Close encounter with best of British In Carnforth they're hoping that a brief encounter will bring it long-term prosperity. John Woodcock reports from the town which had a starring role in a film classic. Your imagination can leap all it likes and still you'll be unable to make the connection. Romance and Carnforth railway station on a wet weekend are incompatible. At least they are today, as affairs stand. Rain drips through the broken roof and forms pools on which sail flakes of paint from rusting girders. On the main platform, Victoriana in handsome sandstone is gradually succumbing to weeds. The once-famous station clock gave up the ghost long ago, though at different times. One of its faces is frozen at 3.20, on the other side it's 2.03. A few forlorn passengers, blasted by gusts from Morecambe Bay, await occasional trains to Barrow, Workington and Yorkshire while the rest of the travelling public zooms by at 110mph - it's more than 20 years since services on the West Coast main line paused here. What remains has been voted the worst station in England, yet for some, this dilapidated junction will forever be associated with tender moments and aching hearts. After all, it was the setting for what one reference book describes as "the British cinema's greatest love story". It was here in 1945 that Trevor Howard went to Celia Johnson's aid when a piece of grit was blown into her eye by a passing express. So begins Brief Encounter, Noel Coward's script about a terribly proper Home Counties' couple whose chance meeting in the refreshment room develops into suppressed passion before a final parting for the sake of their family values. Carnforth was chosen to be the fictitious Milford Junction because its remoteness was thought to make it safe from German bombs during what were to be the final weeks of the war. Director David Lean also liked the station's lay-out, and today the link attracts fans from all over the world. Many more are expected when Brief Encounter - placed second behind The Third Man in a recent definitive list of the 100 best British films - is re-released to coincide with St Valentine's Day. A movie classic deserves better than to be remembered in such desolate surroundings and soon it will be, thanks to the enthusiasts who four years ago founded the Carnforth Station and Railway Trust. They financed a feasibility study which concluded that its past was also its future. There are plans to restore the station buildings and incorporate, inevitably, a Brief Encounter cafe, and add attractions that will include an interpretation of the film, heritage centre and specialist shops. The charity has raised �750,000, and Railtrack, which at one stage was ready to demolish the site, has now acknowledged the value of sentiment and pledged �550,000 towards the scheme's total cost of �1.5m. The trust is now appealing to the film industry to help make up the difference. Work is due to begin in June. Among the areas being transformed will be the former stationmaster's office where Miss Johnson warmed herself in front of a coal fire before the day's filming began. It now serves as the trust's headquarters. Volunteers hand out fund-raising forms and tourism leaflets against a backdrop of black-and-white photographs from the study in suburban angst that has helped keep their little town alive long after the demise of its railway industry. A visitors' book emphasises the picture's universal appeal. Addresses range from Bognor Regis to Seattle, South Africa, mainland Europe and Australia. There's also a tribute from three ladies from Japan where the film is classed as educational and offered to schoolchildren as a case-study on moral issues. It's a cult film, all right," says Jim Walker. His days as a railman ended at the Holbeck depot, in Leeds, and now he helps to run the information room. "People see it as endearing, what with the morality, self-sacrifice and old-fashioned good manners. They seem to find solace in the message, as if they're surprised there ever was such a time." Another trust supporter is Elaine Mawdesley. She was a local schoolgirl when she won the part of Beryl, the waitress who wiped down tables as Dr Alec Harvey and Laura Jessop, unfulfilled housewife, struggled with their emotions during trysts in the buffet, the Kardomah cafe and Roxy cinema. Ever-practical, trust chairman Peter Yates regards the couple as vital to his vision of Carnforth as a reborn transport hub. He also hopes to persuade Railtrack to reopen the station's main platforms to encourage more motorists to park their cars and then take the train to the nearby beauty-spots. It would be good business for the town but probably not so good for his own - he runs a garage which specialises in motorway vehicle-recovery. "Carnforth is only a mile from the M6 so think of the congestion and other problems we could prevent if drivers were persuaded to stop and go by rail to the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales. Our idea is exactly the kind John Prescott has in mind. We'll be missing a great opportunity if we don't fully exploit the station and its fame. I've written to councils, such as Leeds and Bradford, urging them to help promote our town as a gateway to the Lakes for Yorkshire folk and the Dales for Lancastrians. Their initial response was enthusiastic but they need another jolt." Unlike Brief Encounter, the Yates' version will have a happy ending if his enthusiasm is the yardstick. He's even tracked down the inner workings of the station's timepiece. They'd changed hands on numerous occasions but were traced to a dealer in Twickenham who didn't know about their origins. He's happy to sell them back and soon the clock that called time on a fleeting and very English affair will be back in working order. Hopefully, with both its faces telling the same story. For further information on the Carnforth Station and Railway Trust, call 01524 732805. A heritage plaque informs travellers that the buffet on Carnforth Station featured in the classic film, "Brief Encounter" Yorkshire Post 18 th December 1999
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