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Tonight on ITV at 19.30 started with some snapshots of Jonathan Maitland on an ELR express pulled by Sapper. Unless my eyes deceived me.

I wasn't aware of the filming. Was it a secret?

Again though, why didn't the ELR get mentioned as the place Sapper was visiting? Huge opportunity missed again for big publicity as thousands if not millions of people would be watching...

Conireland wrote:Again though, why didn't the ELR get mentioned as the place Sapper was visiting?

I suspect the TV production company paid the railway well for the use of the ELR as a nice backdrop of "old trains".

They will be paying to film on the railway, so it's therefore up to them, not the ELR, whether or not they mention if it's the ELR, which they obviously didn't want to do at all, as all station signs and running-in boards were meticulously edited out.

Mike

The usual arrangement is either to pay the location owners or give them a mention, not both. I guess it's a judgement call as to which is more profitable.

I do wonder sometimes if people ever look for the wider picture before thinking things are suppressed!

TV and film companies pay to use our land for a variety of productions and reasons and they can use the footage however they like. Some will happily mention and promote the railways while others choose not to - as long as they pay the money for hire they can do what they like as far as I'm concerned.

Tonight is a news programme and was reporting on the growth of rail travel. I didn't see it so haven't seen the footage but can picture it from what others have said. A steam engine is the staple sign of the railways in the golden days so hence the reason they filmed a sequence on a heritage railway - not a programme designed to promote a steam railway - it's set dressing as a way of setting the theme of the documentary.

It's a commercial contract generating revenue for the railway - and that helps in allowing us to operate this fantastic railway.

XTMike wrote:Tonight on ITV at 19.30 started with some snapshots of Jonathan Maitland on an ELR express pulled by Sapper. Unless my eyes deceived me.

I wasn't aware of the filming. Was it a secret?

http://player.stv.tv/programmes/tonight ... 7-07-1930/

andyc wrote:I do wonder sometimes if people ever look for the wider picture before thinking things are suppressed!

It's a commercial contract generating revenue for the railway - and that helps in allowing us to operate this fantastic railway.

That's what I was getting at Andy.

They've paid their money, so it's a dispassionate commercial deal.

My point was it's not like we'll have given them a "special rate" in return for a "mention". They pay the going rate, they come and shoot, and that's it.

Looks like this was tacked onto a midweek running day?

If so, then the TV company's fee will have made a big difference to the coffers, as the loco will have already been in steam. That can only be a good thing on our bottom line.

Mike