‘S160’ FILM APPEARANCE HELPS PAY FOR KWVR SHED
A brief appearance by ‘S160’ No. 5820 in the film Dumbo has helped to pay for a new shed at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway.
The US Army Transportation Corps 2-8-0 appears briefly in an opening scene in the Walt Disney remake of the 1941 animated movie, in which star Colin Farrell arrives by train in Joplin, Missouri.
The KWVR had hired out the locomotive for filming at Pinewood Studios in 2017 – but, under the terms of the contract, was unable to reveal the identity of the film or release images of No. 5820 on set.
However, writing in the latest edition of the railway’s house magazine Push & Pull, locomotive department volunteer Ralph Ingham revealed that the earnings from the engine’s hire, “added to those received from being bought out of the City of Wells agreement” had helped to pay for a new shed over the wheeldrop at Haworth.
His words regarding City of Wells refer to the fact that, after ‘West Country’ No. 34092 was unable to return to the KWVR owing to weight restrictions on a road bridge at Ingrow in 2015, its then-owners Richard Greenwood and Graham Bentley offered to pay the Yorkshire line for free steaming days that the Bulleid ‘Pacific’ could not fulfil.
While Mr Ingham was unable to reveal any figures, he confirmed that the film earnings had been “quite a lucrative contract”.
Recovered from Bradford Hammerton Street depot, the wheeldrop has been in the open for around 20 years. “It’s been flooded at least twice to my knowledge, so the shed will also protect it from that,” said Mr Ingham.