I have voted this very watchable 1950’s Ealing Studios film my favourite film of all time. I have watched this film time and time again since well before video was ever even thought of and in those days you had to wait for things to be repeated on television before you had a chance to see it a second or third time!

The Titfield Thunderbolt was originally committed to VHS tape, I didn’t have a video player, but I bought the tape anyway for when I did get one. Then came the DVD in 2006 and it was on my ‘must have’ list - the video went to a neighbour who just loves the film too.

There’s those these days who would call the Titfield Thunderbolt ‘tame’ but railway enthusiast or not this quaint little film tells the story of a branch line due to be closed by Dr Beeching and how the local residents decide that they want to run it themselves. The fly in the ointment comes from two wide-boys who have seen fit to introduce a bus route in direct competition with the newly formed private railway company.

The film follows the fortunes of the local residents as they fight to be allowed to run their railway and once granted that opportunity to try have to suffer as the boys from the bus company try to sabotage their efforts - with dramatic results.

The climax of the film is that after the bus-boys think they have done their worst and the railway will never attain its full licence - the railway manages to overcome all obstacles set before them and they achieve their licence by a hairs breadth.

Filmed on the Camerton & Limpley Stoke Railway (now but a mere memory) what many viewers do not realise is that the screen play was inspired by the visit of T.E.B. Clarke with the famous railway author R.T.C. Rolt to Tywyn Station in Wales where the Tal-Y-Llyn Railway became the first ever preserved railway. Not only that but Mr Clarke’s next door neighbour (one Dr Beeching no less) advised him on matters of accuracy!

A heart warming and humorous look at the struggles of the worlds first preserved railway, it is simply a lovely story of local comradeship, pulling together and of the opposition that still stands in the ways of many of the preservation movements of today. In this film the good guys win - sadly today that isn’t always true.

If you want to watch a film that takes you away from the pressures of 21st Century living, then this is a great little number whether you like trains or not. Life was simpler and Health & Safety had not gone over the top.

The characters are typical of the period, are totally believable but sadly in real life no longer with us. This cannot be said of the Titfield Thunderbolt herself. The engines real name is Lion and she is safely in preservation I’ve even seen her on one of the rare occasions that she is steamed.

Personally I’ve seen this film so many times I can recite chunks of the dialogue. As someone said to me I am apt to watch this film ad nauseam but I believe this to a solid testimonial to an excellent movie. What a shame as they say that the don’t make ‘em like this any more.

Rating: 10