Railway with a Heart of Gold
Directed byCarson Davidson
Produced byCarson Davidson
Music byJudd Woldin
Release date
1965
Running time
15 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Railway with a Heart of Gold is a 1965 short documentary film about the Talyllyn Railway in Mid-Wales, filmed by American filmmaker Kit Davidson.[1] Filmed in 1953, it portrays the operation of the railway and experiences of the volunteers in the early years of its preservation.

Background

Loco No. 2 Dolgoch in 1951, showing the neglected state of the track at the time. By the time of filming some improvements had been made, but much work was still required.

The Talyllyn Railway is a 2 ft 3 in (686 mm) narrow-gauge railway, opened in 1865 to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys to Tywyn (then spelt Towyn) on the Welsh coast. By the late 1940s the quarries had closed and the railway was in very poor state of repair; very little maintenance had been carried out for many years.[2] The owner of the railway, Sir Henry Haydn Jones, died in 1950 and the railway looked likely to close. However the world's first railway preservation society was formed to take over the railway by volunteers, or in Davidson's words: "'It's too nice to scrap,' they said. 'Please, couldn't we have it instead?' And they could."[3]

Locomotives

At the time of filming, three locomotives were operational on the railway: the original No. 2, Dolgoch, and former Corris Railway Nos. 3 and 4, Sir Haydn and Edward Thomas, though Edward Thomas does not appear in the film. Dolgoch, referred to in the film as "The Old Lady", was badly worn out, and after filming was almost never used before its boiler was condemned and the loco was sent away for a protracted rebuild.[4]

Content

Derailed: a screenshot from the film, depicting Sir Haydn off the track after Davidson recorded the derailment.

The film captures various aspects of the early preservation era, and many of the people appearing in the film were genuine volunteers. The driver of Dolgoch, however, was played by an actor, Peter Assender.[5] In the opening scene, the driver is shown to throw away a piece that fell off the engine, as he did not know what it was. Davidson later admitted "The falling off bit was fictitious, and I'd never do it now. Corny, as we say in the States".[4] Despite this, most of the film was a true record of the day-to-day operation of the railway at the time. One genuine incident was the derailment of locomotive Sir Haydn on a down train due to the poor state of the track.[4] This was captured unexpectedly by Davidson whilst he was attached to the side of the train,[4] and as such has a "homemade" feel. The rest of the film is of far higher quality than most British railway documentaries made by enthusiasts at the time.[6]

Among the volunteers who appear in the film are John Snell, who was the driver of the derailed train and later became managing director of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway,[7] and John Bate, who later became the Talyllyn's chief engineer.[8]

Filming

Davidson decided to make the film after he discovered the Talyllyn Railway whilst on holiday in Wales.[5] The film was produced, directed and shot by Davidson over a period of six months in the summer and autumn of 1953, though it was not released until 1965.[4] It was produced on 16mm colour cine film, with music composed by Judd Woldin.[5]

Reception

Chris Leigh wrote of the film: "[Davidson] deserves our gratitude, for he has produced a fine record of the start of preservation, absolutely unique, the reality behind The Titfield Thunderbolt, which itself was inspired by the early days of the Talyllyn."[6]

In 1990, David Potter described the film as "by far the best on the TR so far".[1]

The film has been shown on national television and at Edinburgh and Venice Film Festivals,[5] and was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.[9][10]

The title of the film has been adopted as a slogan of the Talyllyn Railway, and appears in their literature and promotional material.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 Potter, D. (1990). The Talyllyn Railway. David St John Thomas. p. 143. ISBN 0-946537-50-X.
  2. ↑ Rolt, L. T. C., ed. (1965). Talyllyn Century. David & Charles. p. 50.
  3. ↑ Davidson, Carson (1965). Railway with a Heart of Gold. 3 minutes in. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Fuller, Martin (2017). Talyllyn & Corris Steam Locomotives, Volume 2: Early Preservation and Locomotive Rebuilds. Sara Eade Publishing. pp. 96–98. ISBN 978-0-9935828-3-7.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Holmes, Alan (2009). Talyllyn Revived. The Talyllyn Railway. pp. 50–51. ISBN 978-0-900317-07-1.
  6. 1 2 Huntley, John (1993). Railways on the Screen. Ian Allan Ltd. p. 140. ISBN 0711020590.
  7. ↑ "Register: John Snell". The Times. 25 February 2015. p. 50.
  8. ↑ Bate, J. H. L. (2001). The Chronicles of Pendre Sidings. RailRomances. p. 38. ISBN 1-900622-05-X.
  9. ↑ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  10. ↑ "Railway with a Heart of Gold". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  11. ↑ For example the Main Page of the Railway's website
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