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__NOTOC__'''4.50 from Paddington''' is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in November 1957.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4.50_from_Paddington 4.50 from Paddington on Wikipedia] (retrieved 7 January 2017)</ref> Mrs. McGillicuddy, a friend of Miss Marple's, sees a woman being strangled in a passing train running parallel to her own. When police cannot find a body and doubt the story, Miss Marple enlists a professional housekeeper Lucy Eyelesbarrow to go undercover.<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092497/ Internet Movie Database] (retrieved 7 January 2017)</ref>
==Filming on the SVR==
Filming saw the most intense use of the railway since [[The Seven-Per-Cent Solution]], involving multiple locos and use of the re-laid section of the [[Stourport Branch | Stourport branch]], necessary to film the sequences of parallel running trains. The actress witnessing the crime was seated in a compartment of [[GWR 5883 Brake Third]]<ref>SVR News 149, Winter 2004-05</ref><ref group="note">The article in SVR news, written many years after filming took place, states this was Joan Hickson (Miss Marple). However the film plot suggests it would have been Mona Bruce</ref>.
For the main scene, [[80079]] was the locomotive on the first train, the “4.33 stopping at all stations to Brackhampton”, while former resident [[6960|6960 Raveningham Hall]] was the locomotive for Mrs. McGillicuddy’s 4.50 train. The two locomotives and their trains were filmed running parallel from the window of [[Bewdley South signal box]] and in a head on view of the two smokeboxes. Shots of the crime taking place on the adjacent train were filmed from the window of Mrs McGillicuddy's compartment.
In a second scene, Miss Marple and Mrs McGillicuddy retrace the journey to Brackhampton looking look for possible locations where a body might have been thrown from the train. Their train, hauled by [[4566]], was filmed in the vicinity of [[Safari Park|Safari Park Curve]] with Burlish Top visible in the background. Having established that an embankment near 'Rutherford Hall' was the only possible location, they arrive at Brackhampton ([[Bewdley|Bewdley platform 2]]), where the two ladies alight from their compartment on [[GWR 5883 Brake Third]].<ref group="note">The carriage number is visible on the opened door. The carriage was also the subject of an article in SVR News 149, Winter 2004-05</ref>
At Miss Marple's request, Lucy Eylesbarrow secures temporary employment at the Hall to investigate. While searching the embankment for clues, 6960 is briefly seen again at the head of a passing train.
A small anachronism; the film includes several references to the crime taking place on the day of the launch of Sputnik I, dating it to October 1957. After 1951 [[Carriage and Wagon numbering |GWR carriages were renumbered]] with additional letters to account for the introduction of Mk 1 stock. However the GWR carriages seen on the 4.33 at Paddington still have (fictional) GWR-style numbers like 6041 rather than the period correct W6041W.
==See also==
[[List of film and TV productions filmed on the Severn Valley Railway]]
