mike morley Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 As this was first put on Youtube nearly a year ago I'm amazed a link hasnt been posted on here before (Apologies if it has and I've simply failed to pick it up) Some of the "scenes" are obviously staged, but I reckon they were built around real events - the derailment surely being one of them. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw4JCJjV87uU If the link dosent work (a lot of mine dont) use Youtubes search facility for "Railway with a heart of gold" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike morley Posted July 13, 2012 Author Share Posted July 13, 2012 The reason the above link won't work in this instance is because only one of the two "u"s at the end should be there, and neither "edit" nor "topic moderation" will allow me to do anything about it. The link should, therefore, be www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw4JCJjV87U If that doesnt work, I havent the slightest idea why and can only repeat my suggestion of searching "Railway with a heart of gold" and assure you the effort will be worthwhile Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Kazmierczak Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Hadn't seen that before; thanks for the "heads up". The late, great L T C Rolt appears at 7m 15s selling tickets and waving the train away. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike morley Posted July 13, 2012 Author Share Posted July 13, 2012 I saw that moustache and wondered if it was The Man. I also looked at the driver - the "British actor" - and could not help but be reminded of of Robert Mitchum! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debs. Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Oh my!......how delightful. I so-very much enjoyed watching that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickinwestwales Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 An absolute treat!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
talyllyn1 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 "Railway with a Heart of Gold" was shot by American film maker Carson Davidson in 1953. On completion he said he would "send a copy when it's ready". Nothing more was heard, and it was forgotten about until a parcel turned up at Wharf Station 10 years later (with customs duty to pay!). Most of the "derailments" were staged except "Sir Haydn" on a down afternoon train, which was a very real and unexpected incident. Several volunteers who would become "leading lights" are seen eating the ice cream found in the brake van. This was genuine and saved it melting in the "cold box"! The loco driver was played by British actor Peter Assender, who made appearances on BBC's Saturday Night Theatre and was in the Dam Busters film. The film has been shown at Edinburgh and Venice film festivals, and has been on national TV. I was an active TR volunteer when this film came to light, and it was greeted like the discovery of the long lost scrolls even then. It has been used at film events for various railway societies up and down the country as well as being available on video and DVD. The film is not only a unique and important piece of railway preservation history, it shows the TR in all its decrepitude. Surely nobody would be allowed to operate a public railway so run down today? Above all, it is a thorougly enjoyable film to watch. The slightly incredulous tone of the American narrator on discovering the Britiish eccentrics adds to it immensely. I've lost count of how many times I've seen it now but never tire of it. It's absolutely priceless! (Some details from "Talyllyn Revived", by Alan Holmes). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike morley Posted July 19, 2012 Author Share Posted July 19, 2012 Thanks for the info. Not only is it an important record of preservation history, it also gives modern modellers an insight into how run-down and decrepit a railway could get and still keep operating. All we've got to do now is work out how to get model locos to operate on track that bad! Was Peter Assender simply acting the part of the driver or was he a Talyllyn driver who also happened to be an actor? . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
talyllyn1 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 I've never seen or heard his name mentioned in connection with early volunteering, although he is refered to in the film as a volunteer "who is an actor with the BBC in London". It wasn't until much later that volunteers were routinely allowed to drive public trains. In 1953 the regular drivers would be the full time staff (Hugh, Herbert and Dai Jones) or Bill Faulkener (an unpaid Society and Company Director) who was often seen on No 4 Edward Thomas. He had a notorious reputation for breaking the speed limits on the refurbished sections of track! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grovenor Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Thanks for that, it was new to me and brought back some old memories, my first visit to the TR was in 1954 on a school railway society trip. That overgrown track is just as I remember it. Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted July 19, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 19, 2012 I first saw this in the '70s at the Fred Tallant Hall, somewhere along from Euston towards Warren Street. Remarkable then and now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Searching on Railway with a Heart of Gold brought it up instantly but where is Talleelinn ? Good find, thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
talyllyn1 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Thanks for that, it was new to me and brought back some old memories, my first visit to the TR was in 1954 on a school railway society trip. That overgrown track is just as I remember it. Keith Super photos! The fireman on No 4 in the first shot is local schoolboy Gareth Jones. He was spotted hanging around Wharf station on most days and offered a part-time job firing for 2/6d per week. He was 14 at the time! Hard to imagine these days, but it was difficult to crew the trains in the early '50s. Paid holidays were still rare, so volunteers were thin on the ground during the week. Gareth went on to have a long and distinguished footplate career on British Railways. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
talyllyn1 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Searching on Railway with a Heart of Gold brought it up instantly but where is Talleelinn ? Good find, thanks. Loco No1 Talyllyn was stored out of use in the old hay barn at Pendre when the film was made. Totally derelict, it was competely rebuilt in 1958. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickinwestwales Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Loco No1 Talyllyn was stored out of use in the old hay barn at Pendre when the film was made. Totally derelict, it was competely rebuilt in 1958. To me she will always be Skarloey..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Loco No1 Talyllyn was stored out of use in the old hay barn at Pendre when the film was made. Totally derelict, it was competely rebuilt in 1958. That's good to know but I really meant the place as (mis) pronounced by the narrator. I'm sure I also heard the low moan of an American loco whistle on the soundtrack. The film itself was obviously shot mute. I first visited the railway during a family holiday at around that time. I must have been about five or six and we only went as far as Dolgoch but I remember some aspects of it quite vividly and especially that it seemed a very friendly railway. I also remember not understanding why it had pairs of buffers when I "knew" that narrow gauge railways were only supposed to use single centre buffer/couplings. I fairly recently read Tom Rolt's Landscape with Trains along with the other books in his autobiographical trilogy and it's interesting to contrast a far more honest and forthright account of his time running the Talyllyn with the more familiar and rather rosier account in Railway Adventure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickinwestwales Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Thanks for that David-very timely -we have one last copy of Landscape Trilogy in stock at work-will have to grab it before it goes-as to pronunciation-the narrator was almost certainly not familiar with Welsh -a tricksy language full of variables & mutations and with some letters having completely different values-have lived here 20+ years & still come across words that I cant begin to pronounce Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike morley Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 I can understand the narrator mis-pronouncing Talyllyn, yet he managed to get Bryn Eglwys right! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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