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Question

What is the association of the film 'The Titfield Thunderbolt' with Wiltshire?

Question asked on

04 July 2011

Answer

Many of the location shots were made over a six-week period in the summer of 1952, on the by then closed GWR branch line from Limpley Stoke (on the line between Salisbury and Bath) to Camerton. Titfield itself was Monkton Combe. The opening shots of the film were taken at Freshford Village near Limpley Stoke. At Midford, the line crossed under the Somerset and Dorset line that ran up from Bournemouth via Templecome to Bath (Green Park). Whenever one of the BR trains passed over the \"Titfield\" line and filming was in process they would whistle furiously (especially if Lion was in action) so that the whole scene had to be re-shot!

This was not the Camerton Branch's first claim to film fame! It had previously been used for some scenes in 'The Ghost Train'. Originally written in 1925 as a stage play by Arnold Ridley (more popularly known as Private Godfrey from Dads Army), Gainsborough Pictures made a film version in 1929 using the LSWR line between Hurstbourne and Fullerton with Wherwell becoming Fal Vale. However the film, produced by Michael Balcon, was a 'silent' (It was made only 2 years after Buster Keaton's masterpiece 'The General'). To cater for more demanding audiences a sound track was subsequently added. However it was not very popular and the decision was made to re-make the film. The film was made during 1931 largely in studios at Islington, but the GWR facilitated in the use of the exterior shots by allowing filming at Paddington and Barmouth. However for the exterior shots of the fictious Fal Vale station, it was constructed on the branch West of Limpley Stoke. The film proved just as popular as the stage play had been and was re-made in 1941 - this time starring the popular comedian Arthur Askey

The \"Titfield Thunderbolt\" is actually \"Lion\" an engine with a chequered history. She was built in 1838 for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and sold to the Mersey Docks Company in 1859. Recovered from the docks in the late 1920's she was restored by the LMS at Crewe to participate in the Centenary celebrations of the Rainhill Trials held in 1930. Follow this link for a view of Lion at the time. There was no tender, as only a static pile of coals was required while the loco was chocked up and used as a stationery engine to supply high-pressure steam (for pumps, dockside cranes and winches etc). A redundant tender from the former Furness Railway was pressed into service. The riveting on Lion's tender looks like it's from a Sharp Stewart tender - the Furness Railway small 0-6-0s had these and were being withdrawn in the early 1920s. (Pity they had to cut it up a bit to make it look right). All this has been detailed at length in various issues of the \"Railway. Magazine\" and would no doubt be available in the library of the NRM and elsewhere. During filming, Lion's tender was damaged, following the Inspectors \"emergency test\". There was a heavy collision (clearly seen in the film), which bent the buffer beam. This can be seen if you look at Lion, which is on permanent display in the Manchester Museum of Science and Technology. ('Lion' should not to be confused with 'Coppernob,' which is in the NRM in York).

The coach which is used in the early part of the film, until it is wrecked in the crash, dated from 1884 when it was one of a pair acquired for use on the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway where they were numbered 7 and 8. Both were transferred for use on the Kelvedon to Tollesbury Light Railway where they remained until that line closed on 5th May 1951. They were then stored at Stratford Depot in East London. No 7 was used for filming and was returned to Stratford when filming ended, with the intention of preservation - this did not happen and it was broken up sometime during 1954. Sister coach No 8 was also scheduled for preservation but that vehicle was broken up at Stratford during in 1957. The Coach that formed Dan's home and was pressed into service after the crash is thought to be a studio made prop.

The history of the 7m and 78ch of the Camerton Branch (known locally as \"The Clank\"), is a microcosm of British Industrial History. When The Duke of Bridgewater opened a canal between Worsley and Manchester he was able to deliver cheap coal to industrial users in vast amounts compared with what could be carried by mule trains. It was also delivered regularly; the canal would only freeze for 2 or 3 days a year, whereas roads, after heavy rain, could be closed for weeks on end. In 1792 Parliament passed the Monmouthshire Canal Act which threatened to deliver large amounts of cheap Welsh coal to Bristol; a significant threat to coal from mines in North Somerset from where 100,000 tones of coal were mined in 1690. Coalmines were recorded in 1763 at Radstock, Camerton, Foxcote, Timsbury, Writhlington and High Littleton. On the 17th April 1794 Parliament passed The Somerset Coal Canal Act. As canals gave way to railways the Somerset Coal Barons needed a railway to continue to allow them to compete against coal from South Wales to the major industrial markets of Bristol and Southampton. Compared to the film with the efforts of villagers to retain a passenger service, the passenger service only ever operated for two short periods. From its opening on Valentines Day 1907 to 1915, and then after a temporary suspension because of the Great War, again from 1923 to 1925. Thereafter the service was \"Goods only\", mainly for coal from Camerton and Dunkerton Collieries along with wool going to the flock mill at Monkton Combe. After the last coal deposits had been worked out in 1950 there was little for the line to carry and closure in 1951 easily pre-dated the \"Beeching Era\" of axed branch lines. The last coal mine in the area, Braysdown Colliery at Radstock closed in 1973, by which time its main shaft was 1,700 feet deep.

There is a Titfield Thunderbolt Shop at Brassknocker Basin, on the Kennet and Avon Canal, just below the A36 Bath to Warminster road and the Viaduct Inn.

Further information can be found on The Titfield Thunderbolt Web Site

Bibliography