This, I think I can promise you, will be the last post inspired by Lord Peter Wimsey and his Five Red Herrings.
Big Water of Fleet Viaduct is on the former railway line that linked Stranraer with Castle Douglas. After a 104 year life of mixed fortunes it fell to the Beaching Axe in 1965 and would surely have escaped my attentions had it not featured in the BBC adaptation of Dorothy L. Sayers' novel.
Here is Lord Peter (left), half way through re-enacting his solution to the mystery. As you see, the viaduct is an imposing structure and well worth a visit, even without the 'Wimsey' connexion.
The brickwork around the viaduct's uprights is clearly an afterthought, imparting little to its artistic splendour, and was added in either 1924, 1926 or 1940, depending on which website you consult. My guess, for what it's worth, is that the Scottish Places (1924) and Railscot (1926) sites have it wrong as the proud LMS Railway would surely have taken greater care. But in 1940 the railways had more pressing priorities. According to an on-site information board and the Forgotten Relics website, this line had become strategically important and needed to be strengthened to take heavier trains, and with a war to be won there was no time or inclination to make it 'pretty'.
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| Click the photo for a clearer view. |
But what is this that I read (above)? The viaduct featured in Alfred Hitchcock's film version of John Buchan's book "The 39 Steps" and in "Five Red Herrings", a 1975 TV story for Lord Peter Wimsey. I have the Alfred Hitchcock version of 39 Steps on DVD but couldn't recall seeing Big Water of Fleet Viaduct. On returning home from Scotland I watched it again and no, it's not there. I can therefore confidently state that a whole raft of websites are wrong.
But this, the famous Forth Bridge, definitely does feature. It's where Richard Hannay jumps from the train and eludes the police by hiding behind a bridge column. It doesn't look much like Big Water of Fleet Viaduct, does it!
Hannay boards a train at St Pancras and buys from an irate guard a ticket to Newton Stewart. At Dumfries he catches a slow Galloway train, which would take him over the Big Water of Fleet Viaduct. The mystery was solved! Hollywood had 'enhanced' the story, moving it to the famous Forth Bridge and adding some dramatic and perilous antics by Richard Haney. Sloppy research, followed by a succession of web authors who were happy to copy others' work without checking, has unwittingly perpetuated a myth. Never trust all you read on the Internet!
In the book there is no dramatic police chase along the corridors of the Scottish Express and no escape along a bridge. Hannay alights at "a little place whose name I scarcely noted, set right in the heart of a bog." Perhaps it was this one, Gatehouse Station, near the beginning of our walk.
The platforms were surprisingly long for a station in the middle of nowhere. It purported to serve Gatehouse of Fleet, some 6 miles away and far from the boggy wastes of the Big Water of Fleet.
It's definitely seen better days.
John Buchan's 'The 39 Steps' - essentially a spy thriller largely set in Buchan's beloved Galloway - is still an exciting read, and miles better than any of the films made from it. Interesting that even after 53 years there is much to see of the old railway.
ReplyDeleteLucy
Just watch this film and the viaduct is not in 39 steps but the forth rail bridge is in 39 steps
ReplyDeleteAgreed! The illustrations in this post are from my own copy of the film - a film that I quite enjoy, despite its glaring deviations from John Buchan's book. I wonder whether anyone's thought to put a "39 Steps" plaque on the Forth Bridge?
DeleteMy dads family lived at gatehouse station and he told me they had to leave it for a day while filming took place
ReplyDeleteNow that's interesting. I don't recall Gatehouse Station featuring in the Robert Donat original of 39 Steps or the Kenneth More remake. Another film, perhaps?
DeleteI do hope that we didn't disturb your family when we trudged through the station in 2018.