Waterloo station 1983 film

[TommyJ]

Came across this episode of Just Another Day about Waterloo station made in 1983.

Lots of shots of 4-SUBs, REPs etc. Plus the old Solari departure board.

 

[Gloster]

Jackets, ties, short hair, few beards, wheel-less suitcases, non-PC conversations, though not so many bowler hats, and much less obesity. And how many elderly staff there were.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Blimey,I haven't seen this for years! Oh,the nostalgia!

 

[Snow1964]

I had forgotten how open the concourse was before they laid the white tiles then filled it with retail (although some later got removed when the balcony opened)

Brings back a few memories, especially the rows of payphones either side of the central arch, which I used few times to say which train I was getting.

 

[Bald Rick]

Is that the one with the station Barber who has a very, very grumpy customer?

 

[Ashley Hill]

The barbers customer doesn't say anything,however a customer in the Victory Bar has the right hump (off camera).

 

[nlogax]

I've watched this a few times on YouTube in recent years. John Pitman was a bit of a treasure with his BBC documentaries back in the day and this one is still glorious. Watching it you can practically smell 1980s Waterloo from the monitor.

 

[Cletus]

Enjoyable programme. Youtube then led me to this short film I'd never seen before - The Waterloo Bridge Handicap

 

[Gloster]

Came into Surbiton (and it may actually have been Surbiton) as two 4-VEPs, changed into what looks like two 4-EPBs, then to 2-EPB + 4-VEP before leaving, but was back to two 4-VEPs by Waterloo.

Also got the OFF indicator wrong: it should have lit up to show the signal was off and the train about to go.

 

[yorksrob]

Waterloo always looks strange in this without the terrazzo concourse.

Only a few years later the Pet Shop Boys would be striding across the concourse in the video for West End Girls.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Came into Surbiton (and it may actually have been Surbiton)

Yes, definitely the real Surbiton.

Quite a good clever tongue in cheek touch having Leonard Rossiter in this given that it starts at Surbiton and this was filmed two years after the debut of Reginald Perrin...

 

[nlogax]

Yes, definitely the real Surbiton.

Quite a good clever tongue in cheek touch having Leonard Rossiter in this given that it starts at Surbiton and this was filmed two years after the debut of Reginald Perrin...

Really great find by @Cletus , and yes, that's indeed Surbiton.

Was that Lynda Bellingham?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Was that Lynda Bellingham?

Yes, she's named in the credits.

As is René from 'Allo 'Allo...

 

[WesternLancer]

and are the interior carriage views ones with glimpses of orange curtains still in situ in the VEP?

 

[AY1975]

and are the interior carriage views ones with glimpses of orange curtains still in situ in the VEP?

If you're referring to the one in "The Waterloo Bridge Handicap" then yes, that is indeed a VEP with curtains still in situ. You also see a train of C Stock in the District Line platform at Wimbledon, which I think only entered service on the Wimbledon-Edgware Road section of the District Line in about 1978.

That would narrow down the possible date range to about 1978-80, as the VEPs lost their curtains in the 2nd class saloons in about 1979/80ish except for the 4-VEG Gatwick units which retained theirs until they were converted back to standard VEPs after the launch of Gatwick Express in 1984. They didn't work out of Waterloo, though. I was only 5 in 1980 and can just about remember travelling on VEPs with curtains from Wimbledon to Surbiton when I was a tiny tot.

The train interior in "Just Another Day - Waterloo Station" is a 4-REP or 4-TC. The VEPs had suburban style interiors with 3+2 seating and doors to every seating bay (and to every compartment in the Driving Trailer Composite), whereas the CIGs, BIGs, REPs and TCs had 2+2 seating, end vestibules and only one seating bay per coach with an external access door.

The REPs and TCs were in many ways similar to the Phase 2 CIGs and BIGs but the REPs and TCs had a reading light above each window which the Phase 2 CIGs/BIGs didn't have (the Phase 1 CIGs/BIGs had reading lights incorporated into the luggage racks but I don't think Phase 1 CIGs and BIGs ever worked out of Waterloo, certainly not by the 1980s) so you can tell that it's a REP or TC.

I grew up in Putney in the 1980s so both these programmes bring back many memories for me. SUBs, EPBs, VEPs, CIGs, REPs, TCs and 508s. No Class 50s (though you do briefly see one train of Mark 2A/2B stock that might be hauled by a 50, and one 33 with headcode 95 - does anyone remember what service that would be?).

You also don't see any 455s - I think 1983 was the year that the first 455s entered service and about the last year for the remaining SUBs.

They show the BR sandwich shop and the station bar but they don't show the Casey Jones burger place, which I think might have been there then.

Towards the end you see a poster for "Rail tickets for children" - I think that was a special offer where you had to collect a certain number of tokens on Kellogg's corn flakes and rice krispies packets and you could then claim a free train ticket. I think I made use of that offer at least once when I was a kid!

Does anyone know if any similar programmes were ever made about other major stations?

 

[bspahh]

Does anyone know if any similar programmes were ever made about other major stations?

Talking Pictures TV showed this 1961 John Schlessinger documentary on Waterloo a month or so ago.

https://www.britmovie.co.uk/forum/l...sion/53184-terminus-filmed-1960-released-1961 explains that the little boy was left deliberately on the concourse. It says:

"We needed him really bawling," John said. The boy was old enough to realize they were shooting a scene; the camera was right there, and Mummy couldn't be too far away. So he offered the boy a bite of chocolate. When the child wanted more, John withheld it: "That's when he cried best, and the camera was ready, and we got all his facial reactions, which we used." That's the shot we see at the start of the scene, the desolate little boy in the middle of the station, all alone, crying furiously. Except that his tears aren't ones of terror: they're of rage.

 

[WesternLancer]

No, that's a 4-REP or 4-TC. The VEPs had suburban style interiors with 3+2 seating and doors to every seating bay (and to every compartment in the Driving Trailer Composite), whereas the CIGs, BIGs, REPs and TCs had 2+2 seating, end vestibules and only one seating bay per coach with an external access door.

The REPs and TCs were in many ways similar to the Phase 2 CIGs and BIGs but the REPs and TCs had a reading light above each window which the Phase 2 CIGs/BIGs didn't have (the Phase 1 CIGs/BIGs had reading lights incorporated into the luggage racks but I don't think Phase 1 CIGs and BIGs ever worked out of Waterloo, certainly not by the 1980s) so you can tell that it's a REP or TC.

Also, the VEPs lost their curtains in the 2nd class saloons in about 1979/80ish except for the 4-VEG Gatwick units which retained theirs until they were converted back to standard VEPs after the launch of Gatwick Express in 1984. They didn't work out of Waterloo, though.

I grew up in Putney in the 1980s so this episode brings back many memories for me. SUBs, EPBs, VEPs, CIGs, REPs, TCs and 508s. No Class 50s (though you do briefly see one train of Mark 2A/2B stock that might be hauled by a 50, and one 33 with headcode 95 - does anyone remember what service that would be?).

You also don't see any 455s - I think 1983 was the year that the first 455s entered service and about the last year for the remaining SUBs.

They show the BR sandwich shop and the station bar but they don't show the Casey Jones burger place, which I think might have been there then.

Towards the end you see a poster for "Rail tickets for children" - I think that was a special offer where you had to collect a certain number of tokens on Kellogg's corn flakes and rice krispies packets and you could then claim a free train ticket. I think I made use of that offer at least once when I was a kid!

Does anyone know if any similar programmes were ever made about other major stations?

Thanks - living then on the central division I wasn't very familiar with the REP or TC interiors, good to read your helpful and informative post!

 

[30907]

No Class 50s (though you do briefly see one train of Mark 2A/2B stock that might be hauled by a 50, and one 33 with headcode 95 - does anyone remember what service that would be?).

Southampton boat train (Eastern Docks, I've just checked).

 

[Watford West]

Excellent on the 1983 Waterloo film. The guy getting out of the carriage complete with 'fag' hanging out of his mouth! And the RP station announcer! thought that had died out by then!

 

[AY1975]

Thanks - living then on the central division I wasn't very familiar with the REP or TC interiors, good to read your helpful and informative post!

At first I thought you were talking about the train interior in "Just Another Day - Waterloo Station", which is a REP or TC, but if you are talking about the one in "The Waterloo Bridge Handicap" then that is indeed a VEP with curtains. I have now edited my comment above accordingly (when I originally posted it I hadn't watched "The Waterloo Bridge Handicap").

 

[MP33]

The Waterloo station documentary was part of a series on various subjects. I watched two follow ups made years later. One was four men sea fishing and making extreme right wing comments. In the follow up only one man agreed to appear and said that now he found his behavoir very embarrasing.

Another was three ladies hoping to get selected as Conservative candidates in an general election. That could be dated easily as in the offices there was a photo on the wall of the leader. Part way through it changes from Margaret Thatcher to John Major. Of the three ladies featured, one was elected in 1992 and voted out in the Labour landslide in 1997. Another had a career and became a junior minister. The third lady did not get selected and in the follow up said, I did want to be an MP, it smells or something similar.

 

[WesternLancer]

At first I thought you were talking about the train interior in "Just Another Day - Waterloo Station", which is a REP or TC, but if you are talking about the one in "The Waterloo Bridge Handicap" then that is indeed a VEP with curtains. I have now edited my comment above accordingly (when I originally posted it I hadn't watched "The Waterloo Bridge Handicap").

apols, yes I was talking about the Handicap film, so thanks for clarifying.

 

[citycat]

Does anyone remember this musical tv film from the eighties?

Return to Waterloo, featuring music from Ray Davies and the Kinks and the actor Ken Colley as the sinister ‘Traveller’.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Talking Pictures TV showed this 1961 John Schlessinger documentary on Waterloo a month or so ago.

https://www.britmovie.co.uk/forum/l...sion/53184-terminus-filmed-1960-released-1961 explains that the little boy was left deliberately on the concourse. It says:

IIRC the crying boy was a relative of John Schlessinger. He was interviewed in a documentary about BTF films and jokingly said he suffers no mental torment from his childhood stardom.

 

[nlogax]

Does anyone remember this musical tv film from the eighties?

Return to Waterloo, featuring music from Ray Davies and the Kinks and the actor Ken Colley as the sinister ‘Traveller’.

Thanks for this. Not seen or heard of this before but really enjoyed it!

 

[pitdiver]

I think the female wearing the mauve jumper and leg warmers was stood up. Not surprising.