The LNER Encyclopedia

For the last few years i've been trying to remember the name of a television drama series that was first shown on the telly around 1969 or 1970 and was wondering if anyone else on here also remembers seeing it and has a name for it?. The drama series opens in episode one with the contract killing of someone which is part of a bigger crime but the interesting thing (from a railway perspective) was the contract killer was a loco driver using his own high powered rifle with a telescopic sight. From vague memory there are several filmed sequences of the contract killer the loco driver walking around a railway depot and I remember the police in this first episode concentrating on trying to find the contract killer because from there point of view (the police) he knew the whole set up find him cos he would know the rest of the gang!!.

I only remember seeing episode one and for many years I thought the name of this series was called Manhunt but Manhunt was the name of a WW2 television drama series from the same era 1969/70. I presume the most likely people to remember this drama series from 1969/70 would now probably be either in there late 50s, 60s or 70s?.

Mickey

..... Rings no bells for me at the moment Mickey.

No problem Stevie someone mite have seen and remember it?. Back then (late 1960s) anything that came on the telly i'd be watching for any railway connection and of course when the contract killer turns out to be a loco driver of all people and is seen a few times walking around a loco or railway depot my interest quickend!!. I have a feeling that the series concentrated on each individual gang member each week so the locoman come contract killer was probably only seen in episode one I presume?.

If I had a name for this programme I would try and see if it's available on dvd the Australian retro-television company Network 7 re-release many of the old british television programmes from the 1960s & 1970s.

Mickey

Have you tried looking on Youtube? Can you remember any of the actors that starred in the series as that's another way of tackling the query? Was it on BBC or ITV? Was it English or American?

Kestrel wrote:Have you tried looking on Youtube? Can you remember any of the actors that starred in the series as that's another way of tackling the query? Was it on BBC or ITV? Was it English or American?

Hiya Kestrel, it was a british production set in England and it may have been made by one of the ITV companies such as Thames Television or London Weekend Televison but I can't honestly remember now it was around 1969 or 1970 when it was shown on telly and as for as who was in it I can't remember that either?. For many years as previously posted by myself I thought it was called Manhunt but that was the name of a television series that was set in WW2 which was on the telly around the sametime as the series I am trying to findout the name of and also it was shown at 'prime time' at 9:00pm I vaguely recall so it was a fairly 'high profile' television programme.

Mickey

Hi Mickey
Sorry I can't help you regarding the series you are after (think this was probably a bit too 'grown up' for me in them days) but have you tried the site 'Television Heaven'?
Might be a bit of a trawl through all the programs they have listed but you never know?
Good luck!

I shall have a go meldrum although I don't own a PC I usually use the works pc which has a number of restrictions on it (it won't show Youtube stuff) but sometimes I visit I.T. cafe's so the next time I do i'll give it a try thanks.

Mickey

Mickey wrote: ↑Mon Jul 18, 2016 8:52 am For the last few years i've been trying to remember the name of a television drama series that was first shown on the telly around 1969 or 1970 and was wondering if anyone else on here also remembers seeing it and has a name for it?. The drama series opens in episode one with the contract killing of someone which is part of a bigger crime but the interesting thing (from a railway perspective) was the contract killer was a loco driver using his own high powered rifle with a telescopic sight. From vague memory there are several filmed sequences of the contract killer the loco driver walking around a railway depot and I remember the police in this first episode concentrating on trying to find the contract killer because from there point of view (the police) he knew the whole set up find him cos he would know the rest of the gang.

This topic was originally started by myself back in July 2016 anyway the name of the television series was called THE GOLD ROBBERS and was first shown on British television in the second half of 1969 and it features a railway connection.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162082/

THE GOLD ROBBERS starring Peter Vaughan and a host of well known television actors from the 1960s & 1970s.

Basically a shipment of gold bars that is being transported from a fictitious African country to Britain by aircraft lands at a quiet airfield and the gold bars are then switched from the aircraft to a security van when the gold shipment is hijacked by a gang of criminals during which a policeman is killed and a number of other policemen have ammonia squirted into there faces!.

Then the next 12 episodes deal with the chief investigating officer an Inspector Craddock played by Peter Vaughan and his small team of officers tracking down the individual members of the criminal gang behind the robbery. The episode involving the railwayman is episode 3 'Crack Shot' and involves a railwayman who dresses like a loco driver or fireman when he's at work wearing a B.R. locoman's grease top cap and B.R. railwayman's jacket and overalls and strangely looks the part of a 'real life' railwayman who would look quite at home on a loco footplate to my mind anyway his off duty hobby is rifle shooting at a local shooting club hence the title of the episode and he was paid by the gang to fire a high velocity rifle fitted with a telescopic sight at a police car at the airfield and hit a small ammo charge fixed to the rear of the police car to cause the police car to explode causing confusion while the criminal gang attack the police who are overseeing the transhipment of the gold from the aircraft to the security van. Anyway after he completes the job and goes home it becomes apparent very quickly that he has 'domestic issues' involving his attractive wife who is having an affair with one of his mates and suffice to say everything in the railwayman's life then unravels ending up with him killing his mate who he finds in bed with his wife after returning home from work and then he goes 'crazy' and takes one of his own rifles out of his house armoury and then goes off to the railway yard (which we later find out in another episode was Feltham yard on the southern region) and starts shooting at the passing trains and at anyone else he sees from the top of a tall water tank!. Anyway it isn't long before the police show up and the only way they can try and stop him is by a police marksman shooting to wound him in the shoulder which he does but the railwayman falls from the tower and is killed when he hits the ground so a potential witness is lost to the police.

The railway scenes are just a few with one scene showing the railwayman arriving at work on his push bike and then going into a 'lobby' next to a railway siding and then later on towards the end of the episode he is seen dressed in civilian clothes and crossing the main line carrying a high velocity rifle over his shoulder and heading towards the tall water tank.

One 'head scratching scene' by todays standards and involving Inspector Craddock and his deputy is when both of them hear that the railwayman has a rifle and is perched on top of a water tower and is taking 'pot shots' at passing trains anyway Inspector Craddock says to his deputy "You better tell the railway to stop all trains!." and his deputy replies "Stop all trains that's a main line your talking about!." still it was 1969.

Considering the series was made 50 years ago in black & white it is still quite watchable although by todays standards some mite consider it a bit 'lame in parts' but overall it's alright to watch still although if it was re-made today I have no doubt it would feature a lot more violent scenes when dealing with the hijacking and tougher acting by the individual criminals and the police.

htts://andygibbs.zenfolio.com/img/s/v-10/p3065694811-4.jpg