Farrell wants ‘Train Robbery' film link marked as 40th anniversary approaches

Trainrobbers, actors and filmcrews were all big news in Westmeath in 1978 when the Mullingar to Athlone trainline became the set for a major Hollywood film, 'The First Great Train Robbery'.

Now, as the fortieth anniversary of the film's 1979 release comes down the tracks, Cllr Tom Farrell is calling on the county council to publicise the locations used in the film, which starred Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland with the lead female role played by Lesley-Anne Down who was at the time well-known through her appearances in the hit TV series Upstairs Downstairs.

During filming, the cast and crew of The First Train Robbery were accommodated at the Royal Hoey Hotel in Athlone, which stood on the site now occupied by the Athlone Towncentre shopping centre.

At a meeting last week of the Athlone Municipal District Committee, Cllr Farrell proposed that heritage story boards be erected on the Old Rail Trail alerting users to the track's role in film history.

Locations along the greenway that featured in the film included the track between Mullingar and Streamstown, and the railway station in Moate.

Other Irish locations used in the film were Trinity College and Heuston Station in Dublin as well as Kent Railway Station in Cork.

The official written response to Cllr Farrell stated that an audit of all tourist related signage is underway and this will facilitate a full review.

“The provision of the suggested signage is important and will be implemented as soon as practicable,” the response concluded.

Cllr Farrell pushed to have the connection publicised, and told The Westmeath Examiner this week that many younger people are not aware of the film, which was a huge hit at the time, winning the Edgar Allen Poe movie award for Best Motion Picture.

When it got its first Irish television screening on RTE 1 in February 1982, ratings soared and a large Irish audience tuned in. It was screened a few nights later on Britain’s ITV, and also got a huge audience there.

The movie told the semi-fictional tale of a train robbery in England in the 1850s during which a £12,000 haul of gold in coins and ingots destined for the British Army in Crimea was stolen from the London-to-Folkestone passenger train.

The writer/director was American, Michael Crichton, who went on to create the dinosaur movie epic ‘Jurassic Park’ and the hit award-winning television series, ‘ER’.