Carnforth reprieve
Station immortalised in Brief Encounter is saved from
demolition
A STATION best known for being the backdrop to Brief Encounter is to be saved from the
bulldozers.
Carnforth, north-west Lancs, where David Lean directed the award-winning film in 1945,
is poised to become a working museum featuring something like a film set.
At the time, it was a busy station. The buffet was to become famous as the place where
the characters played by Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard first meet and fall hopelessly in
love
But despite its place in British cinema history, the station has gradually
deteriorated. The refreshment room has been locked up for years, gathering dust and mould.
Nearby, the famous clock that ticked away the stolen minutes of the couple as they
waited for their trains remains, but without its mechanism.
Other parts of the station are showing the grim reality of years of neglect.
Until recently, Railtrack was proposing to demolish the old station and replace it with
modern buildings.
The Carnforth Station and Railway Trust says it looks set to raise �900,000 needed to
transform the station into an educational and community building with a flat for a
permanent caretaker who will monitor security cameras.
Passengers and visitors will once again be able to while away the time between trains
in a replica of the old refreshment room.
Railtrack North West is planning to put in another �550,000. This will be split into
�400,000 for general station regeneration work, �100,000 towards the trust's restoration
plans and �50,000 for improving access for the disabled.
Peter Yates, chairman of the trust and one of the driving forces behind the station
restoration plans, said: "We have been told by Railtrack that we can start the
restoration work in June. The aim is to make this station, which attracts people from all
over the world, into a place suitable for modern passengers and the visitors.
"We would, as far as possible, recreate a film set environment so that people can
see exactly what was there as a working museum.
"The M6 motorway is only a mile away so the station is ideally placed for people
to leave their cars and catch a train."
The local trains are run by Northern Spirit, to Leeds, and First North Western, to
Barrow-in-Furness. Virgin expresses for London and Glasgow pass through.
Peter, who is based at the station with a small team, is a local man and remembers the
station in its heyday. "Years ago the station was a hive of activity. Now there are
no staff based there and we are the only ones with a small room on the station.
"During the restoration we are hoping to restore some of the little rooms on the
station for community use.
"And another part of the plan is to provide a restaurant where people can sit with
Scottish expresses passing just yards away.
"We would like to recreate the refreshment room as it was and we would also like
to see it become a main line station again."
Meanwhile, the trust has managed to locate a clock dealer in Twickenham, west London,
who has the original mechanism from the 1890-built station clock.
The mechanism was removed from the clock when it was electrified: "He didn't
realise he had the original parts of a clock which became famous through the film,"
said Peter. The clock case and face which have stood the test of time will be restored and
the old, overhauled mechanism replaced.
"We feel that things are moving in the right direction, said Peter. "There is
still a long way to go but we are working closely with Railtrack to return this station to
its former glory."
How a film about passion and duty turned a junction into a star
WITHOUT Brief Encounter, Carnforth would be a rundown station remembered only by rail
buffs for its old steam shed.
The film, directed by David Lean, is based on a Noel Coward one-act play. It was made
in 1945, and Carnforth was apparently chosen because it was safe from German air attacks.
The story centres on a chance meeting in the station buffet between Laura Jesson, a
jaded housewife played by Celia Johnson, and Dr Alec Harvey - Trevor Howard - who is
shortly to go to work in Africa.
They begin an unrequited affair in which they are torn between passion and duty.
At one point Laura says: It's awfully easy to lie when you know that you're trusted
implicitly. So very easy, and so very degrading."
As memorable as the stars' performances is the use of Rachmaninoff's second piano
concerto.
Stanley Holloway, as a porter, and Joyce Carey, as the buffet manageress, provide light
relief.
Brief Encounter earned several Oscar nominations, including best actress and best
director. It won the grand prize at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival. In the same year, Celia
Johnson was voted best actress by New York film critics.
Copyright � 2000 Railnews
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"Carnforth reprieve" ,
Railnews February 2000
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