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Rail Trust rekindles a
romance
By Michael Prowse
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CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save the railway setting of Brief Encounter, one
of the most enduring of all British black-and-white films, will announce this week that
they have raised enough money to reprieve the famous station from the bulldozers.
Carnforth Station, the real-life site of the refreshment room at fictional Milford
Junction, had been scheduled for demolition as part of Railtrack's plans to upgrade the
West Coast line. But now, thanks to a group of volunteers which has raised nearly £1
million, the Lancashire station is set to become a major attraction for the North West.
A steady stream of tourists from all over the world already comes to visit the place where
Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson fell in love and gazed longingly into each other's eyes
beneath the platform clock before parting forever. But all they find is the derelict,
boarded-up station.
The Carnforth Station and Railway Trust has now negotiated an agreement with Railtrack to
renovate all the buildings, bring back a steam train as the main attraction of a visitor
centre and recreate the refreshment room set.
Railtrack has agreed to contribute £550,000 and the trust, after years of campaigning,
has raised the remaining £950,000 needed for the project.
The trust's chairman, Peter Yates, 53, said: "We have had thousands of pounds from
businesses that want see the town flourish, but the donations I really cherish are the
scores of £10 notes that ordinary members of the public have sent."
The film's director, David Lean, searched Britain for the right setting for Noel Coward's
film. It was made in the last months of the war and released in November 1945.
Since then, half the station's platforms have been ripped out and it has lost its ticket
office. The clockwork mechanism of the 1870s station clock was sold for scrap but recently
traced to a shop in west London.
Main Picture.Volunteer Bill Seddon stands beneath the famous clock
at Carnforth Station, which has been saved from demolition.
Insert. Lovers Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard in Brief Encounter
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