The Wrecker (play)

The Wrecker is a British play, written in 1924 by Arnold Ridley and Bernard Merivale, and filmed in 1928-29. Much later Ridley played Private Godfrey in Dad's Army.

The play is about an old engine driver who thinks his engine is malevolent and self-aware. The finale is a huge train wreck using elaborate stage special-effects as per The Ghost Train, an earlier and more famous play by Ridley. The play ran for 165 performances at St Martin's Theatre.

The play was adapted as a film under the same title released in 1929. It featured a spectacular crash between a passenger train and a Foden steam lorry stuck on a level crossing. The scene was filmed at Herriard on the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway, in one take, and destroyed both the steam wagon and the SECR F1 Class locomotive.

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