The story of the making of The Railway Children
started when Lionel Jeffries was sailing in the Queen
Elizabeth with his family to New York. During the
voyage his daughter Martha had been reading The Railway
Children and said "Daddy, this is a lovely thing.
This should be made into a film shouldn't it?" Lionel
immediately read the book, agreed with Martha and started
writing a screenplay, which was ultimately accepted by EMI
Film Productions. It was decided that the picture
should be shot almost entirely on location. Because
the beginning of the story involved a comparatively short
sequence in the family's London house, an empty house in
Hampstead, London was decorated and furnished in the
Victorian style and the cameras were set up there.
The chief action in the story takes place in the little
cottage 'Three Chimneys' and by the railway. Producer
Robert Lynn surveyed many places and was able to secure the
stretch of line privately operated by the Keighley and Worth
Valley Railway, which runs from Keighley to Oxenhope.
This line, together with the special steam engines and
rolling stock of the period, was extensively used in the
making of the picture. To obtain the right railway
sounds, Robert Lynn hired the services of a great
enthusiast, Peter Handford, as Yorkshire location sound
mixer. Actual filming on the railway was particularly
tricky because of the necessary re-takes. A railway
engine and train cannot be turned around like an actor.
It needs a turn-table to effect this. So the shooting
schedule for this part of the film was finely detailed by
production manager David Griffith.
Another important sequence in the picture concerns a
landslide on to the railway track. Immense trouble was
taken to make sure that this should be absolutely realistic.
A big branch across the rails would not be good enough - it
was determined that there should be a real landslide and
special engineers were hired to ensure this.
Much of the incomparable Bronte country of the West Riding
of Yorkshire appears in all its splendour in the film and
one sequence was shot in the Vicarage at Howarth where the
Bronte sisters wrote their memorable prose. In every
respect, perfection was the aim in each department of the
making of The Railway Children, a delightful film
that would offend no one and please many millions.
This double album will delight both adults and children
alike.
