Thanks to the wonders of the world wide interweb and Netflix, we watched a film last night called Last Passenger. Set on a train out of London "starring" Dougray Scott (aka thick git from Paisley) and Kara Tointon (rather attractive young lady from one of the soaps), anyhoo, I'm sure those of you with a penchant, nay, in depth knowledge, for British rolling stock and it's railways in general, may find this film interesting from a number of perspectives, least of all the acting!
But - are the trains right ??? Do they mix rolling stock up all over the place ???
Inquisitive minds need these questions ignored :P :P :P
Quite an enjoyable flick, filmed on a preserved 4-CIG. Disbelief had to be suspended when it was discovered the train was diesel....
I think the idea was to make a British "Unstoppable".
I worked those trains for years as a Guard, and never had any such problems.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1858481/ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1858481/)
I think the worst incident was when we were at Waterloo with a train to Reading, had the road and control wanted to do a last second set swap :no:.
We (crew) were ready to go, we'd got the road, and the tip (it was that late) so we went :).
Only when the driver tried to stop the train at Clapham Junction did we discover the reason - faulty brakes (very badly worn brake blocks) meaning an emergency brake application was required to get them to work at all :worried: :o.
Still, we got to Reading without a disaster so all was well in the end :D!
Back to the 'plot' - in real life the Guard would have over ridden the Driver by applying the brake in the van - crisis averted, but that wouldn't have made a film!
P/S Having watched the 'trailer' they obviously couldn't decide if it was a diesel, or 3rd rail electric (mmm, diesel electric, anyone? :sorrysign:), a 4 car or 2 car - and what about Central Door Interlocking?
But it should be good as a comedy - not, perhaps, what the writer had intended though :bounce:.
I remember reading (probably in Railnews - BR staff newspaper) how The Bill had filmed an incident involving the third rail electrified line. Great efforts were made to ensure both authenticity and safety, using one of the Thumper units which were virtually identical to some of the EMU classes as long as the diesel engine was kept invisible and inaudible. This allowed the train to be filmed in motion without having to energise the third rail.
Bit different from most TV series where you see all manner of weird and wonderful rolling stock, depending what is in the collection of the heritage railway they used for the filming.
Quote from: D1042 Western Princess on August 30, 2015, 09:06:07 AM
I worked those trains for years as a Guard, and never had any such problems.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1858481/ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1858481/)
Back to the 'plot' - in real life the Guard would have over ridden the Driver by applying the brake in the van - crisis averted, but that wouldn't have made a film!
Not always the case, in later years quite a few "guards" seemed to forget their responsibilities in this respect. I remember an incident my dad told me about. A Southend - Liverpool St. train failed to stop at Harold Wood and, when it appeared to be going through Gidea Park, the guard applied the brakes and brought it to a stop in the platforms.
It transpired that the driver was missing (He had been "bogging" and was knocked off by a signal.) My dad, who was Div. Movements Manager for the Liverpool St. division at the time was slightly surprised that the guard had noticed so quickly and put in hand a trial,, whereby a similar train (without passengers) was accelerated away from Brentwood up to 70 mph and the driver given instructions to do nothing except stop the train before it hit the buffers at Liverpool St. This he did despite the train was doing over the ton as it approached the pointwork in the station throat. The upshot was that all tracks on the approach to Liverpool St. had a permanent Yellow at the top of the bank!
Quote from: steve836 on September 02, 2015, 11:28:53 AM
Quote from: D1042 Western Princess on August 30, 2015, 09:06:07 AM
I worked those trains for years as a Guard, and never had any such problems.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1858481/ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1858481/)
Back to the 'plot' - in real life the Guard would have over ridden the Driver by applying the brake in the van - crisis averted, but that wouldn't have made a film!
Not always the case, in later years quite a few "guards" seemed to forget their responsibilities in this respect. I remember an incident my dad told me about. A Southend - Liverpool St. train failed to stop at Harold Wood and, when it appeared to be going through Gidea Park, the guard applied the brakes and brought it to a stop in the platforms.
It transpired that the driver was missing (He had been "bogging" and was knocked off by a signal.) My dad, who was Div. Movements Manager for the Liverpool St. division at the time was slightly surprised that the guard had noticed so quickly and put in hand a trial,, whereby a similar train (without passengers) was accelerated away from Brentwood up to 70 mph and the driver given instructions to do nothing except stop the train before it hit the buffers at Liverpool St. This he did despite the train was doing over the ton as it approached the pointwork in the station throat. The upshot was that all tracks on the approach to Liverpool St. had a permanent Yellow at the top of the bank!
As in every industry there are good and bad employees - also the Guard these days has multiple tasks to perform, not purely guard duties.
But I was assuming the man Guard was alert and active, as per the incident at Gidea Park.