The Titfield Thunderbolt
Encyclopedia
The Titfield Thunderbolt is a 1953
British comedy film
about a group of villagers trying to prevent British Railways from closing the fictional Titfield branch line
. The film was written by T.E.B. Clarke and was inspired by the restoration of the narrow gauge Talyllyn Railway
in Wales
, the world's first heritage railway
run by volunteers.
It starred Stanley Holloway
, George Relph
and John Gregson
, and was directed by Charles Crichton
. Michael Truman
was the producer. The film was produced by Ealing Studios
. It was the first Ealing comedy shot in Technicolor
and one of the first colour comedies made in the UK.
There was considerable inspiration from the book "Railway Adventure" by established railway book author L. T. C. Rolt
, published in 1952. Rolt had acted as honorary manager for the volunteer enthusiasts running the Talyllyn Railway for the two years 1951-2. A number of scenes in the film, such as the emergency re-supply of water to the locomotive by buckets from an adjacent stream, or passengers being asked to assist in pushing the carriages, were taken from this book.
to commute to work and transport their produce to market. So they are shocked when the government announces that the line is to be closed. Particularly hard hit is railway enthusiast Vicar Sam Weech (George Relph
); he comes up with the idea to run it locally. He and Squire Gordon Chesterford (John Gregson
) persuade wealthy Walter Valentine (Stanley Holloway
) to provide the financial backing by telling him they can legally operate a bar while the train is running – he will not have to wait all morning for the local pub to open.
The branch line supporters are bitterly opposed by bus operators Alec Pearce (Ewan Roberts
) and Vernon Crump (Jack MacGowran
), but, with the help of the town clerk George Blakeworth (Naunton Wayne
), the supporters persuade the Ministry of Transport to grant them a month's trial period, with an inspection at the end of the trial. Retired railwayman Dan Taylor (Hugh Griffith
) joins the venture.
On the maiden run, Crump and Pearce try to block a crossing, first with their lorry and then with a passing steam roller operated by Harry Hawkins (Sid James
), but the steam locomotive
(GWR
1401
) is too powerful and pushes them off the track. The next day, Crump and Pearce persuade an irate Hawkins to shoot holes in the water tower
, but the passengers form a bucket brigade
and refill the engine from a nearby stream using buckets from the nearby farm. Crump appears to admit defeat and proposes a merger, but is turned down.
The night before the inspection, Hawkins, Crump and Pearce use the steamroller to tow the unguarded engine and coach down the gradient. The runaway engine runs off the track where the three men have removed a rail. However, with the assistance of Blakeworth, Weech raids the local museum for the antique, but still-working "Thunderbolt" locomotive. They also commandeer Dan Taylor's home (an old railway carriage body), which is hastily strapped to a flat wagon, and they are back in business.
When Valentine and Taylor are arrested after drunkenly trying to "borrow" another engine (driving it off the line and along the road through Mallingford), Weech is left without a fireman. Fortunately, the vicar's friend and fellow railway devotee, Ollie Matthews (Godfrey Tearle
), the Bishop of Welchester, is visiting and is hurriedly drafted in to assist. They also have to improvise a means of connecting the engine to the rest of the train.
When the weak coupling fails during a braking test, Thunderbolt carries on by itself. However, several villagers manage to push the carriage to meet up again with the Thunderbolt, with the Ministry inspector (John Rudling
) none the wiser. Joan Hampton (Gabrielle Brune
) has to promise to marry Hawkins to get him to lend them the chain from his roller's steering mechanism to replace the broken coupling.
The train carries on to Mallingford past crowds of cheering people, and finally reaches its destination nearly ten minutes late. The villagers worry that this will prove their downfall, but it turns out that if they had been just a bit faster, they would have exceeded the speed limit for light railways. Instead, the line passes inspection, clearing the way for the Light Railway Order
to be granted.
Driver Ted Burbidge, fireman Frank Green and guard Harold Alford were not actors: they were British Railways employees from the Westbury
depot, provided to operate the train on location. Charles Crichton
spoke with them on location and realised they "looked and sounded the part", so they were given speaking roles and duly credited.
Locomotive number 1401 was hired by the producers, along with another of the same type which also had a number 1401 attached. The two were provided on location facing in opposite directions, so the film crew could shoot in any direction with a locomotive always facing forward.
, on the recently closed Bristol and North Somerset Railway
branch line along the Cam Brook
valley between Camerton
and Limpley Stoke
, formerly part of the Great Western Railway
.
Titfield station was in reality Monkton Combe
station, whilst Titfield village was nearby Freshford
, with other scenes being shot at the disused Dunkerton
colliery. Mallingford station in the closing scene was Bristol Temple Meads
. The opening scene shows Midford Viaduct on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
, where the branch passed under the viaduct. The scene featuring Sid James' character's traction engine, and the Squire's attempts to overtake it, was filmed in Carlingcott.
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway
locomotive Lion
starred as the Thunderbolt, repainted in a colourful red and green livery to suit the Technicolor cameras. In filming the scene in which the Thunderbolt is "rear-ended" by the uncoupled train, the locomotive's tender
sustained some actual damage, which remains visible beneath the buffer beam
to this day.
The scene where the Thunderbolt is removed at night from its museum was done with a full-size wooden prop.
that year.
in 1998, and then on DVD
in 2004. It was re-released on DVD again in 2006 with a different box cover.
1953 in film
The year 1953 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*September 16 — The Robe debuts as the first anamorphic, widescreen CinemaScope film.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:A...
British comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
about a group of villagers trying to prevent British Railways from closing the fictional Titfield branch line
Branch line
A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line...
. The film was written by T.E.B. Clarke and was inspired by the restoration of the narrow gauge Talyllyn Railway
Talyllyn Railway
The Talyllyn Railway is a narrow-gauge preserved railway in Wales running for from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. The line was opened in 1866 to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys to Tywyn, and was the first narrow gauge railway in Britain...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, the world's first heritage railway
Heritage railway
thumb|right|the Historical [[Khyber train safari|Khyber Railway]] goes through the [[Khyber Pass]], [[Pakistan]]A heritage railway , preserved railway , tourist railway , or tourist railroad is a railway that is run as a tourist attraction, in some cases by volunteers, and...
run by volunteers.
It starred Stanley Holloway
Stanley Holloway
Stanley Augustus Holloway, OBE was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady...
, George Relph
George Relph
George Relph was an English actor. He acted in more than a dozen movies, and also many plays. He served in the British Armed Forces in World War I, and was shot in the leg, hindering his return to acting. But Relph eventually got back on stage, and his career continued...
and John Gregson
John Gregson
John Gregson was an English actor.He was born Harold Thomas Gregson, of Irish descent, and grew up in Wavertree, Liverpool, where he was educated at Greenbank Road primary school, later St Francis Xavier School...
, and was directed by Charles Crichton
Charles Crichton
Charles Crichton was an English film director and film editor. He became best known for directing comedies produced at Ealing Studios...
. Michael Truman
Michael Truman
Michael Truman was a British film producer, director and editor.Educated at London University, he worked for Ealing Studios editing such films as It Always Rains on Sunday and Passport to Pimlico and latterly as producer of films like The Titfield Thunderbolt...
was the producer. The film was produced by Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since...
. It was the first Ealing comedy shot in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
and one of the first colour comedies made in the UK.
There was considerable inspiration from the book "Railway Adventure" by established railway book author L. T. C. Rolt
L. T. C. Rolt
Lionel Thomas Caswall Rolt was a prolific English writer and the biographer of major civil engineering figures including Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Thomas Telford...
, published in 1952. Rolt had acted as honorary manager for the volunteer enthusiasts running the Talyllyn Railway for the two years 1951-2. A number of scenes in the film, such as the emergency re-supply of water to the locomotive by buckets from an adjacent stream, or passengers being asked to assist in pushing the carriages, were taken from this book.
Plot
The residents of the rural village of Titfield rely on the railway branch lineBranch line
A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line...
to commute to work and transport their produce to market. So they are shocked when the government announces that the line is to be closed. Particularly hard hit is railway enthusiast Vicar Sam Weech (George Relph
George Relph
George Relph was an English actor. He acted in more than a dozen movies, and also many plays. He served in the British Armed Forces in World War I, and was shot in the leg, hindering his return to acting. But Relph eventually got back on stage, and his career continued...
); he comes up with the idea to run it locally. He and Squire Gordon Chesterford (John Gregson
John Gregson
John Gregson was an English actor.He was born Harold Thomas Gregson, of Irish descent, and grew up in Wavertree, Liverpool, where he was educated at Greenbank Road primary school, later St Francis Xavier School...
) persuade wealthy Walter Valentine (Stanley Holloway
Stanley Holloway
Stanley Augustus Holloway, OBE was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady...
) to provide the financial backing by telling him they can legally operate a bar while the train is running – he will not have to wait all morning for the local pub to open.
The branch line supporters are bitterly opposed by bus operators Alec Pearce (Ewan Roberts
Ewan Roberts
-Selected filmography:* The Man in the White Suit * Angels One Five * Derby Day * The Titfield Thunderbolt * Night of the Demon * What a Whopper * The Day of the Triffids...
) and Vernon Crump (Jack MacGowran
Jack MacGowran
John Joseph "Jack" MacGowran was an Irish character actor, whose last film role was as the alcoholic director Burke Dennings in The Exorcist. He was probably best known for his work with Samuel Beckett.-Stage career:...
), but, with the help of the town clerk George Blakeworth (Naunton Wayne
Naunton Wayne
Naunton Wayne , was a British character actor, born in Llanwonno, South Wales. He was educated at Clifton College....
), the supporters persuade the Ministry of Transport to grant them a month's trial period, with an inspection at the end of the trial. Retired railwayman Dan Taylor (Hugh Griffith
Hugh Griffith
Hugh Emrys Griffith was a Welsh film, stage and television actor.-Early life:Griffith was born in Marianglas, Anglesey, Wales, the son of Mary and William Griffith. He was educated at Llangefni County School and attempted to gain entrance to university, but failed the English examination...
) joins the venture.
On the maiden run, Crump and Pearce try to block a crossing, first with their lorry and then with a passing steam roller operated by Harry Hawkins (Sid James
Sid James
Sid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
), but the steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
(GWR
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
1401
GWR 1400 Class
The GWR 1400 Class is a class of steam locomotive designed by the Great Western Railway for branch line passenger work. It was originally classified as the 4800 Class when introduced in 1932, and renumbered in 1946....
) is too powerful and pushes them off the track. The next day, Crump and Pearce persuade an irate Hawkins to shoot holes in the water tower
Water tower
A water tower or elevated water tower is a large elevated drinking water storage container constructed to hold a water supply at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system....
, but the passengers form a bucket brigade
Bucket brigade
A bucket brigade or human chain is a method for transporting items where items are passed from one stationary person to the next.The method was important in firefighting before the advent of hand pumped fire engines, whereby firefighters would pass buckets to each other to extinguish a blaze. A...
and refill the engine from a nearby stream using buckets from the nearby farm. Crump appears to admit defeat and proposes a merger, but is turned down.
The night before the inspection, Hawkins, Crump and Pearce use the steamroller to tow the unguarded engine and coach down the gradient. The runaway engine runs off the track where the three men have removed a rail. However, with the assistance of Blakeworth, Weech raids the local museum for the antique, but still-working "Thunderbolt" locomotive. They also commandeer Dan Taylor's home (an old railway carriage body), which is hastily strapped to a flat wagon, and they are back in business.
When Valentine and Taylor are arrested after drunkenly trying to "borrow" another engine (driving it off the line and along the road through Mallingford), Weech is left without a fireman. Fortunately, the vicar's friend and fellow railway devotee, Ollie Matthews (Godfrey Tearle
Godfrey Tearle
Sir Godfrey Seymour Tearle was a British actor who portrayed the quintessential Englishman on stage and in both English and US films.-Biography:...
), the Bishop of Welchester, is visiting and is hurriedly drafted in to assist. They also have to improvise a means of connecting the engine to the rest of the train.
When the weak coupling fails during a braking test, Thunderbolt carries on by itself. However, several villagers manage to push the carriage to meet up again with the Thunderbolt, with the Ministry inspector (John Rudling
John Rudling
John Rudling was an English television actor who was perhaps best known for playing the butler Brabinger in the popular BBC sitcom To the Manor Born....
) none the wiser. Joan Hampton (Gabrielle Brune
Gabrielle Brune
-Selected filmography:* He Found a Star * Tomorrow We Live * A Run for Your Money * Mandy * The Wedding of Lilli Marlene * The Titfield Thunderbolt * Three Steps to the Gallows...
) has to promise to marry Hawkins to get him to lend them the chain from his roller's steering mechanism to replace the broken coupling.
The train carries on to Mallingford past crowds of cheering people, and finally reaches its destination nearly ten minutes late. The villagers worry that this will prove their downfall, but it turns out that if they had been just a bit faster, they would have exceeded the speed limit for light railways. Instead, the line passes inspection, clearing the way for the Light Railway Order
Light Railways Act 1896
The Light Railways Act 1896 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . Before the Act each new railway line built in the country required a specific Act of Parliament to be obtained by the company that wished to construct it, which greatly added to the cost...
to be granted.
Cast
- Stanley HollowayStanley HollowayStanley Augustus Holloway, OBE was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady...
as Walter Valentine - George RelphGeorge RelphGeorge Relph was an English actor. He acted in more than a dozen movies, and also many plays. He served in the British Armed Forces in World War I, and was shot in the leg, hindering his return to acting. But Relph eventually got back on stage, and his career continued...
as Vicar Sam Weech - Naunton WayneNaunton WayneNaunton Wayne , was a British character actor, born in Llanwonno, South Wales. He was educated at Clifton College....
as George Blakeworth - John GregsonJohn GregsonJohn Gregson was an English actor.He was born Harold Thomas Gregson, of Irish descent, and grew up in Wavertree, Liverpool, where he was educated at Greenbank Road primary school, later St Francis Xavier School...
as Squire Gordon Chesterford - Godfrey TearleGodfrey TearleSir Godfrey Seymour Tearle was a British actor who portrayed the quintessential Englishman on stage and in both English and US films.-Biography:...
as Ollie Matthews, the Bishop of Welchester - Hugh GriffithHugh GriffithHugh Emrys Griffith was a Welsh film, stage and television actor.-Early life:Griffith was born in Marianglas, Anglesey, Wales, the son of Mary and William Griffith. He was educated at Llangefni County School and attempted to gain entrance to university, but failed the English examination...
as Dan Taylor - Gabrielle BruneGabrielle Brune-Selected filmography:* He Found a Star * Tomorrow We Live * A Run for Your Money * Mandy * The Wedding of Lilli Marlene * The Titfield Thunderbolt * Three Steps to the Gallows...
as Joan Hampton - Sid JamesSid JamesSid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
as Harry Hawkins - Reginald BeckwithReginald BeckwithReginald Beckwith was a British film and television actor, who made almost one hundred film and television appearances in his career.-Filmography:* Freedom Radio * Scott of the Antarctic...
as Coggett - Edie Martin as Emily
- Michael TrubshaweMichael TrubshaweMichael Trubshawe was a British actor and former officer in the Highland Regiment of the British Army. Trubshawe was very close friends with the famous British actor David Niven, serving as best man for both Niven's weddings, and is constantly referred to in Niven's memoirs The Moon's a Balloon,...
as Ruddock - Jack MacGowranJack MacGowranJohn Joseph "Jack" MacGowran was an Irish character actor, whose last film role was as the alcoholic director Burke Dennings in The Exorcist. He was probably best known for his work with Samuel Beckett.-Stage career:...
as Vernon Crump - Ewan RobertsEwan Roberts-Selected filmography:* The Man in the White Suit * Angels One Five * Derby Day * The Titfield Thunderbolt * Night of the Demon * What a Whopper * The Day of the Triffids...
as Alec Pearce - Herbert C. Walton as Seth
- John RudlingJohn RudlingJohn Rudling was an English television actor who was perhaps best known for playing the butler Brabinger in the popular BBC sitcom To the Manor Born....
as Clegg - Nancy O'Neil as Mrs. Blakeworth
- Campbell SingerCampbell SingerCampbell Singer was a British character actor who featured in a number of film and television roles during his long career....
as Police Sergeant - Frank Atkinson as Station Sergeant
- Wensley PitheyWensley PitheyWensley Pithey was a South African character actor who had a long stage career.Pithey was born in Cape Town, South Africa. A graduate of the University of Cape Town where he studied music and drama, he travelled to England in 1947...
as A Policeman
Driver Ted Burbidge, fireman Frank Green and guard Harold Alford were not actors: they were British Railways employees from the Westbury
Westbury, Wiltshire
Westbury is a town and civil parish in the west of the English county of Wiltshire, most famous for the Westbury White Horse.-Name:The most likely origin of the West- in Westbury is simply that the town is near the western edge of the county of Wiltshire, the bounds of which have been much the same...
depot, provided to operate the train on location. Charles Crichton
Charles Crichton
Charles Crichton was an English film director and film editor. He became best known for directing comedies produced at Ealing Studios...
spoke with them on location and realised they "looked and sounded the part", so they were given speaking roles and duly credited.
Locomotive number 1401 was hired by the producers, along with another of the same type which also had a number 1401 attached. The two were provided on location facing in opposite directions, so the film crew could shoot in any direction with a locomotive always facing forward.
Production
Shooting was largely carried out near Bath, EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, on the recently closed Bristol and North Somerset Railway
Bristol and North Somerset Railway
The Bristol and North Somerset Railway was a railway line in the West of England that connected Bristol with towns in the Somerset coalfield. The line ran almost due south from Bristol and was 16 miles long.-The main railway:...
branch line along the Cam Brook
Cam Brook, Somerset
The Cam brook is a small river in Somerset, England.It rises near Hinton Blewitt, flows through Cameley, Temple Cloud, Camerton, Dunkerton and Combe Hay...
valley between Camerton
Camerton, Somerset
Camerton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, south west of Bath, lying on the Cam Brook. The parish has a population of 660.-History:...
and Limpley Stoke
Limpley Stoke
Limpley Stoke is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, in the Avon Valley, between Bath and Freshford. The village is below the A36 road.The civil parish, which had a population of 637 in 2001, also includes the hamlet of Waterhouse, and the outskirts of the Somerset village of Midford. The 18th...
, formerly part of the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
.
Titfield station was in reality Monkton Combe
Monkton Combe
Monkton Combe is a village and civil parish in north Somerset, England, south of Bath. The parish, which includes the hamlet of Tucking Mill, has a population of 356.-History:Monkton Combe was part of the hundred of Bath Forum.According to Rev...
station, whilst Titfield village was nearby Freshford
Freshford
Freshford is a village and civil parish in the Avon valley south-east of Bath, in the county of Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 530...
, with other scenes being shot at the disused Dunkerton
Dunkerton, Somerset
Dunkerton is a small village and civil parish north east of Radstock, and south west of Bath, in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 479.-History:...
colliery. Mallingford station in the closing scene was Bristol Temple Meads
Bristol Temple Meads railway station
Bristol Temple Meads railway station is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is an important transport hub for public transport in Bristol, with bus services to various parts of the city and surrounding districts, and a ferry service to the city centre in addition to the...
. The opening scene shows Midford Viaduct on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway
The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway – almost always referred to as "the S&D" – was an English railway line connecting Bath in north east Somerset and Bournemouth now in south east Dorset but then in Hampshire...
, where the branch passed under the viaduct. The scene featuring Sid James' character's traction engine, and the Squire's attempts to overtake it, was filmed in Carlingcott.
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway
Liverpool and Manchester Railway
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the world's first inter-city passenger railway in which all the trains were timetabled and were hauled for most of the distance solely by steam locomotives. The line opened on 15 September 1830 and ran between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester in North...
locomotive Lion
LMR 57 Lion
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway 57 Lion is an early 0-4-2 steam locomotive. One of a pair designed for hauling freight , built by Todd, Kitson & Laird of Leeds in 1838.-History:...
starred as the Thunderbolt, repainted in a colourful red and green livery to suit the Technicolor cameras. In filming the scene in which the Thunderbolt is "rear-ended" by the uncoupled train, the locomotive's tender
Tender locomotive
A tender or coal-car is a special rail vehicle hauled by a steam locomotive containing the locomotive's fuel and water. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water compared to the quantity of fuel, so tenders are necessary to keep the locomotive running over long distances. A locomotive...
sustained some actual damage, which remains visible beneath the buffer beam
Buffer (rail transport)
A buffer is a part of the buffers-and-chain coupling system used on the railway systems of many countries, among them most of those in Europe, for attaching railway vehicles to one another....
to this day.
The scene where the Thunderbolt is removed at night from its museum was done with a full-size wooden prop.
The steam roller
The steam roller used was still in commercial service at the time of filming, and was not sold for preservation until some years later. After six years off the road for a full restoration, the roller returned to steam in 2006, and was in action as part of the road-making demonstration at the Great Dorset Steam FairGreat Dorset Steam Fair
The Great Dorset Steam Fair is an annual show featuring steam-powered vehicles and machinery. It now covers and runs for five days from the Wednesday after the UK August bank holiday...
that year.
Home media
It was released first on VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in 1998, and then on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 2004. It was re-released on DVD again in 2006 with a different box cover.
Trivia
- T.E.B. Clarke was a neighbour in East GrinsteadEast GrinsteadEast Grinstead is a town and civil parish in the northeastern corner of Mid Sussex, West Sussex in England near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders. It lies south of London, north northeast of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester...
of Richard BeechingRichard BeechingRichard Beeching, Baron Beeching , commonly known as Doctor Beeching, was chairman of British Railways and a physicist and engineer...
, then Director of ICIImperial Chemical IndustriesImperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
, at the time of writing and filming. Beeching's 1963 report The Re-shaping of British RailwaysBeeching AxeThe Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
resulted in the closure of many branch lines like the one portrayed in the film.
External links
- The Titfield Thunderbolt Filming Locations
- http://www.lionlocomotive.org.uk/ LION, an interesting 'Old Locomotive', probably best known as taking a starring part in the film 'Titfield Thunderbolt'