Talk:Night Mail

Untitled
Removed "move to Wikisource" banner on the grounds that I've added some encyclopedic info. I'm not at all certain about the copyright status, though, as it is a 20th century work. Lee M 02:12, 7 May 2005 (UTC)


 * When re-watching a video I'd made some years ago of the Channel 4 showing of the film, the numbers on the front of the engines are rather too blurred for recognition, but don't look at all like 6115. At Crewe the engine shown arriving as the narrator states that "the scheduled stop for the postal special is 13 minutes" has a number that looks rather like 6523. Just at the end the camera pans over engines at Glasgow Central and shows "Seaforth Highlander" with its number painted on the side ending in 08, which ties in with LMS Royal Scot Class listing it as 6108. At Crewe an engine with 2933 on its side is shown arriving twice, before and after the postal special arrives, and one with a blurred number which may be 1073 is also shown arriving before the postal special. The glimpses of the sides of the postal special locomotive don't seem consistent, and when searching for a source for the "6115" claim found this discussion which seems very probable. The cleaned up DVD may show the numbers better. I was also unable to find the point in the film that the image was taken from: the sky is black above the shots showing a close up of the front: the image seems to have come from Britmovie and may not be from the film. All in all it's quite likely that the film had more than one "star" and a cite is needed for the claim. ...dave souza, talk 10:26, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
 * By the way, I came across this link for the poem: worth adding? ..dave souza, talk 10:32, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

Original is on youtube
Worth including? Night Mail Graldensblud 21:40, 15 May 2007 (UTC) THE LOCOMOTIVE USED IN THE FILM FROM LONDON TO CREWE WAS AN UN-NAMED LMS PATRIOT CLASS LOCO RUNNING NUMBER 5513 ( NOT NUMBER 6523 ) AND AS FOR THE LOCO FROM CREWE TO GLASGOW LMS ROYAL SCOT 6108 SEAFORTH HIGHLANDER DOES FIT WITH THE FILM AS THE LOCO THAT LEAVES CREWE AFTER THE ENGINE CHANGE IS A NAMED LOCO AS YOU GET A GLIMPS OF THE NAME PLATE ON THE WHEEL SPLASHERS AS IT DEPARTS FROM CREWE

The locomotive leaving Crewe is power class 5XP so another Patriot. The arrival scene in Scotland shows an early (domeless) class 5.

BR version from 1980s
An advertisment was done by BR just before privatisation: this is also on you-tube.

It uses the same first line, and the same beat throughout, but with these lyrics.

This is the night mail crossing the border Bringing the cheque and the postal order Letters for the rich, letters for the poor, The shop at the corner, and the girl next door Pulling up Beattock a steady climb The gradient's against her, but she's on time Passing the shunter intent on its toil, Moving the coke and the coal and the oil Girders for bridges, plastic for fridges, Bricks for the site are required by tonight Grimy and grey is the engine's reflection Down to the docks for the metal collection The passenger train is full of commuters Bound for the office to work on computers The teacher, the doctor, the actor in farce The typist, the banker, the judge in first class Reading The Times with a crossword to do Returning at night on the six forty-two,

See, eg "The Discourse of Advertising" by By Guy Cook, ebrary, Inc, Carol E. M. Cardno, David Middlewood also http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ddtPI07hhA8

--Wendy.krieger (talk) 11:07, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Parody of Night Mail
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXclBd4Utgg - Alexei Sayle, possibly with his co-writers on his series Andrew Marshall and David Renwick, update Night Mail for the junk-mail age... :c) 92.62.2.239 (talk) 12:28, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

New commons images
I've now uploaded six freely licenced images to the commons category Night Mail that can be used in the article. I will find the official poster which should also be freely licenced. The 6115 engine image does not actually seem to appear in the film at all but is featured in several places though I did see engine 5552 (the at speed image). There are sources that support 6115 being used in the film so maybe that needs some more research. The current link to YouTube is only to a clip but the full film is available there in a few sources. Maybe this could be nominated for a GA soon. Good luck. ww2censor (talk) 14:02, 10 September 2018 (UTC)