Railway footage in feature films and television...

[lmsforever]

Remember traveling on those units  oh boy it makes feel ancient! 

[jetmorgan]

Another old film I've taken screen shots from. The Key starring William Holden, Sophia Loren & Trevor Howard along with some other regular, well known minor actors. Set in 1941, but filmed in 1958, a story about the tugs that used to rescue merchant ships that had been attacked by the Germans. Only a couple of railway scenes, the first at the port (I don't know which port this is or supposed to be...assuming it's down south west England way). You can just make out a small saddle tank with some wagons on the quay side. Then right at the end of the film is a train leaving a station. Again I don't know what station it is but it has that GWR train shed look about it. But the engine is easy to identify as you can just make out the nameplate for the now preserved Rood Ahston Hall.

 

Additionally , to anyone modellers interested there are lots of shots of these tugs including the single 2pdr pom pom gun and what is supposed to be a French submarine that has been conscripted by the Germans for training....it's said it doesn't have any torpedo tubes but it obviously does. I suspect that for filming purposes it was actually a British submarine.

[Johann Marsbar]

23 minutes ago, jetmorgan said:

Another old film I've taken screen shots from. The Key starring William Holden, Sophia Loren & Trevor Howard along with some other regular, well known minor actors. Set in 1941, but filmed in 1958, a story about the tugs that used to rescue merchant ships that had been attacked by the Germans. Only a couple of railway scenes, the first at the port (I don't know which port this is or supposed to be...assuming it's down south west England way). You can just make out a small saddle tank with some wagons on the quay side. Then right at the end of the film is a train leaving a station. Again I don't know what station it is but it has that GWR train shed look about it. But the engine is easy to identify as you can just make out the nameplate for the now preserved Rood Ahston Hall.

 

Additionally , to anyone modellers interested there are lots of shots of these tugs including the single 2pdr pom pom gun and what is supposed to be a French submarine that has been conscripted by the Germans for training....it's said it doesn't have any torpedo tubes but it obviously does. I suspect that for filming purposes it was actually a British submarine.

 

 

Henley on Thames (rail) Portland Harbour (port) according to https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051816/locations?ref_=tt_dt_dt

 

 

[jetmorgan]

Happiest Days of your Life is next up...Longmoor being co-opted again for the railway scenes.

[jetmorgan]

Also John and Julie with just a couple of scenes of a Bulleid pacific at Southampton docks, A station looking like it's from the West of England main line, then a Gresley product which suddenly turns into a BR/GWR 4-6-0! When will film producers realise that their stock railway footage will be investigated in such detail 65 odd years after the event we'd all live much happier lives....

[steve1]

Did Longmoor ever do any actual work, or were they too busy starring in films and TV shows?

 

steve

[Enterprisingwestern]

55 minutes ago, steve1 said:

Did Longmoor ever do any actual work, or were they too busy starring in films and TV shows?

 

steve

 

You've got to do something when you haven't got a war on!

 

Mike.

[Ben B]

58 minutes ago, steve1 said:

Did Longmoor ever do any actual work, or were they too busy starring in films and TV shows?

 

steve

 

Well, when you've got a full-size train set with a continuous-run, branch lines, terminus stations, express engines, tank engines, American diesels, and all the rest of the best toys...

[russ p]

18 minutes ago, Ben B said:

 

Well, when you've got a full-size train set with a continuous-run, branch lines, terminus stations, express engines, tank engines, American diesels, and all the rest of the best toys...

 

What were the American diesels? 

[Ben B]

35 minutes ago, russ p said:

 

What were the American diesels? 

 

I've seen some pics in the Longmoor books, they had at least two Whitcomb diesel as part of their representative samples of US war locomotives; I gather they got scrapped due to a shortage of spares.  I think one was only ever used as a source of spares for the main example.

[lmsforever]

That last picture looks as though its near Bradenham on the way to Risboro

[Nearholmer]

On 27/03/2021 at 07:26, jetmorgan said:

From the film A Window in London starring Michael Redgrave, some London underground trains in 1940. Not sure of the locations but I think west London.

 

99% sure its between Earl's Court and West Ken.

 

You can see the Olympia Branch divergence, and also the Piccadilly Line going down to become tube, while the District remains sub-surface.

[D826]

2 hours ago, lmsforever said:

That last picture looks as though its near Bradenham on the way to Risboro

Good spot, I agree with you.

[Ben B]

"Night Mail" has just been on Talking Pictures.

 

"...in a farm she passes no one wakes, but a jug in a bedroom gently shakes..."

[73c]

No, no. You want 2 bridges and 45 beats.

[DY444]

On 27/03/2021 at 08:48, DY444 said:

 

I think that's in the area around the junction for the Olympia branch just west of Earls Court

 

On 03/04/2021 at 16:09, Nearholmer said:

 

99% sure its between Earl's Court and West Ken.

 

You can see the Olympia Branch divergence, and also the Piccadilly Line going down to become tube, while the District remains sub-surface.

 

Indeed

[Rugd1022]

The Talking Pictures channel showed the 1971 film 'All Coopers Are' last night which featured a lot of railway footage and locations in and around the Battersea / Stewarts Lane area, various SR EMUs of course but in one scene the villain played by a very slim, young Nicky Henson was being chased along Stewart's Road (opposite Battersea dog's home) with a Class 73 trundling by in the background. It's a  nice period piece made by Peter Rogers of 'Carry On' fame, with some wonderful views of Battersea Power station and part of the GWR Lambeth Goods yard.

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

I caught Hitchcock's Young and innocent (1937) on Talking Pictures.  The train sequences got a big cheer in my house.  We all like a good train set.

 

 

[steve1]

37 minutes ago, Dr Gerbil-Fritters said:

I caught Hitchcock's Young and innocent (1937) on Talking Pictures.  The train sequences got a big cheer in my house.  We all like a good train set.

 

 

 

Actually, there's some decent modelling in there. 7mm is my guess.

 

steve

[hmrspaul]

In Pursuit of Love on BBC last night had a 1937-8 section where a train was joined. Not only did it a have a BR double sausage sign on the window with British Railways printed on it but the compartment she went to sit in had a typical Mk1 bench seat with what appeared to be a double door alongside - was this a modern heritage railway conversion to an "accessible coach". 

The depiction of Paris Nord station was interesting as well!

 

Paul

[RJS1977]

1 hour ago, steve1 said:

 

Actually, there's some decent modelling in there. 7mm is my guess.

 

steve

 

Especially considering 1937 modelling standards!

 

I can't help wondering why models were used though - normally they'd be used for something spectacular, like the derailment in 'Titfield Thunderbolt' or the train crashing off the bridge in 'The Ghost Train'. Near miss between the train and the Morris notwithstanding, I didn't see anything in that that couldn't have been done full-size.

[RichardT]

1 hour ago, RJS1977 said:

Near miss between the train and the Morris notwithstanding, I didn't see anything in that that couldn't have been done full-size.

The long high-level tracking shot at the beginning which ends with a zoom-in between the wagons & then cutaway to the real actors talking in the car would have been quite a feat in real life with 1930s equipment - no cherry pickers or drones.  But we take that kind of shot done in real life so much for granted these days that we don’t notice it, and see how models would have made it much easier for Hitchcock.  
 

Ironically the “close shave”  action sequences on a working steam railway probably would have been just as easy for Hitchcock to do in real life with clever editing  - but nowadays *they* would be the ones for which we’d need models or CGI (which doesn’t always convince - see the BBC John Malkovich “Poirot” from a couple of years ago...)

 

Richard T

[Phatbob]

1 hour ago, hmrspaul said:

In Pursuit of Love on BBC last night had a 1937-8 section where a train was joined. Not only did it a have a BR double sausage sign on the window with British Railways printed on it but the compartment she went to sit in had a typical Mk1 bench seat with what appeared to be a double door alongside - was this a modern heritage railway conversion to an "accessible coach". 

The depiction of Paris Nord station was interesting as well!

 

Paul

Worst anachronism of all, a supposed pre-WW2 posh totty referred to a "train station".  In those days EVERYBODY this side of the Atlantic would have referred to a railway station by its proper title.

 

[RJS1977]

4 hours ago, RichardT said:

The long high-level tracking shot at the beginning which ends with a zoom-in between the wagons & then cutaway to the real actors talking in the car would have been quite a feat in real life with 1930s equipment - no cherry pickers or drones.  But we take that kind of shot done in real life so much for granted these days that we don’t notice it, and see how models would have made it much easier for Hitchcock.  
 

 

Not too difficult if a suitable location with a high level road alongside could be found - mount the camera on an open top bus and away you go! 

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

4 hours ago, Phatbob said:

Worst anachronism of all, a supposed pre-WW2 posh totty referred to a "train station".  In those days EVERYBODY this side of the Atlantic would have referred to a railway station by its proper title.

 

 

Judging by the trailers, I don't think anyone is watching this for its historical accuracy...