Meetings with Remarkable Men Film – English Scenes
This biographical drama is based on the book of the same name by G. I. Gurdjieff, first published in English in 1963. Although largely shot on location in Afghanistan there are a handful of English scenes one of which, most unusually, is set in a railway works. This was filmed at the Didcot Railway Centre with actors and members of the Great Western Society working on the frames of GWR ‘Castle’ Class 4-6-0 No.5051 Drysllwyn Castle. The restoration of the loco was completed in early-1980. The Gurdjieff film was released in 1979.
Gurdjieff Film – English Scenes at Didcot Railway Works
Gurdjieff inside the Railway Shed
The Restored Loco – Drysllwyn Castle 5051
5051 ‘Drysllwyn Castle’ was built at Swindon in May 1936. She was renamed ‘Earl Bathurst’ in August 1937 and carried that name for the rest of her GWR and BR life. Both names are regularly used on the locomotive at Didcot. Stationed almost exclusively at Landore (Swansea) depot, for working to London and the Midlands, she was rarely seen elsewhere.
Withdrawn by BR as surplus to requirements, from Llanelly depot in 1963, she was sent for scrapping to Woodham Bros. of Barry, from where it was rescued by a Society member, and brought to Didcot in February 1970. Out shopped in 1980 she took part in the Rocket 150 celebrations at Rainhill in May of that year. She then ran many main line specials between (in the early years with Didcot’s vintage train) until 1986 when the main line ticket ran out. The engine then ran at Didcot until the boiler certificate ran out in 1990.
Following a second overhaul she was returned to service, and enjoyed runs out on the mainline once more, and visits to other preserved railways as well as Didcot duties. In 2008 the latest boiler certificate expired and the locomotive is now on static display until such time as a further overhaul can take place.
Didcot Railway Centre
Didcot Railway Centre is the home of the Great Western Society
Get closer to the Great Western Society’s history through this collection and immerse yourself in nearly 200 years of social and commercial history.
The Great Western Society exists to preserve, restore and operate, as a permanent public exhibition and museum, locomotives, rolling stock, equipment machinery and relics of historical operational and general interest and educational value with particular reference to the former Great Western Railway and its successors following the nationalisation of the railways in 1948 and also to collect, make available for public reference and publish information concerning the history, equipment and operation of the former Great Western and other railways
Didcot Railway Centre has been set up to house and display our growing collection, which is thought to be the biggest collection of items relating to any one railway company, anywhere in the world.
References
2 Comments
Richard Miller · February 8, 2026 at 12:54 am
Great information. I must watch the film again. I wonder if you know who wrote the screenplay?
Robert · February 9, 2026 at 12:32 pm
Thank you Richard. The screenplay was written jointly by Peter Brook and Jeanne de Salzmann. Our page at https://gurdjieff-leeds-society.com/meetings-with-remarkable-men/
shows ways to watch the film. The one at Amazon GAIA is remastered, according to Amazon.