The Galloping Major

(1951, Basil Radford, Jimmy Hanley, Janette Scott)

Horse racing romp features a good number of British stars in minor roles. You can glimpse Kenneth More, Charles Hawtrey, Joyce Grenfell and Sid James, for example! Central to the plot is a horse racing syndicate at the fictional London Transport Lambs Green garage, and a horse which proves to be useless as a flat racer but great over the jumps. As a result they enter said nag in the Grand National steeplechase.
The opening features a roofbox AEC RT, RT500 (HLX317) displaying a variety of route numbers and the opening credits on front side and back:
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Establishing scene outside the bus garage: the two nearest are clearly AECs but what about the third at the back?
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The running girl is halted by emerging STL433 (AXM691), and we get a first glimpse inside the garage. Note the garage code is AB, although this is London Transport's Holloway garage (J). In 1951 STL433 was allocated to RD (Hornchurch).
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A scene aboard an unidentified bus:
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A meeting inside the garage, with STLs being worked on in the background:
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Here's a surprise: venerable LGOC B340 (LA9928) is also apparently allocated to this garage, and is used for a day at the races:
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STL1821 (DLU49) is seen being cleaned at the garage:
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The ladies here are watching a meeting taking place:
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Much of the latter half of the movie is taken up with an outing to the Grand National in Liverpool, using B340 and two STLs, although two RTs are seen at the start of the adventure, including what appears to be RT701 (JXC64). Great to see B340 in action, but part of the high speed trip is made with steam billowing from the radiator:
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The STLs can't be identified, but they are identical:
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Liverpool trams:
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….and a Liverpool Corporation bus:
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Last modified: 2025/07/30 11:14