FOREIGN INDIGNITY
A handful of European engines made their way to British shores during the 1970s, but what happened when Hollywood came calling? PAUL CHANCELLOR explains.
Two UK preservation centres were noted for their collection of ‘alien’ motive power in the 1970s, with both Carnforth and, more obviously, the Nene Valley Railway both hosting steam locomotives that were not of British lineage. Indeed, at the time, the Nene Valley was intending to be ‘different’ by adding European machines to its fleet.
However, in the autumn of 1975, those intrepid enough to make an out-of-season visit to the Severn Valley Railway would have been surprised to discover a collection of very strange steam locomotives.
If the visitor was well informed, they might have been aware of the arrival in July 1975 of Krupp-built DB 2-6-2T No. 64.305, which had been purchased in 1974, but took the best part of nine months to move across Europe to be off-loaded at Bridgnorth, with the intention of it becoming a part of the working fleet. The records show that it made at least one trip over the SVR as far as Eardington. However, those with a tape measure soon found that a lot of work would be needed to allow the engine to work the full length of the line, so it departed for the Nene Valley in 1977.
One foreign engine does not make a fleet, and when the railway was approached in 1975 to be the venue for the making of the Sherlock Holmes film The SevenPer-Cent Solution, other methods had to be employed to provide a few suitable ‘Continental’ engines.
Some good fortune was to be had in that, while the film crews could manage with two different-looking engine designs, they wanted to be able to film throughout the day and thus wanted engines to be the ‘right way for the light’ most of the time. With no turntable available in those days, the solution was to employ Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-0s Nos. 46443 and 46521 in identical guise, but with one facing south and the other north, and similarly to use ‘Black Five’ No. 45110 and ‘8F’ No. 48773 facing in opposite directions – these two looking very similar to each other to the undiscerning eye, especially when filmed at a platform. Thus, four of the railway’s engines were adorned with grotesque ‘continental’ fittings and the two ‘Moguls’ were painted Furness Railway-esque red, but that was the only resemblance they bore to anything that ran on that railway, as they were supposed to look Austrian. Despite having No. 64.305 on the line, it would seem that it did not play any part in the film. The ‘rolling stock’ used was designed and built by Pinewood Studios, with three of the underframes later passing into SVR stock. The two Ivatt ‘2MTs’ continued to run in their red livery for a number of months and, for the filming, carried the same running number.
If you ever pass over Victoria Bridge you will be crossing the ‘border’, as a border post set was constructed there as part of the filming. You have been warned.