Pouring cold water on a star’s rail joke

THe public’s choice of entertainment in the Thirties was to go to the pictures. every town had one cinema and most had more. one of my favourite comedians was Will Hay — now best known for the film oh, Mr porter! We were amazed when we heard that the first few minutes of this film were going to be made on a Hertford north station platform. My friends and I arranged to meet on a hill overlooking the platform. The london and north eastern railway (lner) made it known that the train going from King’s Cross station to Hertford north was to be pulled by a new steam engine. The filmmakers were asked to christen the engine with a bottle of champagne: ‘I name this engine the silver link,’ making it famous to film and railway fans alike. When it arrived, the engine stopped beside the water crane — a tower with an elephant’s trunk-like nose and a long chain which let tons of water gush down into the steam engine’s tender. after a while, filming began. We then heard a strange noise going ‘clang, clang, clang . . .’ It was Will Hay tapping the wheels. It used to be done with a long hammer in those days, to check if the wheels rang true. If they were cracked and dangerous, you could hear it. The tapping disrupted the ceremony, and the speaker asked about the need to tap the wheels. Will Hay’s jokey explanation was that it was to see if they were still there! He then swung his tapper over his shoulder and it caught the water chain. The water gushed out all over the assembled dignitaries. In 1937, the film was finished and it was on at the Castle Cinema. We wouldn’t have missed it for the world. My friend and I were the first in the queue. after a few minutes of watching it, embarrassingly my friend shouted out: ‘Mind the tapper Will, or we will all be drenched.’

Bob Hunt, Bengeo, Hertford.