Nice to see our heritage railways generate extra income
One of a number of casualty episodes filmed there and on other heritage lines
http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/G...tarring-role/story-21302590-detail/story.html
One of a number of casualty episodes filmed there and on other heritage lines
http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/G...tarring-role/story-21302590-detail/story.html
A tourist attraction has a starring role in tomorrow night's episode of hospital drama Casualty.
BBC producers turned to Great Central Railway (GCR) while looking for somewhere to film a train crash.
The heritage rail attraction offered its tracks at Swithlands Sidings because they closely resemble a mainline railway.
Filming took place over several nights in February.
Modern carriages were brought in and placed on their sides across the tracks, where Great Central has four lines.
Paul Pearson, Casualty's location manager, said: "Thank you to everyone at GCR for a completely brilliant experience.
"I am so glad we chose to come to Swithland – it looks great on the screen.
"Everyone here is very excited about what we've done."
GCR general manager Richard Patching said: "We were delighted to host Casualty.
"It was a tough assignment, with lots of planning needed to get everything in place for the filming.
"Cranes had to be hired and track lifted to put the crash scene in place – all this while we were running passenger trains at the weekends.
"Our teams had to work through the night but we're sure the end result on screen will be worth it."
GCR has featured in an episode of Casualty before and is a regular destination for movie makers.
Contracts for filming have proved lucrative for the attraction.
Stars including Nicole Kidman, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Ricky Gervais have all used GCR for projects.
Shadowlands, The Hours and Cemetery Junction are among the productions to have used GCR as a location.
Mr Patching said: "Filming isn't just good business for us, it brings real economic benefit to the service sector, with the crew staying in hotels and so on.
"Afterwards, we'll get people coming to visit because they want to see where the films and programmes were made – so even counting the hard work, it's a win-win situation."
Casualty airs on BBC1 tomorrow, at 9.20pm.
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