8 February 1957 — Filming The Railway Children
In early 1957 the BBC began to remake Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children, using the same producer – Dorothea Brooking – script and a few cast members from the original 1951 production. Spread across eight episodes, the plan was to film all the outdoor railway scenes on one day at Baynards Station on the Horsham to Guildford Branch. Presumably Baynards was chosen as it was very photogenic, close to London and had no Sunday service.
The photograph was taken on 8 February 1957 at the south end of the station. To the right is ex-LSWR Class M7 30026 from Guildford Shed (70C) with the front of the cab number covered over to make it appear as No 26. The smokebox numberplate and shedcode were removed whilst other British Railways (BR) transfers were covered up.

To the left of the picture on the platform are some members of the cast but it is difficult to identify them nearly 70 years later. Amongst others who appeared in both productions were Jean Anderson (starred in The Brothers 1972–76) who played “Mother” and Clive Dunn (Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army 1968–77) as the “Railway Superintendent”.

Also used for filming was ex-LSWR T9 30310 based at Eastleigh Shed (71A), again with BR identifiers removed or obscured and running as No 10. Pictures of this engine and its two ex-LSWR coaches can also be found in the Archive Collection.
The series was shown weekly from Sunday 3 March 1957. It appears that none of the episodes have survived, nor have any from the earlier 1951 version.

Baynards station featured in at least nine other productions between 1942 – Will Hay in The Black Sheep of Whitehall – until early 1965 when it appeared in Rotten to the Core and Monster of Terror. The line closed from Monday 14 June 1965 and the track was subsequently removed.

Photo Credit: Colin Hogg [048546]