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Analysis:
Of the original six scripts aired, this was the darkest
script. With hushed whisperings of locomotives being cut-up on sidings, diesels making their first appearance (albeit,
in the black and white sequences of the episode), this was a very different episode to that which had gone before.
The longest of the first six episodes,
the episode was actually filmed both in the daytime and at night, the crash sequence being the biggest headache for the film
makers. This was due in part to the question: do you show a crash sequence, which with models may not look wholly realistic.
The decision was made to “imply” a crash – the night time setting took most of the detail out of
the shots, and blacking out to simply the sound effects of the crash was found to be more emotive than an actual showing of
the crash.
This episode is the last time the two standard 4MTs are
seen in the series – however the standard 4MT that Stephen was talking to has returned, bizarrely, as the face
of Thompson, the B2 mixed traffic engine. “The face just seemed to fit the character”.
Episode Six has of course, the biggest historical inaccuracy
in it – no B12s were ever painted Express Passenger Blue, as it was only to be used on locomotives of British Railways
power classification “8P”. Only the ex-Western Kings, ex Southern Railway Battle of Britain, Merchant
Navy and West Country classes, ex-LMS Duchesses and Princesses, and ex-LNER A1s, A1/1, A3 and A4s were painted
in the scheme, which started in 1950 and was replaced by the standard Brunswick Green in the mid-50s.
As far as receptions go, Episode Six proved very popular,
although it was labelled a Flying Kipper re-enactment, which was felt by the production team to be an unfair comparison.
For instance, both episodes indeed feature a crashing goods train. That much is certain. The differences lie in the story
being told. The script was inspired by an actual accident in the 1940s which involved a B12 on a mixed goods hitting a parcels
train – this was due to confusion as to what section the respective trains were in. Secondly, the weather of the two
incidents was wholly different – one, during the winter and in snow, the other in autumn, and not a factor (unlike
the Flying Kipper) in the accident.
The differences between Stephen and Henry
could not be more acute either. The latter, a sickly engine, is effectively rebuilt/replaced as an identifiable class of locomotive.
Stephen, an old locomotive, comes back rebuilt and repainted – but this was happening to the Holden B12s anyway
(being reclassified B12/3 when rebuilt with round top boilers to a Gresley specification), so on that basis, the
historical content of the episode far out strips the Flying Kipper episode.
Lastly, it has to be said – the episode was much
more powerful and emotive than the Flying Kipper. Engines were shown to be capable of much more complex emotions, and
in Allen and Sir Ralph's case especially, shown to be more than just one dimensional characters acting out
a script. On that basis, it is generally considered by the production team, that Episode Six was the best of the original
bunch.
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