Leeds Engines in Film
All | Kitson | Manning Wardle | Hunslet | Hudswell Clarke | John Fowler | Booth
Locally made engines can be found in a number of big screen roles. The city itself has a strong connection to the early days of the film industry. This pioneering film work is covered in the displays of the Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills
The Titfield Thunderbolt: Todd Kitson & Laird Lion
One of the best known film appearances of a Leeds built engine is that of Todd Kitson & Laird's Lion taking a staring roll in the Ealing Comedy The Titfield Thunderbolt in 1953. In the story one of the attempts to sabotage the line had put their 14xx tank out of action and Museum piece "Thunderbolt" is pressed in to action. The clip below of the making of the film only shows a brief shot of Lion but also has some interesting insights in to how a couple of the most challenging scenes were filmed in the days before CGI.
The Lady With the Lamp
Lion was also a star in this film which was based on the Reginald Berkeley stage play, this compelling historical drama offers a depiction of the life story of Florence Nightingale (Anna Neagle), the young 19th-century Englishwoman famously drawn to a career in nursing. Traveling to Turkey during the Crimean War, Florence gains a reputation for being devoted to the care of wounded soldiers and for pioneering higher standards for sanitary hospital conditions.