As time goes by.
Fifty years since its famous film debut, Carnforth
station is about to be set back on track as a major tourist attraction.
Windermere, and travelled by train to the set for filming.
Marion Russell, aged 81, watched the night-time filming while working at the station for
the Women's Royal Voluntary Service and said, "Goodness knows what you had to do to
be an extra in the film, but I was a teacher and had my reputation to think of! So I stuck
to making tea, which we put in jam jars to give to troops on the trains that stopped
there."
But cinemagoers flocked to see the forbidden love affair between a married woman and a
local GP played out on Carnforth station, trying to guess 'will they or won't they?' but
in keeping with the moral code of the time they eventually went their separate ways.
"Locals would have first seen the film screened at The Roxy cinema, now the Co-op
late shop" said Rick. "There are still a lot of fond memories about the film,
because it would have been a big event in the life of what was a quietish town." The
people of Carnforth were upset when English Heritage gave listed status to high rise flats
in inner city Leeds, but would not help prevent Carnforth station from being demolished,
because they did not think that it was of historical or architectural interest. |
 |
| Comedienne Victoria Wood, who used to live in the nearby
village of Silverdale, and a fan of the film said, "You'd think Carnforth would be a
gift for the nostalgia boom. You could have a buffet with a spoon on a chain and people
going, 'Don't you know there's a war on?' whenever you asked for anything." Railtrack
are considering a number of bids from groups keen to turn the station into a heritage
centre dedicated to the film. Among these are plans to restore the central platform to how
it appeared in the film, complete with cafe, create a permanent steam exhibition and build
a tourist information centre and shop. "We're not Haworth or Stratford- upon-Avon,
and never will be," said Rick. "But the making of Brief Encounter has become
part of our heritage, and visitors are very welcome to share in the romance of this north
Lancashire railway town." SARAH LAMBERT |
Lancashire Magazine November/December 1996
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