A very close Encounter

Station from classic film narrowly escapes the bulldozers.

By JON CRAIG
POLITICAL EDITOR

JOHN Prescott has stepped in to save the railway station made immortal by one of the cinema's greatest love stories.
Carnforth station, where Trevor Howard romanced Celia Johnson in Brief Encounter is facing the threat of demolition.
But after the tiny market town's Labour MP, Geraldine Smith, urged the Deputy Premier to call off the bulldozers, ministers are to decide its fate. After four years of wrangling over funding, the station looks set to be turned into a tourist attraction with the help of lottery cash. The breakthrough is expected at talks between transport minister Lord Macdonald and tourism minister Janet Anderson in the next few weeks.
A local trust has already raised £825,000 towards restoring the station, which could cost up to £1.5 million. Mrs Anderson is backing the bid for lottery cash to meet the shortfall.
Brief Encounter the story of a doomed and forbidden love affair between a married woman and a local GB was filmed at the Lancashire station, now owned by Railtrack, by director David Lean in 1945. Trevor Howard played Alec Harvey; who went to the aid of Laura Jesson, played by Celia Johnson, when she got grit from a steam train in her eye. The film remains a classic English love story of understated passion.
Although the station is on the west coast main line, only local trains stop there now. The famous tearoom is boarded up and the giant station clock has long since stopped. Despite this neglect, it attracts film enthusiasts from all over the world. The trustees want to boost this by restoring the station and cafe, and building a tourist information centre and Brief Encounter shop. However Railtrack has threatened to demolish the buildings if the cash for the restoration cannot be found.
Miss Smith said: "The station holds so much sentimental value for people who have seen the film." She also believes Carnforth could be developed as a station for people visiting the Lake District, "There's a role for the Government to play if we are serious about reducing the traffic in the Lake District," she said.

A very close Encounter Sunday Express 17 ^th October 1999

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