The Midlander (film)

Teaser poster

**The Midlander** is the movie that begins 'The Midlander' franchise. It is mostly set in 1962 and ends in 2012 to foreshadow the series.

## Plot

The story begins in 1962 and introduces the locomotives of railway line from Northampsmith to Gladsville, with Jenny running a commuter train at reckless speeds, while near slamming into Hughes and almost smashing through some buffers at Gladsville Harbour.

## Characters (in order of appearance)

* Jenny
* Jinty
* Kate
* Bradshaw
* Stanley
* Hughes
* Sharon
* Johnny
* Victoria
* Multiple diesels (do not speak)
* Beachy Head
* Unnamed Black Five (cameo)
* New South Wales
* Royal Scot
* Barclay
* Dave
* Unnamed Princess Royal
* Thomas
* Gordon (mentioned)
* Taffy
* Webb
* Capulet
* Unnamed Kerr Stuart Victory
* Hunter
* Leander ("Leanne")
* Titan
* The Sherwood Forester
* Unnamed ROD 2-8-0 (only seen in photograph)
* Westminster (cameo)

## Locations

* Northampsmith MPD
* Northampsmith station
* Ryde station
* Northrop station
* Birdsville station
* Gladsville station
* Gladsville Dockyard
* Gladsville MPD
* Diesel depot
* Crewe
* Sodor (mentioned)
* London (mentioned)
* Scotland (mentioned)
* Horwich Works (mentioned)
* Western Region (mentioned)

## Production

The original script was completed in late 2019 with a small voice cast being slightly made. By mid/late-2020, filming hadn't begun because of the 2019-2020 Covid-19 pandemic which slowed down production of the film.

The film is to use OO gauge model trains with added CGI steam to make the series "realistic".

## Trivia

The film is based on the preservation efforts of the Talyllyn Railway in 1952 and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in 1973.

* Both railways are mentioned at the end of the film in the credits.

The credit sequence is mostly made from archival footage of steam locomotives during BR day up to the early 2000s.

The end of the 1962 sequence is picked up in the first episode of 'The Midlander: The Series 1960s', 'Veteran Rescue from Swindon'.

The film (and the series) is named after a passenger service seen in both the UK's London-Midland Region and Queensland, Australia.

* The UK version of 'The Midlander' is still seen in the mainline preservation movement.

The original release date was going to be sometime in 2020 but because of the Covid-19 pandemic, production was slowed down.

The film was inspired by YouTuber 'TheScotsmanReturns' film 'The Little Westerner', uploaded on January 2nd 2019 following the cancellation of his original proposed film 'Rails to Salvation'. The film itself is an origin story of ex-GWR 1400 class 0-4-2T No. 1436 aka Oliver during his time working on the Falmouth branchline during the rise of dieselisation in the UK under the 1955 Moderisation Plan.

* The Little Westerner appears to be based off 'How to Train your Dragon 2' due to the plotline and most of the music.
* Some of the story in The Little Westerner was salvaged and altered in The Midlander.

## Goofs

Some of the locomotives and all the rolling stock don't have sprung buffers.

The reach rod on most of the characters doesn't move when the engines change direction.

Tension lock couplings are seen.