Railway Film Locations

Train Chartering's rail-related location finding services continue to expand with station and train locations at opposite ends of England for an ITV television drama & its third Bollywood film production.

Train Chartering is increasingly applying its in-house knowledge of the railway to the solving of late notice and difficult requests for filming on trains and railway property. Current clients include the major TV stations and film production companies, with an increasing credit list of Bollywood productions, built on a number of successful shoots.

Train Chartering also arranges the raod transportation of single train carriages for filming at studios or other non-railway locations.

Recently Train Chartering supplied a private First Class carriage on a modern intercity train for ITV Television, the UK's largest commercial television network. The programme is "Ditch the Bitch", starring Kevin Whately and Alison Steadman. The carriage had a dual purpose, for filming and to transport crew & actors to Liverpool for onward travel by air to the Isle of Man. The train was a Virgin Trains Pendolino, the most modern long distance trains on the UK rail network. On-platform filming was arranged at London Euston Station prior to departure. The train ran on time and all filming was completed as planned.

Subsequently Train Chartering sourced and managed a combined train & station location requirement for a Bollywood production, 'Bhagum Bhag' (Run, Run), produced by Shri Astavinayak Cinevision and directed by the well-known Priyadarshan. The film stars Akshay Kumar, Lara Datta, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Jackie Shroff, Govinda and Asrani.

The modern train was a scheduled Southern Railway regional service from London's Victoria Station to Brighton with two private carriages. The appearance & vaulted roof of Brighton Station is similar to a major London railway station.

The line producer, Ashwani Chopra of Simy Art Enterprises, said, "It was a pleasure working with Train Chartering to ensure the day went smoothly". Lee Alliston, location manager, added, "Many thanks to Train Chartering for help in organising our shoot at short notice. The director was extremely happy with the results. All staff were very professional and I could not ask for a better days shooting."

Train Chartering list of credits now includes: 'Manchild', 'The Passer By' and 'Derailed' for the BBC; 'Ultimate Force' & 'Ditch the Bitch' for ITV; 'If Only' and 'Green Street Hooligans' for independent film productions; "Nenjil Jil Jil", "Dil Diya Hai" and "Bhagum Bhag" for Bollywood production companies.

These productions required a mix of rail locations: Trains running on the main line railway, filming time at modern stations, a rail depot and private railway locations. Train Chartering has also road-hauled a carriage to a non-railway site.