Railways in TV drama

[geoffk]

I know we've have a discussion on this subject before but it's now closed. I've been watching Gentleman Jack, set in the 1830s, on BBC1, having until recently lived near Halifax. There were several references to the new-fangled railways, in particular the likely effect of railway expansion on the town's prosperity but also on the value of Anne Lister's canal shares.

Later we see the couple riding on the then new Leeds & Selby Railway, opened in 1834. The train is hauled by the replica "Rocket", not sure where it was filmed - this was no doubt the best the producers could do if they wanted a live steam train. Several episodes later, but still in 1834 I think, I was surprised to hear the following dialogue -

Mrs Sutherland (who lived near Inverness): "When will you reach Edinburgh? Erm... Is it tomorrow night? And then the train! To Manchester. Hopefully, we should be in Halifax by Saturday or Sunday."

1834 is at least 12 years too early for such a train journey. It was possible to travel from Edinburgh to Newcastle in 1846, but this involved crossing both the Tweed and the Tyne by road or ferry. The first public train from Euston to Gateshead ran in 1844, while the Lancaster and Carlisle opened in 1846. This event can't have been taken from Anne Lister's diary as her attention to detail appears to have been meticulous so it must be another case of poetic licence.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

It's almost as if the researchers for "Gentleman Jack" didn't come on here first, in order to fact check this key part of last night's story plotline.

Possibly not surprising when some set designer previously asked a question earlier in the year (about 1960's era train carriage dimensions) on here and fairly soon got mired down with off topic replies and 'non sequitur' discussion.

1964 “InterCity” train carriage dimensions

Hello! I am a set designer and have been tasked with trying to work out the dimensions of the carriage and windows from a reference photo from stock footage I have been given so we can build a green screen carriage of the right dimensions so the stock footage will ‘fit’. The info I’ve been given...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Towers]

Very much like that 'Vigil' thing about the nuclear sub; those in the know tore it to bits - but they would represent a tiny, and indeed utterly insignificant percentage of viewers. Same here, it isn't aimed at spotters!

 

[DelW]

It's almost as if the researchers for "Gentleman Jack" didn't come on here first, in order to fact check this key part of last night's story plotline.

Possibly not surprising when some set designer previously asked a question earlier in the year (about 1960's era train carriage dimensions) on here and fairly soon got mired down with off topic replies and 'non sequitur' discussion.

1964 “InterCity” train carriage dimensions

Hello! I am a set designer and have been tasked with trying to work out the dimensions of the carriage and windows from a reference photo from stock footage I have been given so we can build a green screen carriage of the right dimensions so the stock footage will ‘fit’. The info I’ve been given...

www.railforums.co.uk

To be fair, the OP in that thread did ask an impossible question: wanting to know dimensions of a compartment coach that (a) would have run to Blackpool in the 1960s and (b) matched their existing footage. Unfortunately that turned out to be of a double deck Amtrak Superliner sleeper coach, which is far too high and wide for any British railway (and dated from the 1980s). So it's not surprising that no accurate answer was available.