Railway footage in feature films and television...

[MyRule1]

8 minutes ago, John-Miles said:

Drink had been taken in the Miles household when this programme was on, so I might have missed something, but it involved the engine crossing a significant gap with no more than the rails to support it and also draining all the water out of a steam engine to reduce its weight. There was no attempt to take on water afterwards. Also David Tennant did some structural calculations with no idea of what the train weighed. Sorry for being a pedant but I used to be a civil engineer.

More worrying would have been track spread as there was a significant length without sleepers, what ever the weight of the train there's no way that the gauge could have been maintained.

[John M Upton]

Didn't they pull off a similar trick over a viaduct in North West Frontier?

[SR71]

20 hours ago, Dr Gerbil-Fritters said:

Round the World on 80 Days, the new BBC one with David Tennant featured some sort of 0-6-0 with outside Stephensons motion (or possibly Heusinger) and a four wheel tender. Purporting to be Italy, and the scene at 'Brindisi' featured a smashing roundhouse with what appeared to be 2-4-0 tender engine on the turntable.

 

Something about the locos and particularly the roundhouse rang a distant bell, but I can't place them.

 

Anyway, it was a jolly romp for a Sunday night. I've never seen any of the previous versions nor read the book.

 

In addition to the other noted 'bendings' of the laws of physics when they got to the terminus the wind had got up. The turn table was going round and round and round reminiscent of one of the Thomas stories, which itself I think was based on a true story.

[MyRule1]

Later the same evening after Around the World, A Very British Scandal had the first part of the story set on the Golden Arrow, the Pullman seemed OK but the single track line and a engine with a Copper Clad chimney were oddities.

[TJ52]

Just watching Paddington 2 again. Great line - 'I'm Jonathan Brown and I love steam trains'.

 

Terry

[Pacific231G]

7 hours ago, EddieB said:

Shot in Romania...

 

Most of the action involves a train pulled by (what I think is) 0-6-0 no. 1497 (Henschel 3824/1894, restored for the museum at Sibiu as "1493").  Upon arrival at "Brindisi", it turns into a side view as no. 43 "CALUGARENI" (2-4-0 Canada Works, 233/1869) posing on the turntable at Bucuresti Calatori (it's home depot until recent removal to the museum adjacent to Bucuresti-Nord), though with a backscene added to make it look like a port!

Well discovered. I knew it was shot in Romania close to Transylvania but I couldn't find an extant Romanian loco that fitted and even wondered if they'd brought one in from Hungary.

It is definitely 1493/1497 with its external Allan valve gear. It appear in an RMWeb posting about the Sibiu "museum" from 2015

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_10_2015/post-9472-0-49891700-1444860905.jpg

and also in this blog from 2009 

http://bda-train-blog.blogspot.com/2009/09/cfr-1493-at-sibiu-steam-locomotive.html

The loco was in a fairly sorry state in 2015  and I've no idea whether it has since been fully restored or, perhaps more likely, was simply cosmetically restored for the filming with just the addition of a few prop signs to hide its CFR identity. It looks real enough in the episode though and far more so than the prop locos used in Hell on Wheels.

The viaduct crossing is clearly fantastical (and with rail bolted to the sleepers with fang bolts why would the rails have lost their sleepers in such a collapse) but no more so than the same scene in North West Frontier in the days before CGI,  and no more unikely than a balloon with sails to steer it  (think about it!) nor the idea of the main line from Rome to Brindisi being a single track with no major towns (with a hospital) between them.  

One accepts these anomalies is an adventure film like this and I am though thoroughly enjoying the series so far with far more rounded characterisations- particularly of Passepartout than the earlier film and TV versions (thogh I think the  1956 film was actually closer to the book's plot. 

 

I found it interesting that, though Jules Verne set his story in 1872, the year before iit was published, two years earlier in 1870 Geoge Francis Train actually had circumnavigated the globe in 80 days of actual travelling (though two months in Paris during the Commune made the overall time longer).

[62613]

4 hours ago, John M Upton said:

Didn't they pull off a similar trick over a viaduct in North West Frontier?

Crimes! How old are you? I saw that in the Odeon in Erith when I was about 7 (late 50s/early 60s). Mum and dad took me.

 

[Pacific231G]

52 minutes ago, 62613 said:

Crimes! How old are you? I saw that in the Odeon in Erith when I was about 7 (late 50s/early 60s). Mum and dad took me.

 

Ahhh. Perhaps not everyone is aware that films made for the cinema have quite often been reshown on the new fangled television service.

The film had its premier in London in October 1959 so probably reached the Odeon Erith in late 1959/early 1960. I never did see it on the big screen. Some of the railway scenes  were filmed near Jaipur in India on a metre gauge line but others, including the viaduct scene, were shot in Spain on broad gauge track. I must say that I'd never noticed the disparity of gauge.    

[RJS1977]

5 hours ago, SR71 said:

 

In addition to the other noted 'bendings' of the laws of physics when they got to the terminus the wind had got up. The turn table was going round and round and round reminiscent of one of the Thomas stories, which itself I think was based on a true story.

 

Yes, the real incident was at Garsdale. A timber stockade was later built round the turntable to stop it happening again.

[rodent279]

Has anyone mentioned the SR emu in NSE livery in the video of the Proclaimers' "500 miles" video?

And the atmospheric shots of King's Cross in the Pet Shop Boys "Rent" video, filmed in about 1987?

[RJS1977]

Earlier this evening I watched 'Roald & Beatrix', about a (fictional) meeting between a very young Roald Dahl and Beatrix Potter, which had railway scenes filmed on the Gwili Railway (with some additions to make Bronwydd Arms station look more 'urban').

 

The train used comprised the visiting London Transport liveried pannier tank and a rake of Mark 1s. Other Mark 1s were seen in a siding.

 

The film would have been set at around Christmas 1920 (shortly after Roald's sister and father died), so I would have thought the Gwilli's nice vintage Taff Vale coaches would have been more appropriate.

 

Still, as the actor who played Beatrix's husband would say "It's a bit of fun...."

[John M Upton]

9 hours ago, rodent279 said:

Has anyone mentioned the SR emu in NSE livery in the video of the Proclaimers' "500 miles" video?

And the atmospheric shots of King's Cross in the Pet Shop Boys "Rent" video, filmed in about 1987?

 

There is a 1980's music video featuring several shots of the prototype Class 210 DEMU (Bronski Beat?) plus the Pet Shop Boys have a bit of the Bluebell Railway with either a Queen Mary or Pillbox brake van on the video for You Are Always On My Mind.

[rodent279]

There's also a couple of shots of what I think is a class 302 EMU in blue & grey, in the background, in Fairground Attraction's "Perfect" video, about 2:20 in.

[rodent279]

Given that Pete Waterman is a crank, I'm surprised there aren't more music videos with trains featuring!

[EddieB]

On 27/12/2021 at 19:51, Pacific231G said:

Well discovered. I knew it was shot in Romania close to Transylvania but I couldn't find an extant Romanian loco that fitted and even wondered if they'd brought one in from Hungary.

It is definitely 1493/1497 with its external Allan valve gear. It appear in an RMWeb posting about the Sibiu "museum" from 2015

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_10_2015/post-9472-0-49891700-1444860905.jpg 234.66 kB · 0 downloads

and also in this blog from 2009 

http://bda-train-blog.blogspot.com/2009/09/cfr-1493-at-sibiu-steam-locomotive.html

The loco was in a fairly sorry state in 2015  and I've no idea whether it has since been fully restored or, perhaps more likely, was simply cosmetically restored for the filming with just the addition of a few prop signs to hide its CFR identity. It looks real enough in the episode though and far more so than the prop locos used in Hell on Wheels.

The viaduct crossing is clearly fantastical (and with rail bolted to the sleepers with fang bolts why would the rails have lost their sleepers in such a collapse) but no more so than the same scene in North West Frontier in the days before CGI,  and no more unikely than a balloon with sails to steer it  (think about it!) nor the idea of the main line from Rome to Brindisi being a single track with no major towns (with a hospital) between them.  

One accepts these anomalies is an adventure film like this and I am though thoroughly enjoying the series so far with far more rounded characterisations- particularly of Passepartout than the earlier film and TV versions (thogh I think the  1956 film was actually closer to the book's plot. 

 

I found it interesting that, though Jules Verne set his story in 1872, the year before iit was published, two years earlier in 1870 Geoge Francis Train actually had circumnavigated the globe in 80 days of actual travelling (though two months in Paris during the Commune made the overall time longer).

Yes, the piece I posted here earlier was clipped from a longer posting on another group, having noted similarities to North West Frontier!

 

I last saw 1497/1493 at Sibiu in 2016 - in much the same state as the 2015 picture linked in your post.  The museum collection had been pushed to one side, needing much tlc and there was no one wanting to collect money from the only visitor that day.  During the same trip arrangements were made to see what had been the last operational standard gauge steam locos, sadly in secure storage and out of use.

 

It’s hard to tell whether 1497 had been made steamable for the TV series - I think it was operable in its early days in preservation, but I think we would have heard had it been.  Certainly it was given a repaint and fitted with signage to make it look Italian.

 

As for faithfulness to the original novel, it’s a rather loose adaptation - but actually works quite well.  Of course every modern version must contain a balloon flight, which was never in the original (borrowed from another Verne story).

[Re6/6]

Thoroughly enjoyed what I consider was the definitive film version 'Murder On The Orient Express' released in 1974 with a superb cast and some 'real location' shots of the train and rescue snow plough in the snow unlike the appalling setting of the modern TV version using a 'Europeanised' Standard Class 5 stuck in a 'snow 'drift.

 

The location of the final rail scene was filmed at Maisons-du-Bois-Lièvremont, Doubs, France in the Franche-Comte region near the Swiss border.

 

Edited December 29, 2021 by Re6/6

[rodent279]

Anyone see Operation Daybreak earlier today?

There's a glimpse of what looks like a couple of Prestwins in the scene on the bridge in Prague, just after Heydrich has been shot. Obviously the European version of the Prestwin, but I believe some of those did find their way to the UK on occasion.

Filmed in about 1975 on location in Prague.

[Enterprisingwestern]

9 hours ago, Re6/6 said:

Thoroughly enjoyed what I consider was the definitive film version 'Murder On The Orient Express' released in 1974 with a superb cast and some 'real location' shots of the train and rescue snow plough in the snow unlike the appalling setting of the modern TV version using a 'Europeanised' Standard Class 5 stuck in a 'snow 'drift.

 

The location of the final rail scene was filmed at Maisons-du-Bois-Lièvremont, Doubs, France in the Franche-Comte region near the Swiss border.

 

 

I was a tad concerned about the colour and consistency of the snow in that snowdrift, curdled custard springs to mind!

 

Mike.

[keefer]

World's Strongest Man 2021, currently on Ch.5, took place in the summer at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.

Events included a 'train push' of their 25-ton diesel switcher No.2 - initially was supposed to be a 'pull' event of the loco and a boxcar but there was a problem with the wagon's brakes at the last minute.

 

Another event was the 'Titan's Turntable' where the competitors had to push the 1911 Turntable (with an 1875 J.W. Bowker steam loco on it) through 180 degrees.

[clogger]

On 27/12/2021 at 17:56, MyRule1 said:

Later the same evening after Around the World, A Very British Scandal had the first part of the story set on the Golden Arrow, the Pullman seemed OK but the single track line and a engine with a Copper Clad chimney were oddities.

I think you’ll find that it was filmed on the Kent and East Sussex Railway. I was told that the Pullman was from The Bluebell Railway and the engine used was a Prairie tank or similar which is on loan there.

[whart57]

13 hours ago, clogger said:

I think you’ll find that it was filmed on the Kent and East Sussex Railway. I was told that the Pullman was from The Bluebell Railway and the engine used was a Prairie tank or similar which is on loan there.

 

Always a problem when a mainline train needs to be represented

[Aire Head]

29 minutes ago, whart57 said:

 

Always a problem when a mainline train needs to be represented

The new All Creatures Great and Small had a scene of an LMS Black 5 hauling some LNER stock on the NYMR to show James returning from Glasgow to Yorkshire.

 

An absolute near miss given that at the time "The Thames Forth Express" used a set of LNER coaches hauled by LMS locos over the S&C. The problem being the coach in question was a post-war Thompson when the program was set in 1938, it being on a single track line and being filmed in the wrong part of Yorkshire!

[whart57]

31 minutes ago, Aire Head said:

An absolute near miss given that at the time "The Thames Forth Express" used a set of LNER coaches hauled by LMS locos over the S&C. The problem being the coach in question was a post-war Thompson when the program was set in 1938, it being on a single track line and being filmed in the wrong part of Yorkshire!

 

I have to say that the post-war Thompson and the "wrong" part of Yorkshire would have passed over my head. It's the single track line pretending to be an express route that never looks right.

 

I like to see the producers make an effort. I mentioned the use of the Hoorn-Medemblik line in the Netherlands to stand in for pre WW1 Northern Germany in the Riddle of the Sands earlier in this thread. It's wrong, I know it's wrong, but it's in context. It could be a branchline on Germany's Ost-Frisland coast if you weren't someone who knew different.

 

It's the, we need a steam engine, any steam engine will do attitude that grates.

Edited December 31, 2021 by whart57

[Northmoor]

The Railway Children (1970) was just on again - rightly IMO, billed as the best children's film ever made in Britain - and I watched the beginning and end (had a weep of course at, "Daddy! My Daddy!", you'd have a heart made of stone not to).  I can't find a reference to it elsewhere in this thread, but when the family are first moving up to Yorkshire, their train journey is shown crossing a timber viaduct across what looks like an estuary.  I wondered if it was Langstone Harbour, but the piers looked too high, the silhouetted train too long and by the time the film was made the Hayling Island branch had closed, but it could have been library footage.  Anybody know where this was?

[Ben B]

3 hours ago, Northmoor said:

The Railway Children (1970) was just on again - rightly IMO, billed as the best children's film ever made in Britain - and I watched the beginning and end (had a weep of course at, "Daddy! My Daddy!", you'd have a heart made of stone not to).  I can't find a reference to it elsewhere in this thread, but when the family are first moving up to Yorkshire, their train journey is shown crossing a timber viaduct across what looks like an estuary.  I wondered if it was Langstone Harbour, but the piers looked too high, the silhouetted train too long and by the time the film was made the Hayling Island branch had closed, but it could have been library footage.  Anybody know where this was?

 

I believe it's Barmouth, with a Collett Goods hauling the train, sure I read that in a behind-the-scenes piece a while back