Romance is in the air at UK train station
Print Edition
IT’S a small-town railway station, off the beaten track in a far-flung corner of remote northern England. It stands at the gateway to one of Britain’s most mountainous areas, the scenic Lake District.
Despite its remoteness the station is regarded by many as the most romantic railway station in Britain, perhaps even the world. Couples make the long pilgrimage to Carnforth to propose marriage, others make a detour on their honeymoon.
And it is all to do with a British film made 70 years ago which showed two of the country’s superstars of the 1940s parting on the platform of Carnforth station as they realize their illicit love affair has to end. Their encounters took place beneath the large old fashioned station clock in the station’s refreshment room that keeps good time to this day.
Next year sees the 70th anniversary of the making of the famous romantic film, “Brief Encounter,” which stunned the nation as World War II drew to a close.
The kisses and embraces, with pin-up star Trevor Howard locked in romantic clinches with leading lady Celia Johnson — him playing a doctor, her in the part of a married, middle class housewife — are still talked about today. Even today fans of the film debate whether the pair actually consummated their illicit relationship.
The fate of Carnworth Station this week generated a major debate in the Houses of Parliament, with numerous references made in the historic chamber to that famous love affair.
The local Member of Parliament David Morris December 18 won the debate in the British Parliament to ask for the full-length platforms at the famous station to be re-instated.
Currently the station is used as a modest branch line to connect with mainline trains in the nearby city of Lancaster. But thanks to a team of volunteers and fundraisers, Carnforth Station is enjoying a renaissance among travelers and fans of the epic film. Morris reminded MPs that in the 1940s, Carnforth was a bustling junction station connecting the north, south, east and west of the country. But the demise of the steam trains in the 1960s led to the station being downgraded.
He told politicians: “The station has a rich history. The station clock is an iconic part of that film — I am sure that many MPs are familiar with the romantic scenes that occurred in front of it.”
More than 5,000 people have signed a public petition to Parliament calling for the station’s original status, with full length platforms, to be reinstated.
Another MP, Lilian Greenwood, even recited some of the lines from the film, recalling that Celia Johnson’s character described the station refreshment room “the most ordinary place in the world.”
Although the station is legendary among fans of “Brief Encounter,” the politicians say the upgrading of the station is aimed at improving the area’s economic vitality. Whether the station will be fully re-instated to its 1940s glory days has yet to be decided.
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