Bluebell Railway - Appearances in Media, Films and Television, Including Advertisements

Appearances in Media, Films and Television, Including Advertisements

The Bluebell Railway has been used for various films, television and for advertisements.

• The 1961 film The Innocents was filmed at Sheffield Park Station.

• The 1967 film "I'll Never Forget What's His Name" starring Oliver Reed filmed on the line using the Met' Stock and NLR Tank Loco painted white as well as a "dressed" Freshfield Halt.

• Ken Russell filmed 3 movies at the Bluebell Railway, the first being Savage Messiah, which was filmed at Horsted Keynes station which was dressed to look like Portland in Dorset.

• The 1973 documentary Metroland by Sir John Betjeman contains an opening scene in Horsted Keynes buffet, and shots in a Metropolitan carriage.

• The other Ken Russell film being Lisztomania starring Roger Daltrey. Sequence in that particular film showed loco Fenchurch smashing through a grand piano.

• A 1976 TV Documentary called Edgar Wallace: The Man Who Made His Name, used the Bluebell railway as one of the filming locations.

• The 1977 TV miniseries Love for Lydia had brief scenes at Horsted Keynes. It starred Jeremy Irons, Peter Davison, Mel Martin,and the late Christopher Blake.

• An "early 1977" episode from the third series of the sitcom Get Some In! features Horsted Keynes as a station in which the four main draftees meet up (following a major fire incident at RAF Skelton) and also where Bruce Leckie walks up the track and up the platform as seen at the start of the episode.

• In 1980 the videoclip of the song "Morning train (9 to 5)" from Sheena Easton was filmed. Bluebell railway and locomotive 488 is seen in the whole clip.

• In 1981, The last and final scenes of the final episode (and finale) of the BBC TV sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum (The Last Roll Call) were filmed at Horsted Keynes.

• In 1984, filming for The Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission used Horsted Keynes for scenes which included Q Class Loco 541 and two of the then full time permanent way gang as French platelayers. Starred Lee Marvin.

• Night Train To Murder (1984), the last TV/feature film Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise made together before Morecambe's death in May 84. Sequences at Sheffield Park were shot at night with Morecambe pushing Wise through the ticket barrier on a porter's trolley and of loco 75027 in steam. Screened on LWT in Christmas 1984, just seven months after Morecambe's death.

• Sheffield Park Station was one of the filming locations for the 1985 episode of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The Greek Interpreter.

• The railway scenes in the 1985 movie A Room with a View was filmed at the Bluebell railway.

• ITV Childrens programme "Splash" filmed a piece focusing on the railway's younger volunteers in 1986

• The third Ken Russell movie used the Bluebell Railway as one of his filming locations for the 1989 TV movie A British Picture.

• The railway scene in the 1990 TV Drama A Ghost in Monte Carlo, was filmed at the Bluebell railway'

• The train chase in the 1996 film version of The Wind in the Willows, starring Terry Jones and Eric Idle, was filmed on/along the line.

• October 1999: the dramatisation The Railway Children based on the book by E Nesbit. The Railway Children (TV film) was filmed at Horsted Keynes railway station using the double-sided Platforms 4 and 5, premiered in 2000.

• The 2000 movie, 102 Dalmatians used the Bluebell railway as one of their filming locations.

• The location for the TV Drama called Station Jim was mostly filmed at the Bluebell railway, the 2 notable places on the line are Sheffield Park Station and Sharpthorne tunnel.

• In the 2001 TV Drama Back Home, Sharpthorne tunnel was used as part of the journey from Benwood School to Plymouth and Horsted Keynes station was made to look like Guildford Station.

• The 2003 TV Comedy-Drama, The Young Visiters, used the Bluebell railway as a filming location.

• Sequence in Horsted Keynes Station in North and South (TV serial), 2004, starring Richard Armitage as John Thornton and Daniela Denby-Ashe as Margaret Hale : Milton Station.

• In 2004, the TV series The Worst Jobs in History, was filmed at the Bluebell railway.

• Sequences for the film Miss Potter starring Ewan McGregor and Renée Zellweger were filmed at Horsted Keynes and premiered in 2006.

• Sequences for the adaptation of the Philip Pullman book The Ruby in the Smoke starring Billie Piper as Sally Lockhart and Julie Walters as Mrs Holland were also filmed at Horsted Keynes and premiered in 2006.

• A 2006 TV Mini-series called The Impressionists, used the Bluebell railway as a filming location.

• The 2006 Short film called Gorgeous Labour of Love, used the exteriors of the Bluebell railway.

• A 2007 TV Mini-series called Nuclear Secrets, used Horsted Keynes station as a filming location.

• Gallows (band) used rolling stock at Horsted Keynes Station for filming their 2007 single; Staring at the Rude Bois.

• A 2008 TV Mini-series called Tess of the d'Urbervilles, used one of the stations and was renamed Sandboure Railway station.

• Scenes for Einstein and Eddington were filmed with David Tennant playing Eddington and Jim Broadbent as a father, with Horsted Keynes disguised as Cambridge, this aired in November 2008.

• The 2009 TV Documentary called Charles Dickens's England used Sheffield Park Station as one of the filming locations.

• Horsted Keynes station is used in Downton Abbey, but renamed to Downton railway station, it was seen mostly in Series 2, Epiesode 1, which aired in 2011.

• The 2011 movie, John Carter used Sheffield Park station as an American railway station, using locomotives 9017 Earl of Berkeley (disguised as an American locomotive), B473, LSWR Brake Third 1520, and the 'Met' coaches.

• The 2012 movie, The Woman in Black used Horsted Keynes station as one of the 3 railway scenes, the other 2 locations being the heritage Colne Valley and Mangapps Farm Railways in Essex.

• Pop videos include Tracey Ullman, The Pet Shop Boys, Sheena Easton, Runrig, Robson & Jerome. Also Elton John's 'Tumbleweed Connection' album cover picture was shot at Sheffield Park Station.

The Bluebell Railway featured in The Railway Series written by the Rev. W. Awdry. The book was called Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine, with Stepney as the main character, visiting the fictional Island of Sodor.