OH MR PORTER

[mswjr]

Hi all, I watched oh mr porter again the other night,Can anyone tell me if the steam loco is a real one or not.  in some shots it looks fake and in others it looks real,and was the station a real one or fake.( just out of interest) Thanks  Garry

[chris p bacon]

Can't remember at the moment where it was filmed, (Alton ? or something like that)

 

But I do know "Next trains gone"

[mswjr]

your wasting your time,

[RJS1977]

The station was Cliddesden on the Basingstoke & Alton Light Railway:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szJBVRM9dRc

 

[mswjr]

Thanks for the clip i also watched the others on you tube,I had an idea it was not irish by the rail gauge and the rail shots at the end ,just the loco,I watched some loco shots on step mode to see if it was real or not and when it first moved off (just before it runs over the watch) you can see the steam comming out from a pipe that somebody has placed between the frames.

[PhilJ W]

IIRC the locomotive was a Terrier, with a fake extended chimney. Or am I thinking of another film?   

[EddieB]

The film was shot in 1937, shortly before the track on the Basingstoke-Alton branch was lifted (the same line also featured in "The Wrecker").  According to Huntley ("Railways on the Screen", the source of this information), the film features LSWR Adams X2 4-4-0 no. 657 as the express engine and Adams 0-6-0 3509 on the excursion train.  These two locomotives had their chimneys swapped for shorter LBSCR versions for the film.  A third locomotive "Gladstone" was borrowed from the Kent and East Sussex Railway, being in real life no. 2 "Northiam".  It ran light to and from Basingstoke for the film, and the height of its chimney increased by the addition of a spiked top.

[mswjr]

Thanks GuysThats some interesting facts the loco (gladstone) was real then,just did not look right with getting coal out of bunker lids, and some of the cab fittings ect but still a great film similar to ghost train with the gun running , Thankyou Garry  Your still wasting your time.

[Pacific231G]

Hi all, I watched oh mr porter again the other night,Can anyone tell me if the steam loco is a real one or not.  in some shots it looks fake and in others it looks real,and was the station a real one or fake.( just out of interest) Thanks  Garry

The scenes shot on the Southern Railway's Basingstoke & Alton Light Railway used real stock and locations particularly Cliddesdon Halt which, with the addition of a signalbox, stood in for Buggleskelly. 

If you do an image search in Google on the film's name there are plenty of production shots including one of "Gladstone" i.e. the K&ESR Northiam with the extended chimney and a good number of extracts from the film are on YouTube.

The exteriors seem to have been mainly shot on location though some may have been shot in the studio. Interiors were shot in the studio which according to IMDd was Gainsborough Studios in Islington. The windmill was actually in Terling Sussex.

The final location where Gladstone expires was Basingstoke goods yard and the wheel tapping scene with Silver Link was at Hertford North where apparently a couple of the actors were quite badly injured when they were washed off the platform onto the track. The scene where Gladstone runs over the watches etc that Porter (Will Hay) has placed on the rail to explain how he intends to shunt some wagons was very nearly his last. The flagman who was supposed to warn them in plenty of time to jump clear thought they'd finished so wasn't there when they did another take. The jumping clear was all too real and that was the take that was used.

There's almost nothing left of Cliddesdon halt now but from all accounts there wasn't a lot there when the film company moved in and the railway was being dismantled while the filming was taking place. 

[mswjr]

Thanks for that most interesting read, I did notice the jumping clear bit was a bit close when i watched it the other day. Thanks all  Garry

[RJS1977]

(Somewhat off topic but I seem to remember a similar incident happened during the making of "The Good The Bad and The Ugly" in the scene where Eli Wallach is chained to a dead security guard and lies down next to a railway line so that the train breaks the chain. Apparently everyone forgot that the train had protruding footsteps and one narrowly misses Eli's head!)

[9430]

I watched this yesterday for the first time in a long time. Checking the BRDatabase it lists (E)657 as being an Adams X6.

[BlackRat]

Every time I google it.........I just get "Next trains gone!"

[Dave47549]

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