by Mark Collins

This item came about after our visit to Toton. Whilst there the Class 47 (47829) in police colours was on the yard and the Director, Dave Hatter, thought it would make an unusually interesting piece.

We filmed it at Old Oak Common on a boiling hot summers day with Lew Adams former General Secretary of ASLEF.

Lew was wearing his SRA hat to promote the “Track Off” campaign, which aims to crack down on trespassing and vandalism on the railways.

Besides wearing his SRA hat, Lew was also wearing an Arsenal tie, so he came in for some stick from me but I was “outgunned” by the other Arsenal fans on our team.

He also had some great stories of when he was a driver and told me the chilling story about the time he was involved in an accident.

If you look carefully at the opening credits of the series, you can see me giving the “thumbs up” from the cab of 47829 and it was while I was chatting to the driver in the cab that I noticed the new Class 180’s being tested on the mainline out of Paddington. That’s when I had the idea to film the HST’s and the Adelante Class 180’s at St Phillips Marsh Bristol.

Thanks to Lew Adams, the team from Virgin Trains and everyone at Old Oak Common. Apparently it’s very rare for a film crew to be given access to this depot so I feel very privileged.

Trainspotting.links (will open in a new window)

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/markshipman/railway/class47r.htm
http://uk.geocities.com/class47hauled/newsarchive17.html
http://www.btp.police.uk/