In October 1937, The Railway Magazine reported how Cliddesden station on the abandoned Basingstoke and Alton line had been used in Will Hay’s film Oh, Mr. Porter!. The contemporary account introduces the fictional Buggleskelly station and the elderly locomotive Gladstone, before recounting the film’s story.

“Oh, Mr. Porter”

Cliddesden becomes Buggleskelly

CLIDDESDEN station on the abandoned Basingstoke and Alton line of the Southern Railway has been enjoying a fresh lease of life. Flourishing under the assumed name of “Buggleskelly” it was the scene of action of Will Hay’s new film “Oh, Mr. Porter” lately filmed by Gainsborough Pictures (1928) Limited. The cast includes William Porter (Will Hay), Jeremiah Harbottle, Albert, and the redoubtable Gladstone, an ancient but stout-hearted engine (ex Kent & East Sussex Northiam).

William Porter takes charge

The story is briefly as follows: William Porter has been responsible for dozens of mishaps but the Superintendent dare not fire him—though he has longed to for twenty years—because William is related by marriage to the Managing Director. His wife has threatened to take him to live with her relatives if he loses his job on the railway. Eventually the Superintendent, in despair, offers him a small position at Aberdeen or Inverness, but William is determined to be a station-master. The Managing Director and the Superintendent find a vacancy at Buggleskelly, a small market town on the Southern Railway of Northern Ireland.

A supposedly haunted railway station

The superstitious Irish believe that Buggleskelly is haunted. The sole staff of the derelict station are the ancient Jeremiah Harbottle and his assistant Albert. These two have not been paid for months, but live quite comfortably by stealing and by paying for goods with tickets belonging to the company.

The mysterious excursion train

William tries to modernise Buggleskelly, and arranges an excursion. A one-eyed man buys all the tickets for the football team and William sees them off at 6 a.m. while Harbottle and Albert are sleeping off the effects of a brawl at the inn. Harbottle and Albert refuse to believe Will has really sent out an excursion, and tell the signalman to let the express through. To William’s surprise there is no crash; his train seems to have disappeared, and there is consternation on the line.

Gladstone and the missing train

The villagers declare Will’s one-eyed Irishman was a ghost, but he does not believe it and sets off with Harbottle and Albert in an ancient engine—Gladstone—to see whether the train is in a tunnel on a disused line. They find the train, and the one-eyed Irishman and his men loading it up with cases of arms. William realises they are gun-runners.

A dramatic escape

The gun-runners chase William, Harbottle, and Albert up the hill and to the top of a windmill, where they escape by climbing out on to the sails. They uncouple the excursion engine, at the same time attaching Gladstone to the other end of the train. Then they dash along the line with the gun-runners aboard, not daring to stop lest the men should get out. Harbottle suggests throwing out a message in a bottle, to warn the police.

Gladstone’s final journey

Unfortunately Gladstone is now out of hand, and dashes into the terminus. William is congratulated by the Superintendent for capturing a notorious gang and modestly passes the laurels on to the old engine Gladstone, but alas! the strain has been too much for its inside—and it bursts and blows to bits!