Railway footage in feature films and television...

[jamie92208]

Edge of Darkness used quite a few Yorkshire locations. Bob Peck who played the lead had a sister who was a detective in Leeds. It may have been that connection that allowed them access to Bradford Police HQ in the now demolished Tyrls building. At least one scene was shot in the Ch. Supts office.  

 

 

Jamie

[Ben B]

Quote

It was first broadcast on BBC2.  Not sure how Yorkshire Television comes in to it, unless you know different?

 

My bad- I assumed it was Yorkshire Television involved just because of the preponderance of locations around Leeds and Bradford (as mentioned above).  I thought I'd read somewhere they had an involvement on a studio basis.

[Joseph_Pestell]

On BBC2 (Julie Walters documentary), Alan Bleasdale has just travelled from Euston to Liverpool Lime St on a Belgian EMU!

[keefer]

Now if you'll all sit down and be quiet until I bring in the big TV on a trolley.

[talisman56]

I didn't recognise the narrator's voice as that of Chris Tarrant...!!

[62613]

1 hour ago, talisman56 said:

I didn't recognise the narrator's voice as that of Chris Tarrant...!!

You've got to start somewhere! Did anyone recognise the line? Apart from it being somewhere around the West Midlands?

 

 

[andymozza]

Hi everyone, the footage is taken on the Kidderminster- Birmingham line. The signal box footage is, I think, Smethwick West. The facing junction Stourbridge North heading East to Brum. The station where the train stops is Old Hill. The end is Kidderminster heading west. Quite confusing to work out as some footage is going east some west. I think around 72/73.  Oh and the duff on the van train...6M74 Avonmouth-Oldham perishables dates it pre 75. cheers Andy.

[keefer]

I also posted the film to the Transition Liveries thread where more info has been given, starting here:

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/40481-dmus-emus-in-blue-syp/&do=findComment&comment=3947397

 

Edited May 2, 2020 by keefer

[John M Upton]

I love the name of one of the production crew listed at the end - Stan Evill!!!

[caradoc]

12 hours ago, John M Upton said:

I love the name of one of the production crew listed at the end - Stan Evill!!!

 

I believe his son became a Doctor.......

 

[Coach bogie]

This reminds me of the schools programme 'Picture Box' and an episode called trains in the night. I only remember  as my mum still has my school book from the 1960's when I had to write about what was seen in the programme.

 

Mike Wiltshire

[Helmdon]

On 02/05/2020 at 20:15, andymozza said:

Hi everyone, the footage is taken on the Kidderminster- Birmingham line. The signal box footage is, I think, Smethwick West. The facing junction Stourbridge North heading East to Brum. The station where the train stops is Old Hill. The end is Kidderminster heading west. Quite confusing to work out as some footage is going east some west. I think around 72/73.  Oh and the duff on the van train...6M74 Avonmouth-Oldham perishables dates it pre 75. cheers Andy.

station at the start is Kidderminster too (as in where they buy the tickets)

[Helmdon]

what an awesome little bit of film - it hadn't changed much since I started getting the train to Birmingham for school in the early 1990s. I remember the signalboxes being demolished.

 

The continuity, as has been noticed, is all over the place, but all the rural stuff is between Kidderminster and Stourbridge Junction. The stone sided cutting is between Hagley and Stourbridge, the lakes are by Blakedown, and the traction engine (which is still there) is at Hodge Hill Nurseries (as was) on the outskirts of Kidderminster. Anything with OLE is north of the Smethwick West Junction on the spur to New Street (which is the large station at the start). The stock is stabled at Soho carriage sidings. 

 

The flats, from memory, are on the LHS between Rowley Regis and Langley Green. I remember some of them being demolished in the late 90s so they didn't last long. Some are still there. The large housing estate where you can see into the gardens is between Rowley Regis and Old Hill.

 

Before my time, although less than 10 years before I was born, but very much as I remember things being. 

[Pacific231G]

On 01/05/2020 at 18:23, keefer said:

Now if you'll all sit down and be quiet until I bring in the big TV on a trolley.

If we get in the front carriage we can sit behind the driver and we're very lucky today; because we have a film crew  with us he won't pull the blinds down to stop us seeing out front (I used to hate that!)

Edited May 7, 2020 by Pacific231G

[talisman56]

16 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

If we get in the front carriage we can sit behind the driver and we're very lucky today; because we have a film crew  with us he won't pull the blinds down to stop us seeing out front (I used to hate that!)

 

We used to get odd ones in the Bristol area that pulled the blind down behind the driver's seat so one couldn't see what they were doing (wrong...?), causing a rush for the seats on the second man's side of the front row...

Edited May 8, 2020 by talisman56

[Ben B]

On 07/05/2020 at 16:20, Helmdon said:

what an awesome little bit of film - it hadn't changed much since I started getting the train to Birmingham for school in the early 1990s. I remember the signalboxes being demolished.

 

The continuity, as has been noticed, is all over the place, but all the rural stuff is between Kidderminster and Stourbridge Junction. The stone sided cutting is between Hagley and Stourbridge, the lakes are by Blakedown, and the traction engine (which is still there) is at Hodge Hill Nurseries (as was) on the outskirts of Kidderminster. Anything with OLE is north of the Smethwick West Junction on the spur to New Street (which is the large station at the start). The stock is stabled at Soho carriage sidings. 

 

The flats, from memory, are on the LHS between Rowley Regis and Langley Green. I remember some of them being demolished in the late 90s so they didn't last long. Some are still there. The large housing estate where you can see into the gardens is between Rowley Regis and Old Hill.

 

Before my time, although less than 10 years before I was born, but very much as I remember things being. 

 

Very similar; I grew up in Langley Green in the mid 80's, its all very familiar. I think those wooden crossing gates at Langley were barriers when I was sat in my pram watching the DMU's with my grandparents, otherwise not that different

[Pacific231G]

9 hours ago, talisman56 said:

 

We used to get odd ones in the Bristol area that pulled the blind down behind the driver's seat so one couldn't see what they were doing (wrong...?), causing a rush for the seats on the second man's side of the front row...

The ones round Oxford started by just pulling down the blind on the driver's side but soon got into the habit of pulling them all down. Since that view out front was supposed to be a feature of those DMUs and was their one saving grace (if you were a steam lover) it was very frustrating.

Edited May 8, 2020 by Pacific231G

[Damo666]

I caught a little of The Pink Panther Strikes Again over the weekend, the train sequence where a person escapes via a hatch in the toilet roof (Huge toilet by the way, has a very tall ceiling) and make his getaway on a French registered helicopter to meet with Dreyfus.

 

There was a brief dim exterior clip of the loco passing, and I could have sworn it was a CIE train.

 

IMDB records that one of the filming locations was Navan, Co.Meath, Ireland.

 

So far I cannot find the clip on YouTube to verify.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Damo666
Silly typo

[Joseph_Pestell]

1 minute ago, Damo666 said:

I caught a little of The Pink Panther Strikes Again over the weekend, the train sequence where a person escapes via a hatch in the toilet roof (Huge toilet by the way, has a very tall ceiling) and make his getaway on a French registered helicopter to meet with Dreyfus.

 

There was a brief dim exterior clip of the loco passing, and I could have sworn it was a CIE train.

 

IMDB records that one of the filming locations was Navan, Co.Meath, Ireland.

 

So fat I cannot find the clip on Youtube to verify.

 

I checked on locations in the credits. Finland. Edit: Or was that another train shot? Been watching too much TV!!!

Edited May 11, 2020 by Joseph_Pestell

[Damo666]

1 minute ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

I checked on locations in the credits. Finland.

 

[whart57]

I'm not sure it's been mentioned earlier, but one film that deserves an honourable mention is "The Great Train Robbery" starring Sean Connery. This film, based on the book by Michael Crichton which in turn was based on a real robbery on the South Eastern Railway in the 1850s, was filmed in Ireland and the railway locations are in Dublin and its environs. However the producers should be praised for turning out a train that is a pretty decent representation of a mid-Victorian express. I'm not sure what the starting points were but they clearly got some advice from knowledgeable people given that the liveries were actually those of the SER at the time

[Joseph_Pestell]

28 minutes ago, Damo666 said:

I caught a little of The Pink Panther Strikes Again over the weekend, the train sequence where a person escapes via a hatch in the toilet roof (Huge toilet by the way, has a very tall ceiling) and make his getaway on a French registered helicopter to meet with Dreyfus.

 

There was a brief dim exterior clip of the loco passing, and I could have sworn it was a CIE train.

 

IMDB records that one of the filming locations was Navan, Co.Meath, Ireland.

 

So fat I cannot find the clip on Youtube to verify.

 

Said hatch would in fact be the location of the water tank. So only an escape route for a prisoner carrying a plumbing kit.

[charliepetty]

On 06/12/2011 at 20:57, Rugd1022 said:

Prompted by the timely mention over in the Dapol thread of the NBL Class 29 footage in 'Ring Of Bright Water', I thought it might be fun to see how many films and TV programmes we can recall with railways in them.... anything goes, home grown or foreign, ancient or bang up to date, whether it be a brief snatch of something passing by in the background or with the railway as a central feature.

 

I'll kick things off with one of my favourite examples....

 

'Bedazzled', the orignal feature film made in 1967 with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Eleanor Bron and Rachel Welch.... in one of the early scenes our heroes Pete and Dud are stood talking in the street near to Westbourne Park station, a growling sound becomes apparent in the background when lo and behold, a filthy Hymek potters by on the other side of the brick wall, on one of the empty carriage lines heading towards Paddington. It's a 'blink and you'll miss it' moment but the whole scene is typical of the area at the time, with it's run down buildings and an air of neglect. The approaches to Paddington were about to be remodelled and the Westway section of the A40(M) was yet to appear....

 

Over to you chums

 

PS : Goerge Spiggot for PM!

I have tried looking for the Class 29 footage in Ring of Bright Water, but the ones I have watched do not have these clips. (Where can we fing them ????)

 

Charlie

Edited May 11, 2020 by charliepetty

[russ p]

7 minutes ago, charliepetty said:

I have tried looking for the Class 29 footage in Ring of Bright Water, but the ones I have watched do not have these clips. (Where can we fing them ????)

 

Charlie

 

I don't think there is much footage of the 29, when the otter gets out of hand on the train a passenger pulls the passcom and for some reason it shows what appears to be the fire bell ring on the loco and you see the driver slam the controller shut which is an NBL one

[Porcy Mane]

23 minutes ago, charliepetty said:

I have tried looking for the Class 29 footage in Ring of Bright Water, but the ones I have watched do not have these clips. (Where can we fing them ????)

 

 

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