If your railway detective TV thriller requires a dead body in a signal box, then Great Central Railway is the place to film it.
In fact, jokes GCR chairman Richard Patching, this leading heritage steam railway boasts four signal boxes allowing the luxury of four bodies to be discovered in such suspicious circumstances.
This demonstrates the appeal of the GCR to author Stephen Done for his popular post-war Inspector Vignoles railway detective novels, which Ettinger Brothers Productions plans to turn into a major TV drama series.
As a ready-made period film set, the GCR has already proved popular as a location for films and TV including The Crown, with Claire Foy; Stan & Ollie, with Steve Coogan (as pictured above); Cemetery Junction, with Ricky Gervais; Shadowlands, with Anthony Hopkins: and The Hours with Gwyneth Paltrow.
TV hospital drama Casualty even staged a train crash that required old coaches (brought from Crewe) to be craned into place on their sides to reproduce the accident.
All the essential buildings and paraphernalia of the lost steam age are ready and waiting for the cameras, actors and crew to turn up at the railway.
“The headquarters of the railway is at Loughborough Central, and this has proved extremely popular with film crews as it can look like any major station in the UK,” says Richard.
The GCR also boasts architectural features like Swithland Viaduct, which crosses a large reservoir, small gas-lit country stations and a combination of urban landscapes and the glorious East Midlands countryside.
“Added to this is a large collection of authentic steam locomotives (including Oliver Cromwell which hauled British Rail’s last official steam train), diesels and coaches to match almost any post-war period,” says Richard.
The GCR was the last British intercity express railway line to be built and ran from London Marylebone through the East Midlands to Manchester and Liverpool.
Completed in 1899, the GCR was axed under the British Rail’s Beeching cuts in 1969 because it was a trunk route which duplicated the Midland mainline from St Pancras.
Since then, mainly volunteer preservationists have extended it from a short siding at Loughborough to a major 18 mile-long national tourist attraction which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
Each station of the revived GCR https://www.gcrailway.co.uk/ is restored to a particular era, so Loughborough Central is very much in mid-1950s’ condition, Quorn & Woodhouse represents a wartime station, and Rothley is the archetypal small rural station (its original gaslights were still used during the 1960s).
Stephen Done, Inspector Vignoles author https://www.thevignolespress.com/, says: “I have a lot of family connections nearby the Great Central line, and I lived at Brackley, Northamptonshire, so the line means a lot to me. For many people it’s a forgotten railway, lost in time, which gives me opportunity to play around and people it with my own characters.
“It’s absolutely brilliant that this slice of the GCR has been restored to such a superb standard, which means when the Ettinger Brothers Productions is ready to start filming we can arrive and get the cameras rolling.”
Richard adds: “I remember we hosted the Inspector Vignoles pilot film One Way Ticket and the weather was absolutely filthy. But the benefit was that it made the perfect atmosphere for a murder mystery with the smoke and steam from the locomotives swirling around.”
With 40 full-time staff and 60-80 volunteers, ranging from highly-skilled engineers to a large catering corps, the GCR has taken a battering in the Covid lockdown, the recession and rocketing costs like all businesses.
“But no-one here will ever throw the towel in. We move forward in a spirit of hope rather than resignation. Filming Inspector Vignoles will not only give us a huge boost but will greatly help the East Midlands tourist economy.”
Main picture: “Another fine train you’ve got me into!” – Stan & Ollie stars John C Reilly & Steve Coogan filming aboard the Great Central Railway in 2018.