# Elizabethan Express > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Elizabethan_Express > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Elizabethan_Express.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_Express > Source revision: 1339982559 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|1954 British film by Tony Thompson}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}} {{Use British English|date=November 2010}} {{Infobox film | image = Elizabethan Express.jpg | caption = [LNER Class A4](/source/LNER_Class_A4) 60017 ''Silver Fox'' at [London King's Cross railway station](/source/London_King's_Cross_railway_station) | name = Elizabethan Express | writer = [Paul Le Saux](/source/Paul_Le_Saux) | narrator = [Alan Wheatley](/source/Alan_Wheatley)
[Howard Marion-Crawford](/source/Howard_Marion-Crawford) | director = Tony Thompson | producer = [Edgar Anstey](/source/Edgar_Anstey) | distributor = [British Transport Films](/source/British_Transport_Films) | released = {{Film date|1954}} | music = [Clifton Parker](/source/Clifton_Parker) | runtime = 20 minutes | language = English }} '''''Elizabethan Express''''' is a 1954 [British Transport Film](/source/British_Transport_Films) that follows ''[The Elizabethan](/source/The_Elizabethan)'', a non-stop [British Rail](/source/British_Rail)ways service from [London King's Cross](/source/London_King's_Cross_railway_station) to [Edinburgh Waverley](/source/Edinburgh_Waverley_railway_station) along the [East Coast Main Line](/source/East_Coast_Main_Line). Although originally intended as an advertising short, it now acts as a nostalgic record of the halcyon years of steam on [British Rail](/source/British_Rail)ways and the ex [LNER Class A4](/source/LNER_Class_A4). It was directed by Tony Thompson, with a tongue-in-cheek poetic commentary written by Paul Le Saux.{{Screenonline title|id=705726|name=Elizabethan Express}} Retrieved 4 February 2008. It is also notable for its music by [Clifton Parker](/source/Clifton_Parker), who also wrote the score for ''[Blue Pullman](/source/Blue_Pullman_(film))'' and several other [British Transport Films](/source/British_Transport_Films). He was later to write the music for the 1959 version of ''[The Thirty-Nine Steps](/source/The_39_Steps_(1959_film))'', which also features an A4. ==Synopsis== The film follows the preparation behind the service, as well as focusing on one particular journey. The 'star' of the film is the [Gresley A4](/source/LNER_Class_A4) 60017 ''Silver Fox'', although the film makes a point of featuring many railway employees, for example the maintenance men, the driver and fireman and the station master at [Waverley station](/source/Edinburgh_Waverley_railway_station) "who has a very high sense of occasion". The train completes its journey in its timetabled 6 hours 30 minutes. It is still highly regarded for its well-filmed sequences by cinematographer [Billy Williams](/source/Billy_Williams_(cinematographer)) showing the operation of the East Coast Main Line and the Gresley A4 as it was in mainline use, for example the water scoop and corridor tender, although the whimsical verse commentary dates the work considerably.''The Railway magazine'', Volume 149, 2003. p.30 The film also offers a social record of the different hierarchies existing within the railway, as well as the fashion and people in the 1950s, albeit in a romanticised portrayal.''[http://www.movinghistory.ac.uk/archives/bn/films/bn2elizabethan.html Elizabethan Express] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061209201044/http://www.movinghistory.ac.uk/archives/bn/films/bn2elizabethan.html |date=9 December 2006 }}'' at Moving History. Retrieved 4 February 2008. ==Background== ''[The Elizabethan](/source/The_Elizabethan)'' was a daily non-stop service in celebration of the new '[Elizabethan](/source/Elizabeth_II)' era of the early 1950s. Departure from both ends was in mid-morning, for a teatime arrival. It ran only during the summer months, including in 1953 and 1954. It was able to make the {{convert|393|mi|adj=on}} journey from London to Edinburgh non-stop by using [LNER Class A4](/source/LNER_Class_A4) steam locomotives equipped with a [corridor tender](/source/Corridor_tender), enabling a change of crew en route. It also required drivers to take up as much water as possible at the [troughs](/source/Track_pan), since the journey called for over {{convert|11000|impgal|L}} of water. The journey time of 6 hours 30 minutes gave an end-to-end average speed of just over {{convert|60|mph|abbr=on}}, regarded as a creditable achievement given the poor state of British Railways infrastructure in the immediate postwar era. At the time this was the longest scheduled non-stop railway journey in the world.{{cite news | title=War & peace: Railway practice and performance | first = P.W.B. | last = Semmens | work=The Railway Magazine | location = London | page = 53 | date = January 1993 }} The article includes the full log of the up ''Elizabethan'''s journey on 17 August 1954, when 60009 ''Union of South Africa'' brought it into King's Cross one minute early. ==See also== * [List of named passenger trains of the United Kingdom](/source/List_of_named_passenger_trains_of_the_United_Kingdom) ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.britishtransportfilms.co.uk/ British Transport Films website] *{{IMDb title|0368708}} * {{Screenonline title|id=705726|name=Elizabethan Express}} *[http://www.britishtransportfilms.co.uk/productions/films/BT0144/BT144.html Screenshots from the film at the BTF website] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20061209201044/http://www.movinghistory.ac.uk/archives/bn/films/bn2elizabethan.html ''Moving History'' website, including clips of the film ] Category:British Transport Films Category:Films scored by Clifton Parker Category:1954 English-language films Category:British short documentary films Category:1954 short documentary films Category:British black-and-white films Category:1954 British films Category:Rail transport films Category:English-language documentary films --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Elizabethan Express](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_Express) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_Express?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.