Railway footage in feature films and television...

[Enterprisingwestern]

2 hours ago, steve1 said:

 

Just be pedantic, Class 56s weren’t built until 1976 but the show is set in 1973.

 

steve

 

Also, the first large logo version didn't appear until 1978 at Derby.

 

Mike.

[Rugd1022]

A couple of on location shots from the filming of 'Robbery' in March 1967 taken at Partington bridge, just east of Theddingworth on the Rugby - Market Harborough line, the loco is of course D318...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rodent279]

On 15/05/2023 at 00:41, 33C said:

Wow, never noticed that. I think i last saw that pattern in a 310 unit!

Some of the NSE mk1's used on the Northampton Cobbler sets had that style of seat covers. I suppose they could be interpreted as slightly Art Deco.

[JN]

Justified has two episodes with trains...

[Pacific231G]

I've just been watching Waterfront (1950)  on TPTV and it includes a good number of shots of the Liverpool Overhead Railway. In one shot there is a timetable board listing the times (minutes after each hour) of trains for the various Liverpool main line stations. I assume that was for the LOR but it could have been the Mersey Railway. (I'll look again and see if I can make out whether the destinations included Birkenhead Central)

Correction- I have looked again and they weren't train times but tram routes to Exchange, Lime Street & Central

 

The film itself is set around Liverpool's dockland during the depression and its cast iincludes a young Richard Burton in only his third film role (he was already very good though) as a ship's engineer who discovers that his future father in law (who had abandoned his future mother in law years earlier) had, in a brawl outside a pub,  just killed the 2nd Engineer whose job Buton had then immediately got after several years on the beach.

Some of the ships do though look decidedly modern for the depression era. One of them, the SS Clan Alpine (built 1942) later became notorious when in 1960 a tidal wave from an exceptionally powerful typhoon carried it several miles inland from Chittagong in E. Pakistan (now Bangladesh). It was on its last voyage anyway being due to be scrapped in Japan and, after its cargo was unloaded, was broken up the following year where it stood. Clan Line then got the insurance for a total loss (which apparently was more than they'd have got for scrap)

Edited August 24, 2023 by Pacific231G
correction

[The Stationmaster]

49 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

I've just been watching Waterfront (1950)  on TPTV and it includes a good number of shots of the Liverpool Overhead Railway. In one shot there is a timetable board listing the times (minutes after each hour) of trains for the various Liverpool main line stations. I assume that was for the LOR but it could have been the Mersey Railway. (I'll look again and see if I can make out whether the destinations included Birkenhead Central)

 

The film itself is set around Liverpool's dockland during the depression and its cast iincludes a young Richard Burton in only his third film role (he was already very good though) as a ship's engineer who discovers that his future father in law (who had abandoned his future mother in law years earlier) had killed the 2nd Engineer whose job he gets after several years on the beach. Some of the ships do though look decidedly modern for the depression era. One of them, the SS Clan Alpine (built 1942) later became notorious when in 1960 a tidal wave from an exceptionally powerful typhoon carried it several miles inland from Chittagong in E. Pakistan (now Bangladesh). It was on its last voyage anyway being due to be scrapped in Japan and, after its cargo was unloaded, was broken up the following year where it stood and Clan Line got the insurance for a total loss (which apparently was more than they'd have got for scrap)

Yes - a fascinating film with some excellent shots of the 'Docker's Umbrella'

[Rugd1022]

Filming 'The Ladykillers' at Kings X in 1955...

 

 

 

 

 

[luckymucklebackit]

OK I get it that the Fast and Furious film series are not to be taken seriously, but worth noting that two trains exhibit a serious breach of the speed limit in the Eastern approaches to Edinburgh Waverley Station in F&F 9!

Obviously the film was speeded up to enhance the velocity of the cars on the road, the director didn't care about other moving objects.

 

Jim

[keefer]

On 11/11/2022 at 22:52, keefer said:

In the most recent series of 'Mortimer & Whitehouse - Gone Fishing', episode 1 had them fishing the River Exe in Somerset/Dorset.

Their accomodation was 'The Granary' near Luxborough and the narrative would have them fishing a walk away from there.

However, much footage is of them fishing near what-looks-like a disused (skew) railway bridge, crossing over the river. This got my attention as it is always interesting to see long-gone railway infrastructure still in place.

The only disused railway anywhere near there is the West Somerset Mineral Railway, some distance to the East i.e. not an easily walkable distance away.

Satellite images aren't helpful as a) i'm not sure where I'm looking for and b) the rivers aren't that visible on the satellite maps.

I've taken some screen shots in the hope that someone with more knowledge of the area can recognise the bridge & location!

EDIT: actually looked to see where the Exe is (way to the West) so am even more confused

I'm quoting myself here as I recently watched this episode again, had another look at some maps and figured out where it is!

I was previously way out with the location - 'The Granary' is actually in Exebridge which lies South of what was The Devon & Somerset Railway (later the GWR Barnstaple Branch).

Shown on the OS 25-inch map below, where this line crossed the river the main railway bridge ('Exe Railway bridge' marked 'B') was eventually removed but slightly west, there is a bridge over a Mill Lade which remains and this is the bridge shown in the programme (marked 'A')

Incidentally, the nearest station was Dulverton to the northwest (off the map), which was about 2 miles south of Dulverton itself.

 

1902 OS 25-inch map at NLS Maps

Edited August 23, 2023 by keefer

[Engineer]

I made a routine trawl today for any new information on the Uxbridge Vine Street branch and came across a reference in a movie database: 

 https://railwaymoviedatabase.com/its-hard-to-be-good/

Cowley on the Uxbridge branch doesn't seem to have many mentions on RMWeb, so I hope I'm not duplicating any previous entry.  The film seems also to include scenes at Hayes and Harlington and possibly a distant glimpse of the West Coast Main Line.

[MartinRS]

Not strictly a TV or film, and no rail content, the BBC has posted a video on 'Why Henry Ford imported a Cotswold cottage to Michigan'. An accompanying photograph shows a train which BBC claims is 'the longest the UK had ever seen'.
 

[KeithMacdonald]

On 11/10/2022 at 07:19, rodent279 said:

When I started work in the late 1980's, most office based people wore ties, but sometime around the late 90's, the tie dropped out of favour. Even traditional long sleeved button up shirts with a collar are becoming the exception now, polo shirts & t-shirts are rapidly becoming the norm.

 

And now, with Working From Home (WFH), we have some video calls where people look like they are WFH from their bedroom, and just rolled out of bed with a T-Shirt and shorts on! 🤭

Sometimes people only enable their audio feed, and keep their video turned off. On early-morning calls, usually a cue for teasing - "Are you still in your pyjamas?"

[KeithMacdonald]

On 14/05/2023 at 20:37, melmerby said:

My wife had recorded a film off Talking Pictures TV called "Tonight's The Night" starring David Niven and Barry Fitzgerald.

It was set in the Republic of Ireland in the 1950s. It's a slapstick comedy with lots of typical Irish humour.

 

Sadly can only find a snippet...

 

 

[Pacific231G]

I just watched the opening of Bulldog Drumond's Secret Police (1939) on TPTV and it was hilarious. It opens with Drummond and companions in his car chasing a very American train through very Southern Californian scenery. Cut to a wide shot of a station with a real GWR train arriving (1st vehicle choc and cream the rest chocolate) obviously a stock shot. It then cuts to a very American looking carved station sign saying Rockingham followed by a sequence in which a passenger from said train is having a conversation with a porter (in what looks like GWR uniform but with a cat draped over his shoulders!) asks the way to Temple Tower to which Drummond and co  are also heading . We then see the exterior of Temple Tower, where the rest of the action takes place, which looks like  a fairly typical American millionaire's "European" castle.  I can't believe that even the dimmest audience member could fail to spot the disparity.

 

There's a similar disparity, but the other way round and an odd one,  in the "Wild West Chronicles", a series currently running, which depicts Bat Masterson, as a newspaper reporter returning to the west to interview eye witnesses to a range of actual stories. Masterson was a real character who went west as a young man and for a time was the Sheriff of Dodge City before moving on to be a gambler and ultimately a Journalist in New York. Though Masterson did write eight articles about characters of the Wild West (though not about his own life there) his story finding trip back west for a mythical newsapaper called "The Journal" (Masterson was actually a sports columnist for the New York Morning Telegraph) seems purely fictional. The format does work well though and makes a change from endless historians being interviewed. The stories are all true, mostly not well known, and clearly well reseached.

 

The filming locations were in California and included a couple of authentically American railway scenes involving actors, notably the real "Great Train Robbery" (Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid's hole in the wall gang) , which makes it very strange that the opening sequence  showing Masterson ,now a journalist,  on a train heading west, is vey obviously a train of four wheel open platform carriages hauled by a very German or Central European looking tank loco. This does seem odd, unless the opening sequence was an afterthought,  as there is plenty of preserved steam from that era in the real American West.

Edited September 5, 2023 by Pacific231G

[KeithMacdonald]

I'm going to have to make this my by-line.

I might have posted this before, I can't remember, and I don't know how to use the Search to find images or videos.

That's my excuse posted in advance.

 

Hi Yo Silver Away

 

 

[Ben B]

1 hour ago, KeithMacdonald said:

I'm going to have to make this my by-line.

I might have posted this before, I can't remember, and I don't know how to use the Search to find images or videos.

That's my excuse posted in advance.

 

Hi Yo Silver Away

 

 

 

Custom-built railroad for the practical shots, apparently, and the steam locos are fakes with diesel power via the tenders. I think they ended up at a tourist line after filming.

[The Stationmaster]

16 hours ago, MartinRS said:

Not strictly a TV or film, and no rail content, the BBC has posted a video on 'Why Henry Ford imported a Cotswold cottage to Michigan'. An accompanying photograph shows a train which BBC claims is 'the longest the UK had ever seen'.
 

Maybe that was the longest that line had ever seen.  Well short of 100 wagon trains running on the GW mainline in those days and no doubt on various other main lines.

 

15 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

Sadly can only find a snippet...

 

 

According to Reel Streets the station used as 'Rathbarney' in 'Happy Ever After' was Braughing on the Buntingford branch and it definitely matches Braughing in various photos. The ER engine, plus the style of the signal box are part of the giveaway of course.

[Rugd1022]

Searching for something else I just came across this colour episode of the Francis Mathhews series 'Paul Temple' from, which features some snowy footage on the six track section north of Euston...

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=youtube+paul+temple+theme+francis+mathhews+1971&rlz=1C1VDKB_en-GBGB964GB964&oq=youtube+paul+temple+theme+francis+mathhews+1971&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRhA0gEJMTE3NzVqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:89c9aea3,vid:B93bbm-bU9k,st:0

 

The date in the title was probably the broadcast date, it was actually filmed in 1971.

[melmerby]

The other day my wife was watching a western which IIRC was shown on Great Action channel called "Young Billy Young"

 

It's set in the mid 1800s and starts in Mexico with a train consisting of a 2-8-0 with some flat wagons converted for carrying horses and a box van, all adorned with Mexican flags

There was something fishy about the train so I did some digging.

The loco was numbered "5" and turns out to be an 1922 Alco built oil burner running on the Magma Arizona Railroad which was their #5 and the only standard gauge steam loco they ever owned.

We complain about BR locos being used in WW2 but 60 or 70 years out of period?

 

The line served mines around Superior AZ and linked to the UP main line at Magma Junction about 30 miles away, it still exists & is now owned by BHP, although currently out of use.

The loco is now in Galveston Railroad Museum, which is in the former ATSF Union station

 

 

 

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

Searching for something else I just came across this colour episode of the Francis Mathhews series 'Paul Temple' from, which features some snowy footage on the six track section north of Euston...

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=youtube+paul+temple+theme+francis+mathhews+1971&rlz=1C1VDKB_en-GBGB964GB964&oq=youtube+paul+temple+theme+francis+mathhews+1971&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRhA0gEJMTE3NzVqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:89c9aea3,vid:B93bbm-bU9k,st:0

 

The date in the title was probably the broadcast date, it was actually filmed in 1971.

Which episode? All I get is a trailer.

It would help if you posted a direct link to the episode

[Rugd1022]

22 hours ago, melmerby said:

Which episode? All I get is a trailer.

It would help if you posted a direct link to the episode

 

I thought I had, something went wrong there.

[Pacific231G]

Talking Pictures TV recently showed - so probably will again soon- "The Battle of the Rails" i.e. la Bataille des Rails with English subtitles. (though these were not applied to  German dialogue but these weren't subtitled in the French cinematic  release either and their meaning is fairly obvious) .

This film was made in 1945 while France's railways were still being put back together and is a somewhat idealised account of the activities of Resistance Fer - the railway arm of the French Resistance. It also gives an enormous insight into the way that French railways were worked in the steam era.

The actions began with smuggling of people and letters etc. across the demarcation line between occupied and "free" (ie Vichy) France, then  acts of fairly random sabotage, from switching the destination labels of wagons or opening the valves of tank wagons to blowing up the cylinder blocks of locomotives, all of which led to German reprisals and the shooting of hostages. This was followed by the period when the main resistance activity was reporting movements of goods and trains to London  but the main part of the film follows the attempt to stop a convoy of five trains of reinforcements and tanks etc. from ever reaching the front in Normandy following D Day.    Several of the actions depicted turned up later in  The Train including the deliberare derailment of an old loco and wagons  to block a line but culminatein the spectacularl derailment of a troop train.  

The film is well worth watching and the railways are of course the central character.

Edited October 22, 2023 by Pacific231G

[melmerby]

23 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

I thought I had, something went wrong there.

If it's on YouTube all you need to do is right click on the image and you can save the URL (or the URL at a specific time) unless you are on a phone where it's not so easy!

 

Like this Pilentum video: https://youtu.be/mZHNdVXrOQ8

 

Note the short link.

RMWeb normally hotlinks them and the video will open straight away, I stopped it for this one.

 

 

Edited October 22, 2023 by melmerby

[Welchester]

37 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

Talking Pictures TV recently showed - so probably will again soon- "The Battle of the Rails" i.e. la Bataille des Rails with English subtitles. (though these were not applied to  German dialogue but these weren't subtitled in the French cinematic  release either and their meaning is fairly obvious) .

This film was made in 1945 while France's railways were still being put back together and is a somewhat idealised account of the activities of Resistance Fer - the railway arm of the French Resistance. It also gives an enormous insight into the way that French railways were worked in the steam era.

The actions began with smuggling of people and letters etc. across the demarcation line between occupied and "free" (ie Vichy) France, then  acts of fairly random sabotage, from switching the destination labels of wagons or opening the valves of tank wagons to blowing up the cylinder blocks of locomotives, all of which led to German reprisals and the shooting of hostages. This was followed by the period when the main resistance activity was reporting movements of goods and trains to London  but the main part of the film follows the attempt to stop a convoy of five trains of reinforcements and tanks etc. from ever reaching the front in Normandy following D Day.    Several of the actions depicted turned up later in  The Train including the deliberare derailment of an old loco and wagons  to block a line but culminatein the spectacularl derailment of a troop train.  

The film is well worth watching and the railways are of course the central character.

 

The execution scene is particularly moving.

[Hobby]

It's not showing as repeating on live TV but it is available via their website if you want to watch it on your computer.