Steam not at Harringay, but at the cinema - twice

It's been a quiet period for steam at Harringay stations recently, so fortunately not one but two new films have a central role for a steam locomotive. Out on Friday 3 November is 'Murder on the Orient Express' with Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot. Then the following Friday the animated (in several senses) 'Paddington 2' is released, and 'Tornado' features not just at Paddington station but in 'a dash to the West Country'.

The Orient Express locomotive is an impressive-looking French 4-8-2 built in 1925, number 241-A-65 - which is the best way to find out more about it, though most information is in German since the loco is now running in Switzerland (Google Chrome's right-click 'Translate to English' for whole web pages is invaluable). Some passing shots were filmed on a rare non-electrified line in Switzerland, but a full-size rolling replica was built at the studio in Surrey for ease of extended filming. The wonders of CGI, eh?  Picture below, though the film makers have slightly modified the look of the front end for the film.

For the record, next steam excursion at Harringay should be 'Flying Scotsman' Saturday 11 November but passing through after dark. It should have run last Saturday but an overheating bearing has had to be taken away (with the driving wheels attached) and repaired. With the clocks going back, it means it'll be well after any twilight at 1745 - and the return trip is diesel hauled.

After that, Thu 23 Nov, very approximate time 0715; and Sat 9 Dec around 0910 [EDIT - now very unlikely to be steam hauled].

Unfortunately the excursion from Southend East on Sat 2 Dec cannot visit Harringay Green Lanes because the line will be closed that day. Again.

241-A-65 in action in 2010 [Image source Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, author "Peter elektro"].