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[[File:Gods_Wonderful_Railway_Screenshot_Title.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Programme title]]'''God's Wonderful Railway''' was a BBC children's drama series of 8 episodes, first broadcast in 1980. Written by Avril Rowlands, it was set specifically on the Severn Valley Railway and filmed almost entirely on location on the railwayduring 1979.<ref>SVR News 51, article by Avril Rowlands</ref> Rowlands was already associated with the SVR, having met her husband Christopher during filming of [[Carrie's War]] in November 1973.<ref>Jordan, P., 'My Moment of Glory', SVR News, No. 203</ref> Christopher Rowlands was also credited as the film editor for God's Wonderful Railway.
== Description Television==The series was divided into three stories, set in different time periods in the history of the railway, through the eyes of a fictional railway family. In each story the main protagonist is a boy in his early to mid-teens, who then reappears as an adult in the following story.
===The series was divided into three stories, set in different time periods in the history of the railway, through the eyes of a fictional railway family. In each story the main protagonist is a boy in his early to mid teens, who then reappears as an adult in the following story. Permanent Way===The first story (two episodes) is set during the construction of the line, and its main character is Robbie Grant, a boy who has been brought to the valley because his father is working on the railway as a [[Railway Navvies of the SVR|navvy]]. In Although the second storyGrant family was fictional, set in the Edwardian era, the now-elderly Robbie is the signalman at story included characters such as [[HighleyJohn Fowler | Sir John <noglossary>Fowler</noglossary>]], and his grandson George is about to start work as a porter at the station. In the final story, set in 1939, George is Station Master at [[ArleyHenry Orlando Bridgeman]]; his son Andy has to deal with an evacuee from Birmingham billeted with who were involved in the building of the familyreal Severn Valley Railway, and becomes suspicious that while the plot line in which Robbie is severely injured by a spy fall of rock is trying notably similar to destroy several actual [[Borle ViaductRailway Navvies of the SVR|accidents which took place during construction]].
The Great Western Society Didcot's veteran Wantage Tramway locomotive No 5 "Shannon" was used for filming, being either propelled or hauled into shot as it was not in steam at the time. Its first appearance was as a contractors' locomotive while the line was being built, conveying Sir John <noglossary>Fowler</noglossary> and Henry Orlando Bridgman on the footplate to inspect the works.
<gallery mode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">
Gods_Wonderful_Railway_Screenshot_Shannon1.jpg|Shannon as the contractors' locomotive
</gallery>
Shannon's second appearance was as the locomotive in charge of the opening train, where it seen crossing [[Victoria Bridge]] southbound both from the bank of the [[River Severn]] and from track level. Victoria Bridge had also featured in a scene shortly before the opening of the railway, although the many scenes involving the navvies digging a deep cutting were filmed elsewhere.
<gallery mode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">
Gods_Wonderful_Railway_Screenshot_Navvies.jpg|Navvies constructing a cutting
Gods_Wonderful_Railway_Screenshot_Shannon2.jpg|Shannon crossing Victoria Bridge (1)
Gods_Wonderful_Railway_Screenshot_Shannon3.jpg|Shannon crossing Victoria Bridge (2)
</gallery>
'The Permanent Way' included at least one small anachronism; the [[Arley]] distant signal is briefly visible on the approach to Victoria Bridge. Such signals were not installed until later in the nineteenth century.
===Clear Ahead===
The second story (three episodes) is set in 1906, during the Edwardian era, when the now-elderly Robbie is the signalman at [[Highley]], and his grandson George is about to start work as a porter at the station. Most of the action in 'The Permanent Way' was filmed around Highley station. [[GWR Small Prairie 4566]] served as a locomotive of that era, having been repainted with 'Great Western' on the tank sides for filming.<ref>SVR News 52</ref> The locomotive appeared both with its own number and as classmate 4506. The "GWR carriages" seen were three [[Ex-Longmoor Saloons]] which were on loan to the SVR from the Army Trust, having previously being in service at the Longmoor Military Railway. All three were repainted in GWR colours for filming purposes with permission of the Army Trust. The carriages were:<ref>SVR Stock Book Seventh Edition</ref>
*Family Saloon, Army 3006 (originally SECR 177 and later SR 7913) built at Ashford in 1907
*Family Saloon, Army 3007 (originally LSWR 11 and later SR 7803) built at Eastleigh in 1910 (both used in the passenger trains)
*6-wheel Saloon, Army 3005 built at Wolverton in 1910 and believed to have been used by LNWR CME George Whale (used in the 'royal train').
Scenes involving rolling stock are:
Part 1:
*4566 with a goods train passing through Highley, with [[GWR 813 Saddle Tank|813]] in the yard.
<gallery mode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">
Gods_Wonderful_Railway_Screenshot_4566_passing_813.jpg|4566 leaving Highley, passing 813
</gallery>
*4556 in a brief lineside shot with two carriages.
*4566 arriving at Highley at the head of a typical 'mixed' train with two carriages and [[GWR 104621 Mink 'A' Covered Goods Van|Mink A 104621]]. The locomotive then runs round while 813 is again seen in the yard.
<gallery mode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">
Gods_Wonderful_Railway_Screenshot_4566_mixed.jpg|4566 arriving with a 'mixed' train
Longmoor_3006.jpg|A "GWR carriage", originally an SE&CR Family Saloon
Longmoor_3007.jpg|A "GWR carriage", originally an LSWR Family Saloon
</gallery>
*4566 arriving at Highley with two carriages.
*The young George Grant and Ted Jarvis with '4506' and 813 at Highley
<gallery mode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">
Gods_Wonderful_Railway_Screenshot_4506_and_813.jpg| George Grant and Ted Jarvis with '4506' and 813
</gallery>
*'4506' arriving at Highley with a goods train.
<gallery mode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">
Gods_Wonderful_Railway_Screenshot_4506_freight.jpg| '4506' with a goods
</gallery>
*A closing shot of 4566 passing through Highley non-stop with the 'mixed'.
Part 2:
*4566 arriving at Highley with a goods train, filmed from inside the signal box.
*4566 arriving at Highley southbound with a passenger train.
*4566 leaving Highley with a passenger train.
*4566 leaving Highley with a passenger train.
*4566 leaving Highley southbound with a goods train.
Part 3:
*A distant shot of the 'Royal Train' (4566 with the 6-wheel LNWR Directors' Saloon) crossing [[Victoria Bridge]].
*The 'Royal Train' approaching Arley filmed from the [[Arley Station Bridge|road bridge]].
*The 'Royal Train' arriving at Highley.
<gallery mode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">
Gods_Wonderful_Railway_Screenshot_4566_Royal_Train.jpg|The Royal Train arriving at Highley
Longmoor_3005.jpg|Ex-LNWR 6-wheel saloon
</gallery>
*The 'Royal Train' leaving Highley.
*4566 arriving at Highley with two carriages.
*4566 at Highley with two carriages (heard but not seen departing).
*4566 arriving at Highley and departing southbound with a passenger train.
A brief clip of 4566 setting off from Arley was later reused by the BBC as a cutaway shot in the 1982 Doctor Who episode '[[Doctor Who (Black Orchid)|Black Orchid]]'.
Minor anachronisms:
*4566 dates from 1924. It also portrays classmate 4506 which was one of the first batch of 4500 Class locomotives built in 1906, although small prairies did not appear on the Severn Valley Branch until around the 1920s.
*[[GWR 104621 Mink 'A' Covered Goods Van|Mink A 104621]] also dates from 1924, although the 'Iron Minks' began to be replaced by wooden bodied examples in the early 1900s.
*The departure finger post shows "Arley, N'Wood, [[Bewdley]], [[Foley Park Halt|Foley Park]]"; [[Northwood Halt]] did not open until 1935 (also no service would ever have terminated at Foley Park).
*The [[Single line working using tokens|key token instruments]] in the signal box were not introduced by the GWR until 1914 and not on the Severn Valley Branch until after the Second World War. "Electric Staff" equipment was still in use in 1906.
===Fire on the Line===
In the final story (three episodes), set in 1939, George is Station Master at Arley; his son Andy has to deal with an evacuee from Birmingham billeted with the family, and becomes suspicious that a spy is trying to destroy [[Borle Viaduct]].
Scenes involving rolling stock are:
Part 1:
*A distant shot of a [[5764|GWR pannier 5764]] with three carriages crossing Victoria Bridge northbound, continuing into a scene with Andy and Ted Jarvis (now a driver) filmed on the footplate.
*5764 drawing into Platform 2 at Arley where Andy leaves the footplate
<gallery mode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">
Gods_Wonderful_Railway_Screenshot_5764.jpg|5764 arriving at Arley
</gallery>
*4566 with a goods train at Arley where Andy joins the footplate and the locomotive leaves, the action continues on the footplate ending with a shot of the train between stations.
<gallery mode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">
Gods_Wonderful_Railway_Screenshot_4566_freight_Arley.jpg|4566 at Arley
</gallery>
*A scene with the same train involving some loose shunting at the north end of Arley station.
<gallery mode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">
Gods_Wonderful_Railway_Screenshot_4566_freight_shunting.jpg|Loose shunting
</gallery>
*[[7819|7819 Hinton Manor]] with a 5-coach troop train leaving Arley southbound
*A brief night shot of [[LMS Stanier Class 5 45000|LMS 5000]] passing Arley southbound – Andy sees it from his bedroom window and later remarks that it was 'not one of ours'
*7819 Hinton Manor with a 3-coach train leaving Arley southbound, also filmed from the lineside and continuing with a scene filmed on the footplate.
*The train passing the [[Elan Valley Aqueduct]] with soldiers on guard duty.
<gallery mode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">
Gods_Wonderful_Railway_Screenshot_7819_Elan_Valley.jpg|7819 passing the Elan Valley Aqueduct
</gallery>
Part 2:
*A scene in [[Bridgnorth MPD|Bridgnorth yard]] where Andy helps Ted Jarvis cleaning 7819. 5764 and [[6960|6960 Raveningham Hall]] are also seen in the yard.
*Hinton Manor leaving [[Bridgnorth]] with a passenger train.
*A night shot of Hinton Manor arriving at Arley with an engineering train (following a bombing attack on Victoria Bridge)
Andy was also filmed at other locations on the Railway including [[Hay Bridge]] and [[Daniel's Mill]]
Part 3:
*5764 leaving Arley southbound with a passenger service
*7819 Hinton Manor crossing [[Oldbury Viaduct]] with a passenger service
*7819 Hinton Manor and 6960 Raveningham Hall leaving Bewdley double heading a troop train
*The same train is seen at various locations (not in geographical sequence) including passing [[Level crossing at Crossing Cottage|Crossing Cottage]], descending [[Eardington Bank]], passing [[Waterworks Crossing]], arriving at Arley, crossing Victoria Bridge and passing [[Hampton Loade]] before Andy manages to halt the train as it approaches Borle Viaduct. The train then passes through Arley again as the episode ends.
<gallery mode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">
Gods_Wonderful_Railway_Screenshot_7819_6960.jpg|7819 Hinton Manor and 6960 Raveningham Hall crossing Victoria Bridge
</gallery>
===Second Series===
A second series, consisting of a further two stories in five episodes, was scheduled for production in the spring of 1981. The scripts were completed in the summer of 1980 and were to have featured Highley, Hampton Loade and Bridgnorth in particular, together with many of the SVR's engines. The fourth story was set during the closure of the line with Andy, now an engine driver, driving the last train. The final story was set at the start of the SVR's preservation era. The scripts were accepted by the executive producer, however financial difficulties at the BBC led to a late decision to the second series being 'axed'<ref>SVR News 57, letter from Avril Rowlands</ref>.
==Novelisations==
Novelisations of the three stories were published in separate volumes:
* ''Permanent Way''(shortened from the television series title)
* ''Clear Ahead''
* ''Fire on the Line'' ==DVD release==The writer Avril Rowlands held a launch event at [[Kidderminster]] on 19 November 2017 to mark the release of the series on DVD.<ref>SVRLive</ref> Excerpts from the series were featured in a film show at [[Kidderminster Railway Museum]] on 27 January 2018 presented by Avril and Chris Rowlands, who also gave a talk on the work involved in making the series. In addition to the 8 episodes, the DVD also includes two 'special features' recorded at the time. "'''On The location'''" is a 25 minute documentary on the making of the series, showing how some of the railway scenes in "Fire on the Line" were filmed and including interviews with various cast members as well as Avril Rowlands and [[Alun Rees]]. "'''Blue Peter'''" is a 12 minute feature from the long-running children's TV programme which was broadcast the week before God's Wonderful Railway was first aired. Presenter Simon Groom introduced the upcoming series and visited the Severn Valley Railway where he interviewed Alun Rees and travelled on the footplate of Raveningham Hall between Bridgnorth and Arley. His journey was intercut with clips from the series filmed at Highley and Arley.<gallery mode=packed heights=200px style="text-align:left">Gods_Wonderful_Railway_DVD.jpg|DVD Cover</gallery> ==See also==*[[List of film and TV productions filmed on the Severn Valley Railway]] ==References==<references/> ==Links==[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398477/ God's Wonderful Railway on IMDb][[Category:Featured articles]]
