The Railway Children: The differences between filming at Yorkshire heritage railway in 1970s and 2021
There were a few interesting differences between filming The Railway Children in the 1970s and in 2021 - the business and operations manager at Keighley and Worth Valley Railway shares them.
The original Railway Children starring Jenny Agutter, Sally Thomsett, and Gary Warren was filmed at Keighley and Worth Valley Railway in the spring of 1970.
Its sequel The Railway Children Return starring Beau Gadsdon, Austin Haynes, Eden Hamilton and Jenny Agutter was filmed 51 years later at the same location.
Noel Hartley, business and operations manager at Keighley and Worth Valley, oversaw the filming five years ago, while his father-in-law was involved in both films.
“He was a driver on the railway and the fireman on the iconic Railway Children engine back in the 1970s,” Mr Hartley said.
“Obviously, the major difference between the 1970s and the modern-day way of doing it was that everything was much more analogue in those days.
“Whereas now it’s easier to capture the content because it’s all digital; that side of it was simpler and it took much less time to shoot the more recent film. He really enjoyed meeting Jennie Agutter.”
Mr Hartley was involved with the filming of The Railway Children Return which had its own challenges.
“What was tricky with it was that it wasn’t a big budget film, there were a lot of restrictions in place during Covid,” he said.
“In terms of shooting it, it was probably one of the more tricky productions we’ve had at the railway just because of the limitations, the amount of time they could do things, the money, everyone had to wear masks, you had to be isolated from others.
“There were a lot of kids involved in the film obviously so that made it more complicated and the majority of it was shot on location.
“For me, it was a really fun thing to do and the railway really needed the money at that point because we had just come out of a year of hardly any training, it was a really good boost for us.
“It rained constantly which is the other thing that made it hard work as well; it wasn’t like the original where the sun shone for the whole thing.
“It was really interesting to be involved with it and it was convenient that we weren’t running a lot of train services at the time as we were just coming out of Covid.”
The Railway Children Return attracted a younger generation of steam train enthusiasts, Mr Hartley said.
“The recent Railway Children film had a more diverse cast; we are actively looking to appeal to a wider and more diverse audience,” he said.
“If we were looking at our audience base maybe 30 years ago it would be a much higher proportion of more stereotypical railway enthusiasts who remembered steam trains running in the 1960s. We had nostalgia about railways back then.
“We were and still are mimicking what used to be in the 1950s and 1960s or earlier.
“The difference for us is that we’re now moving from a time when the majority of the people who visit us now don’t remember steam trains running properly in the 1960s because most of those people are really old or not with us anymore.
“Some of the people we now attract are just looking for that kind of experience of what it used to be like but don't have any previous experience [themselves].
“Other people may have travelled on a heritage railway as a child.
“We do everything we can to make it a full day out for them and have as many different attractions as possible; we’ve got a playground, we’ve got museums, exhibition spaces, we’ve got places to eat and drink.
“We have seen a difference in the type of people who visit. We’ve always had a strong contingent of people who come here on holiday from parts of Asia, there’s a strong literary fanbase in Asia.”