Introducing myself

[Italianfan88]

Hello.
I just wanted to introduce myself, as a 27-year old railway enthusiast from Italy (about that, I hope there are no rules around here that forbid foreign forum members, by the way! ).

[Autocar Publicity]

Welcome to the forum.

To Yorkshiremen, coming from 'foreign parts' means coming from the next valley and let's not even think about Lancashire! Seriously, we have members from all round the world, Italy is [relatively speaking] just round the corner.

So, what first attracted you to the LNER?

[Italianfan88]

Thanks!

Well, I kind of inherited my railway mania from my father; he had tons of books and magazines about trains and locomotives, mainly Italian and German ones, but also something about British railways.

I guess that what really made me interested by the LNER was a VHS with the BBC documentary about 4472 Flying Scotsman's 1968 non-stop run between Kings Cross and Waverley. EVen if the atmosphere was rather sad, since it was the last hurrah for British steam, I fell in love with the sight of Gresley's locomotive powering through England and Scotland.
Plus, that Pegler fellow seemed kind of funny; he made me smirk!

[Mickey]

I reckon you must be quite rare Italianfan i doubt if there are that many continental european people that are interested in britain's railways let alone the L.N.E.R.?. Welcome by the way.

To my shame i don't really know much about continental european railways although some of the BIG German steam locos from the 1930s & 1940s looked interesting from watching some of the WW2 war films.

I once saw a photograph of a driver & fireman of Old Oak Common probably taken in the 1950s on the former GWR and the fireman was a full blown Frenchman complete with him wearing a French beret and having a French name (plus he had a French looking face although thats probably not a pc thing to say these days?).

Mickey

[Italianfan88]

Thanks, and pleased to meet you.
Yes, most Italian rail enthusiast that I know tend to be more knowledgeable of Italy's own trains and railways, and secondly of German and Italian ones (also because of the model market, that concentrated in the past decades on Italian and German designs).

Well, I can say already that, while Germany's railways are definitely interesting (just to say one thing, the Class 05 was Mallard's top competitor for the speed record), and that France's steam locomotives are absolutely worth a look, in terms of steam Italy's role was definitely a secondary one (or perhaps even tertiary), also because we didn't have any national coal production and therefore we began electrification very early, so much that the last steam locomotives built for the Italian Railways were put in service in 1922.

We can console ourselves saying that we had the first main line railway with a dreadful grade (some 1 in 29), that we came up with the first 4-6-0 tender locomotive in Continental Europe, that we introduced the Caprotti valve gear and the Franco-Crosti preheater; but in the end this mattered little.

[Mickey]

...and that France's steam locomotives are absolutely worth a look

Yeah theres a WW2 war film called 'The Train' that was released in 1964 it stars American actor Burt Lancaster who appears in it as a French railwayman who appears to be a depot 'yard master' but also drives locos as well and is a member of the French Resistance in his spare time anyway there are a lot of shots of French railways in this film and a few French steam locos appear as well but one in particular that is 'the star' of the film looks like a everyday 4-6-0 (possibly a mixed traffic loco?) and it has some nice lines about it even the loco cab and side cab window keeps reminding me of a GWR Hall class loco it appears throughout the film in fact overall it's actually a pretty good film shot in black & white i've watched it maybe about 20 plus times over the last 7 or 8 years.

We can console ourselves saying that we had the first main line railway with a dreadful grade (some 1 in 29), that we came up with the first 4-6-0 tender locomotive in Continental Europe, that we introduced the Caprotti valve gear and the Franco-Crosti preheater; but in the end this mattered little.

It's better than nothing.

Mickey

[Italianfan88]

I know that film, it's one of my favourites! It's also a staple of railway enthusiast, as it is completely real - the incidents were all true, they derailed the trains for real!

The stars of "The Train" were the locomotives of the Class 350 of the Chemins de fer de l'Est, later SNCF 230 B. They were Du Bousquet-De Glehn four-cylinders compounds (some of them superheated from the beginning, the others modified later), and given their characteristics I'd say they were designed for express passenger duties back in the day (they were built from 1901 to 1912).
But I think that, by their latest years, their assignments were probably similar to the GWR Halls, having been displaced since the 1920s-1930s by more modern locomotives.

There's a rather well-known film that it's set in Italy during WWII and features some interesting Italian steam locomotives; it's called "Von Ryan's Express", and it stars Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard among others.

[kudu]

For authenticity, in a way you can't beat "The Wrecker" (1928) which features a real train crash, courtesy of the Southern Railway. Some interesting scenes here and there (not all railway-related) and some ludicrous ones too.

But the one that I love is "La Bete Humaine" featuring the Paris-Le Havre line. A great opening sequence of the 2-3-1 leaving the shed to back on to its train at Paris Nord. I got it on video, only to discover this whole section had been cut! Some good views later on, though, but poor consolation.

Kudu

[Italianfan88]

I looked into it, and found on YouTube the wreck scene. I admit it looks a bit more authentic and spectacular in terms of results, compared to "The Train". Thanks for the pointer.

I already knew the scenes from Renoir's film. I wholeheartedly agree on the greatness of the scenes!

[StevieG]

" For authenticity, in a way you can't beat "The Wrecker" (1928) which features a real train crash, courtesy of the Southern Railway. Some interesting scenes here and there (not all railway-related) and some ludicrous ones too. .... "
Kudu

Not sure, but wasn't "The Wrecker", like "Oh, Mr. Porter", filmed, rather than on the SR, on the already almost closed/disused Basingstoke & Alton Light Railway ?

[kudu]

" For authenticity, in a way you can't beat "The Wrecker" (1928) which features a real train crash, courtesy of the Southern Railway. Some interesting scenes here and there (not all railway-related) and some ludicrous ones too. .... "
Kudu

Not sure, but wasn't "The Wrecker", like "Oh, Mr. Porter", filmed, rather than on the SR, on the already almost closed/disused Basingstoke & Alton Light Railway ?

I believe the crash scene itself was on the B&A Light Rly, as you say. But the Southern supplied loco and carriages. The latter may have been SECR, while the loco was SER F1 class 4-4-0 A148.

Kudu

[StevieG]

" For authenticity, in a way you can't beat "The Wrecker" (1928) which features a real train crash, courtesy of the Southern Railway. Some interesting scenes here and there (not all railway-related) and some ludicrous ones too. .... "
Kudu

Not sure, but wasn't "The Wrecker", like "Oh, Mr. Porter", filmed, rather than on the SR, on the already almost closed/disused Basingstoke & Alton Light Railway ?

I believe the crash scene itself was on the B&A Light Rly, as you say. But the Southern supplied loco and carriages. The latter may have been SECR, while the loco was SER F1 class 4-4-0 A148.

Kudu

Aha! Things are never simple.
Thanks Kudu