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Reprieved encounter
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Sorry tale: Carnforth Station is in decay
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The station where film romance was
made is spared from the bulldozers |
Celebrated story: Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard in a
scene from Brief Encounter
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By GRAHAM KEELEY
THE setting for one of the great weepies of British cinema is to have its own happy
ending. Carnforth Station, where Brief Encounter was filmed in 1945, was scheduled to be
demolished as part of Railtrack plans to upgrade the west coast line.
But it has been saved thanks to the efforts of volunteer fundraisers. And there are now
plans to turn it into a tourist attraction
Film fans travel from around the world to see the station on the edge of the Lake District
which provided the main backdrop for David Lean's tale of two strangers who meet on a
railway platform, fall in love, but choose duty.
Many are shocked, however, to find the spot where Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson first
set eyes on each other has deteriorated dramatically over the years. Volunteers from the
Carnforth Station and Railway Trust have raised £900,000 to save the main buildings and
plan to restore the station to how it was in the film.
Railtrack has contributed £550,000 towards the rescue plans and is to share the work of
rebuilding.
Trust chairman Peter Yates said: 'This could be a major tourist attraction, not just
because of the film, but because of our location and the history of steam railway at
Carnforth.' A major railway junction in the days of steam, Carnforth is still a working
station. But many features from the film are unrecognisable.
The tea room, where much of the film romance is played out, is now boarded up and daubed
with graffiti. The trust wants to reopen it as a visitor centre complete with the bentwood
chairs, cast-iron stove and mahogany counter from the film.
They have also tracked down the original machinery from the station clock which told the
lovers their time was up and are to buy it back from a London collector.
A Railtrack spokesman said: 'We are happy to work with the trust. Time was running out
because of our regeneration programme which is due to start in June.
Brief Encounter, which came second in the British Film Institute's list of 100 great
British movies, was filmed in Carnforth partly because it was so remote that film lights
would not attract the attention of the Luftwaffe.
© DAILY MAIL January 15th, 2000
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