MODEL Railways in Film and Television

[papagolfjuliet]

On 08/03/2021 at 21:57, 5050 said:

A couple of items to mention.  Saturday saw the Ealing film 'Barnacle Bill' with Alec Guiness buying a run down seaside pier - complete with miniature steam train running along it.

 

The engine in question was a Bassett-Lowke 9.25" gauge Midland Compound, built for a garden line in Jhansi owned by a district superintendent of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. Not long before partition it returned to the UK and spent a few years on Hunstanton Pier, now in the ownership of the local council. It subsequently passed through a number of private hands and at some point was regauged to 10.25". It is currently at the  Ingfield Manor School's miniature railway in West Sussex and you'll find a few photos of it on their FB page: https://www.facebook.com/people/Ingfield-Light-Railway/100063489159803/?paipv=0&eav=AfZGL5L2XtAslEtdFFmkAyQ9Vbi9ocA8PkBtOEGma-aTg5updeY-4CU2MOs5VAwP1UE&_rdr  

[papagolfjuliet]

On a related note, I've just found this and bang goes Sunday morning. https://railwaymoviedatabase.com/

[The Stationmaster]

Very intreresting thanks.  I  immediately went to 'The Magic Christian'. having had something to do with it both arranging the whole job as  the initial contact point for the film company and sorting out what gthey actually needed and could afford plus recommending the Heneley branch as a suitable location.

 

There are some errors in the notes - as filming took place on weekdays (in fact I think mainly, if not entirely, on weekdays) in the dry, the rain is artificial!.  The Blue Pullman still at the bottom is relevant in that the producer originally wanted a Blue Pullman but the young lady who made contact with BR (and me as it was the job I was covering at that time) balked at the price I hinted might be likely plus the difficulty of gettng one.  So I asked if any 'blue train' would do and gave her a rough idea of the cost - and that turned out to be exactly what was really wanted.  The producer seemingly didn't realise that other trains were also painted blue.

 

Incidentally the Blue Pullman photo is nowhere near Cholsey, or even the WR , as it is on the MML.  The BTF film 'Blue Pullman'  was filmed entirely on the LMR.  However some outtakes- and unused footage from that film appeared in the BTF film 'Let's Go To Birmingham' made several years later and, out-takes apart, it was filmed entirely on the WR - but not via Cholsey.

[5050]

I recently watched a B&W Agatha Christie with Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple ('Murder She Said'?  Made 1961), set on a farm with a railway embankement as a background.  Over this ran a selection of Western Region trains hauled by Castles mainly - until a D600 Warship rolled past.  It happened so quickly I couldn't read the number but I reckon it's the first time I've seen one on film like that.

[The Stationmaster]

23 hours ago, 5050 said:

I recently watched a B&W Agatha Christie with Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple ('Murder She Said'?  Made 1961), set on a farm with a railway embankement as a background.  Over this ran a selection of Western Region trains hauled by Castles mainly - until a D600 Warship rolled past.  It happened so quickly I couldn't read the number but I reckon it's the first time I've seen one on film like that.

And no farm at that location - or if there ever was it was it was only a field on the opposite side of the main road (at that time the A4).  The location is just west Taplow station beyond the western end of the (G)WR motor drivers training school's road layout.

 

There's another film - or is it another in that one? - of a D6XX passing on the Down Main.

[Hroth]

On 24/02/2023 at 15:23, woodenhead said:

 

Come on, it's British made, it will have towed up by a tractor after it broke down.

 

And a little grey Fergie at that!

 

[Coppercap]

On 28/02/2023 at 11:50, 5050 said:

I recently watched a B&W Agatha Christie with Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple ('Murder She Said'?  Made 1961), set on a farm with a railway embankement as a background.  Over this ran a selection of Western Region trains hauled by Castles mainly - until a D600 Warship rolled past.  It happened so quickly I couldn't read the number but I reckon it's the first time I've seen one on film like that.

D601 Conquest. From the railwaymoviedatabase website mentioned earlier.

[5050]

On 04/03/2023 at 22:17, Coppercap said:

D601 Conquest. From the railwaymoviedatabase website mentioned earlier.

I remember seeing it at Taunton not long after it was introduced.  I've always though that the D600's were more impressive in appearance than the D800's.

[JaymzHatstand]

One of the earlier series of The Crystal Maze featured a puzzle in the Industrial zone whereby the contestant would have to guide an 08 with a bogie flat carrying the crystal through a series of points and loops and a tunnel to the hatch to retrieve said crystal. I remember seeing a photo of it a few years ago, and it not looking overly complicated, though I dare say that the pressure of the timer, not necessarily being railway minded and Richard O'brien playing his harmonica may have made it a little more complicated!

 

Cheers

 

J

 

[Ben B]

6 hours ago, JaymzHatstand said:

One of the earlier series of The Crystal Maze featured a puzzle in the Industrial zone whereby the contestant would have to guide an 08 with a bogie flat carrying the crystal through a series of points and loops and a tunnel to the hatch to retrieve said crystal. I remember seeing a photo of it a few years ago, and it not looking overly complicated, though I dare say that the pressure of the timer, not necessarily being railway minded and Richard O'brien playing his harmonica may have made it a little more complicated!

 

Cheers

 

J

 

 

I remember that! In fact I can distinctly remember being jealous they'd got it to run so well over the points, though I suppose they could have edited out the Hand Of God prodding it along every ten seconds...

[Ben B]

 

And here we go :)

 

Lima? Has outside frames, wouldn't have thought the Dublo or Wrenn would have cut the mustard...

 

 

[steve1]

Lima, definitely.

 

steve

[Geep7]

And a Bachmann/Mainline GW Crocodile bogie well wagon as the carrier for the crystal.

[Nick Gough]

On 28/03/2023 at 02:50, JaymzHatstand said:

One of the earlier series of The Crystal Maze featured a puzzle in the Industrial zone whereby the contestant would have to guide an 08 with a bogie flat carrying the crystal through a series of points and loops and a tunnel to the hatch to retrieve said crystal. I remember seeing a photo of it a few years ago, and it not looking overly complicated, though I dare say that the pressure of the timer, not necessarily being railway minded and Richard O'brien playing his harmonica may have made it a little more complicated!

 

Cheers

 

J

 

And Richard O'Brien humming the theme to Margaret Rutherford's 'Murder She Said' (4:50 from Paddington) as well.

[33C]

On 24/02/2023 at 15:42, papagolfjuliet said:

 

Fairly sure that neither my dad's Scimitar nor my granddad's Gilbern Invader Mk.III could have managed that hill. Forwards. In a drought.

My mk.2 Cavalier went up our local steep hill, 1in 7, in the snow, 1st gear and foot to the floor, passing a Range Rover coming down, backwards, locked up! Split a core plug but got home no bother! Wish I'd filmed it, for the thread.🤪

Edited April 4, 2023 by 33C
Added letter.

[steve1]

Anyone remember this? Locations?

 

steve

 

 

steve

[Enterprisingwestern]

2 hours ago, steve1 said:

Anyone remember this? Locations?

 

steve

 

 

steve

 

Me too.

There seems to be no information available on the web.

 

Mike.

[TinTracks]

Hi. Lovely old vid thanks.

There's another version/copy on Youtube. In the info North Fambridge and Southminster   are mentioned as being the stations used for filming. Here's a link to a pic of Southminster.

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5639427

 

Cheers .Rich

 

[steve1]

Watching it properly, I thought “Wrotten End” looked rather GWR to me.

 

steve

[TinTracks]

1 hour ago, steve1 said:

Watching it properly, I thought “Wrotten End” looked rather GWR to me.

Hmmm. I sort of got a feeling of Ongar , ex GER, about the buildings, maybe because I've just watched a repeat of Siddy Holloway's visit to the Ongar line as part of the London Underground series, (compulsive viewing in our house☺️)

Cheers, Rich 

[4069]

It's definitely Fambridge (Wrotten End) and Southminster, see here:

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by 4069

[Johann Marsbar]

16 hours ago, steve1 said:

Anyone remember this? Locations?

 

steve

 

 

steve

 

Southminster in 1977 - The building beyond the end of the tracks is visible in my photo......

 

[RJS1977]

Just watched "Why Didn't They Ask Evans?". Very well done, apart from the scene where the characters boarded a train in Wales (pre-War) headed by a Bulleid Pacific which turned into a Collett 2251!

[RJS1977]

On 24/02/2023 at 13:58, papagolfjuliet said:

I'm somewhat curious as to how Lady Penelope's Rolls managed to reverse up that incline in a foot of scale snow.

It should be remembered that FAB1 had been "re-engineered" by Brains, and apart from the machine gun in the radiator, was also fitted with a hydrofoil to enable it to be driven on water. As such it would be no real stretch to posit that Brains had also enabled it to be driven backwards up a snowy hill.

[ianmianmianm]

I can't find any pics or clips of this, but in the Alien Nation TV series, Gary Graham's character had an O gauge tailchaser in his LA loft apartment.