LNER J15 with a Flying Snail

David Holman · October 9

Apologies if this has featured before, but was going through 'Railway Bylines Summer Special No3' the other day and found an interesting snippet in an article on the ex GER Y14 /LNER J15 0-6-0s. Strong, simple workhorses, not unlike their Irish counterparts and one of them - 65464 - actually carried the CIE Flying Snail emblem. It featured in a film called Happy Ever After, starring David Niven and Yvonne de Carlo, with scenes being shot on the Buntingford branch. Sadly no pictures available in the article, but am betting someone on the forum will find some!

The album also contains a fine article by Des Coakham - 'Broad Gauge Branch Lines on CIE', including some very nice pictures with extended captions. Lovely stuff!

Galteemore · October 9

The movie features in the Railway Movie Database, which says this….The film is supposedly set in rural Ireland but was actually filmed entirely in England and there are a number of railway scenes which were shot at Braughing (pronounced ‘Braefin’) station on the Buntingford branch from St. Margarets in Hertfordshire. To continue the Irish flavour the station appears as ‘Rathbarney’ and has mock CIE station signage. The first scene shows a four-coach train of non-corridor 3rd class stock leaving the station and though we do not see the locomotive, the coaches have fake CIE emblems applied. This shot is followed by a scene filmed adjacent to the goods yard with plenty of wagons visible, most of which appear to be four-wheel vans. There is then an arrival of a train hauled by ex-LNER J15 Class 0-6-0 No.65464 and a final general view of the station, again with train, which is seen later on in the movie. The loco was given a fresh coat of BR black by Stratford paint shops for the film and had the CIE emblem applied on one side only. It was worked during filming by a Stratford crew but when not required it worked normal BR services, complete with the CIE badge. The coaching stock meanwhile was stored at St Margarets for a fortnight before filming when it was repainted CIE green on one side only. It had ‘1st class’, ‘3rd class’ and ‘no smoking’ stickers added, in addition to the CIE logos. When not in use for filming, the coaches were stored in the long siding at Braughing, but there is photographic evidence of at least one (No.3280) in storage at Peterborough with CIE ‘snail’ logo in June 1955. This suggests that the set no longer saw any use after filming. The station along with the Buntingford branch was a popular location used in a number of other films, most notably Operation Bullshine and Postman’s Knock (both qv).

it’s a fascinating story. And by simply adding a decal to a Hornby J15, you could produce one of the most authentic, prototypical ‘Irish’ locos ever……

Edited October 9 by Galteemore