s. Given their responsibility - I believe they checked axle boxes and brake gear as well- I always wondered whether the people carrying them out really were as lowly in the pecking order of railway staff as they were always portrayed and was it their sole job or part of a wider responsibility for C&W inspection?

 

 

I think that I can recall them in the UK later than that. I think that their demise may be related to disc brakes.

[62613]

2 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

I think that I can recall them in the UK later than that. I think that their demise may be related to disc brakes.

Remember one at Leeds, sometime around 1970 or 1971

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

We had wheeltappers at Sheffield until 1971/72 at least.

I lusted after a wheeltappers hammer, I always wanted a long shaft.

 

Mike.

[steve1]

3 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

Interesting that such inspections went on in France quite so late but I certainly remember them in Britain in the 1960s. Given that it was a very responsible job requiring a fairly high level of judgement - I believe they checked axle boxes and brake gear as well- I always wondered whether the people carrying them out really were as lowly in the pecking order of railway staff as they were always portrayed. Was it their full time job or part of a wider responsibility for C&W inspection?

Ultrasound inspection to detect microscopic cracks much earlier was certainly fairly widespread by the late 1960s. The technicians who carried it out were somewhat specialist but they were certainly checking ships' machinery in port by then but I don't know when it was generally applied to railway wheels.

 

 

My father was in charge of the ultrasonic testing at Bristol Bath Road from sometime in the 1970s to when he retired in late 1980s. He did other work too so it can't have taken up 100% of his time.

 

steve

[nigb55009]

I remember wheeltappers at Carlisle, post electrification. That would be 1974ish, the first time we to Edinburgh. Electric loco to Carstairs where the train split.  Rear portion diesel hauled to Edinburgh by 37149. It was only the second 37 I had seen, the first was D6830, which was the Hornby one, on a tank train heading south through Wigan about a year earlier.

[Ben B]

Ah, Wheeltapping.  One should never miss an opportunity to squeeze in a reference to "Oh Mister Porter!", particularly on a thread about railways in feature films...

 

"What if you tap the wheel, and there isn't a clang?"

"Then I know the train's gone!"

[Pacific231G]

1 hour ago, Ben B said:

Ah, Wheeltapping.  One should never miss an opportunity to squeeze in a reference to "Oh Mister Porter!", particularly on a thread about railways in feature films...

 

"What if you tap the wheel, and there isn't a clang?"

"Then I know the train's gone!"

That sequence in "Oh Mr. Porter" also repeated, leading up to that line from Will Hayes, the old joke about the man who'd been tapping wheels for thirty five years and when asked why said "I'm blowed if I know". Though it was a comedy, that scene seemed to emphasise the assumption that ordinary workers such as railwaymen were ignorant and rather dim when in reality many jobs were highly skilled and responsible; "wheel tappers" or carriage and wagon inspectors as ISTR they were more properly known always struck me as being an example of that. 

 

[Bon Accord]

8 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

Interesting that such inspections went on in France quite so late but I certainly remember them in Britain in the 1960s. Given that it was a very responsible job requiring a fairly high level of judgement - I believe they checked axle boxes and brake gear as well- I always wondered whether the people carrying them out really were as lowly in the pecking order of railway staff as they were always portrayed. Was it their full time job or part of a wider responsibility for C&W inspection?

Ultrasound inspection to detect microscopic cracks much earlier was certainly fairly widespread by the late 1960s. The technicians who carried it out were somewhat specialist but they were certainly checking ships' machinery in port by then but I don't know when it was generally applied to railway wheels.

 

 

Wheeltappers were very much in use and witnessed by myself during my last visit to Poland in 2016.

[jetmorgan]

A number of proper screen shots from the Will Hay film, The Black Sheep of Whitehall. The first look like Paddington and are probably just stock shots, Southern 4-4-0 (not sure of the class) leaving what I think might be Victoria. I'm sure I have seen this shot somewhere else so again it could be just stock footage. The engine then turns into something LMS style, then something that looks a little bit Eastern, not a very detailed shot as it was a matter of a second or 2 on the screen. Then things go Great Western when the train finally arrives at it's destination.

 

Then later in the film there is a car chase with the good guys, Will Hay and John Mills towing an invalid chair and getting it stuck on a level crossing, un-kown location although someone might be able to ID it. An approaching southern train threatens to squash the man flat.

 

Lastly in the car chase there is a scene with a load of cyclists going past what looks like a wooden platform of a halt somewhere but again an un-known location.

[whart57]

My guess is that the SR 4-4-0 is an L1. I had a Triang model of one fifty odd years ago.

[melmerby]

The LMS loco could be a Royal Scot?

[Andy Kirkham]

3 hours ago, jetmorgan said:

 

 

 

 

I think the GWR one might be High Wycombe. That high brick wall behind is quite distinctive.

[Coach bogie]

The level crossing is at Baynards Park, not from from Dunsfold airbase where they make Top Gear and shot the aircraft scenes for Casino Royale, Red II etc.  The railway is long gone but the station still exists as a private residence.

 

Mike Wiltshire

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, Andy Kirkham said:

 

I think the GWR one might be High Wycombe. That high brick wall behind is quite distinctive.

I'd second that:

https://goo.gl/maps/8aeGRXRAgk9qdtxw8

[whart57]

How many representations of model railways are there in films and TV dramas? I know of one, a Midsomer Murders episode a few years back which featured Mervyn Turvey's 3mm scale layout, Alston. There must be others

[lmsforever]

Could the cyclist pic been on the GCR near Denham Golf Club.

[doilum]

17 hours ago, jetmorgan said:

A number of proper screen shots from the Will Hay film, The Black Sheep of Whitehall. The first look like Paddington and are probably just stock shots, Southern 4-4-0 (not sure of the class) leaving what I think might be Victoria. I'm sure I have seen this shot somewhere else so again it could be just stock footage. The engine then turns into something LMS style, then something that looks a little bit Eastern, not a very detailed shot as it was a matter of a second or 2 on the screen. Then things go Great Western when the train finally arrives at it's destination.

 

Then later in the film there is a car chase with the good guys, Will Hay and John Mills towing an invalid chair and getting it stuck on a level crossing, un-kown location although someone might be able to ID it. An approaching southern train threatens to squash the man flat.

 

Lastly in the car chase there is a scene with a load of cyclists going past what looks like a wooden platform of a halt somewhere but again an un-known location.

Love the three seat sports car!

[Coach bogie]

20 minutes ago, whart57 said:

How many representations of model railways are there in films and TV dramas? I know of one, a Midsomer Murders episode a few years back which featured Mervyn Turvey's 3mm scale layout, Alston. There must be others

Coronation street. Roy cropper filled his flat with a model railway. An Olivia's trains class 77 was seen running.

 

Lovejoy episode 'over the rainbow'  actor Richard Vernon was seen with a Hornby O gauge layout (with original boxes) in a retirement home.

 

Mike Wiltshire

[DY444]

50 minutes ago, whart57 said:

How many representations of model railways are there in films and TV dramas? I know of one, a Midsomer Murders episode a few years back which featured Mervyn Turvey's 3mm scale layout, Alston. There must be others

 

21 minutes ago, Coach bogie said:

Coronation street. Roy cropper filled his flat with a model railway. An Olivia's trains class 77 was seen running.

 

Lovejoy episode 'over the rainbow'  actor Richard Vernon was seen with a Hornby O gauge layout (with original boxes) in a retirement home.

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

There were episodes of A Touch of Frost and Inspector Morse which featured model railways, the latter in a house which was also filled with railway signs and other memorabilia.

Edited October 13, 2020 by DY444

[Ben B]

2 hours ago, whart57 said:

How many representations of model railways are there in films and TV dramas? I know of one, a Midsomer Murders episode a few years back which featured Mervyn Turvey's 3mm scale layout, Alston. There must be others

 

May I direct your attention thusly?

 

 

 

[whart57]

Thank you, I obviously don't spend long enough on here

[Pacific231G]

After watching a documentary about Agatha Christie,  I've just been rewatching the Poirot episode Murder on the Links. This includes various scenes of trains arriving and departing at the Deauville-Trouville terminus in Normandy and was filmed a few years before the station was electrified. Needless to say, the various trains are all the same. The loco 3-231G558 (my RMWeb avatar) and its train of rivetted OCEM coaches belong to the Pacific Vapeur Club and both their markings and the uniforms of the Chef de Gare etc. are very clearly SNCF. Unfortunately, the episode is also very clearly identifed by a cycle race, as taking place in 1936, two years before SNCF even existed. I also noticed that the loco arrived at the fashionable resort from its run from Paris with water sloshing out of the full tanks of its tender which is also still full of coal.  Etat Pacifics were very fine locos and it's a shame that this was the only example to survive* but even they couldn't run without consuming coal and water!

When Poirot boards the train to return to London in pusuit of a clue the loco is still at the buffer end and proceeds to propel the train out of the station. Either the director decided that the positive nostalgia of seeing a steam loco going backwards outweighed this absurdity or it just didn't occur to the film crew.  

Despite all this the train sequences are very effective and, before electrification, it was a particularly attractive station and  a reversing terminus fro portions of the expresses that went on to Dives-Cabourg

 

*3-231G558 only survived because, while alll its sisters were being scrapped, it was acting as a stationary boiler at Dieppe Maritime supplying  steam to heating coils in the tank wagons full of  heavy bunker oil for a turbine ferry on the Newhaven-Dieppe route. This evil substance known as Mazout in France is too viscous to flow through pipes until it's been heated. It was also used by SNCF's oil burning 141R Mikados (about half of them) and at least two of the preserved examples travel around with a train heating van (Fourgon Chaudiere)  that once supplied steam heating for older passenger carriages when hauled by electric or diesel locos without a train heating boiler.  

Edited October 13, 2020 by Pacific231G

[Fat Controller]

2 hours ago, DY444 said:

 

 

There were episodes of A Touch of Frost and Inspector Morse which featured model railways, the latter in a house which was also filled with railway signs and other memorabilia.

I thought it was 'Endeavour' rather than 'Morse'