The Titfield Thunderbolt
- 1953 film
Comedy starring Stanley Holloway. The villagers of Titfield take matters into their own hands when their local railway line closes down. Stars Stanley Holloway, George Relph, Naunton Wayne, John Gregson, Godfrey Tearle and more.
Streaming rank this week: 11,912
The Titfield Thunderbolt trivia
The Titfield Thunderbolt is Ealing Studios' first colour comedy.
The film was shot on location during the Summer of 1952, with Woodstock in Oxfordshire doubling as the village of Titfield; Bristol as the large Mallingford; and a closed railway line just south-east of Bath, Somerset, playing the Titfield-Mallingford branch line.
Author T.E.B. Clarke devised The Titfield Thunderbolt whilst holidaying in Wales. There he is said to have observed a small branch line steam train in operation and begun to wonder what would become of local villages were it not there.
The Titfield Thunderbolt predates the infamous series of 'Beeching cuts' enacted by British Railways, by some 10 years. The large-scale closure of apparently lesser-used lines and stations was initiated with a report published in 1963.