The Titfield Thunderbolt

The residents of Titfield are stunned when they learn the railway branch to Mallingford is to be closed. The news unsettles the village and sets the stage for a bold plan to save the line.

Sam Weech, a vicar and railway enthusiast, teams with Squire Gordon Chesterford to form a company under a Light Railway Order. They seek financial backing and allies to run the service if the project is to stand a chance.

Walter Valentine, a wealthy local with a fondness for drinking, provides financial support for the venture. The group learns that the Ministry of Transport will allow a one-month trial before a full inspection decides the Order’s fate.

With backing secured, the plan gains a formal window: a month-long trial period granted by the Ministry of Transport. After that, an inspection must succeed for the Order to become permanent.

Weech receives help from Chesterford and retired track layer Dan Taylor to run the train, while villagers rally to staff the station. Their combined effort aims to demonstrate a functional rail service can operate with local support.

Alec Pearce and Vernon Crump, rival bus operators, vow to derail the plan and promote a competing Titfield–Mallingford bus line. They attempt to sabotage the line on its first run, but the train forces its way through.

The following day, Pearce and Crump sabotage the line’s water tower. The attempt is thwarted by Weech and the line’s supportive passengers, who keep the service running.

Chesterford refuses to accept a merger offer from the bus operators. In retaliation, Pearce and Crump hire Harry Hawkins to help derail the steam locomotive and the passenger coach the villagers borrowed from British Railways, on the night before the inspection.

Town clerk Blakeworth of Mallingford is mistakenly arrested while trying to stop the sabotage attempt. The arrest dampens spirits as the villagers fear the line will close without proper rolling stock and a working locomotive.

Valentine visits Dan Taylor and suggests borrowing a locomotive from Mallingford’s rail yards. The pair, though drunk, manage to acquire one but crash it after being spotted, and are promptly arrested.

Weech is inspired by a picture of the line’s first locomotive, the Thunderbolt, now housed in Mallingford Town Hall’s museum. He secures the locomotive for the Titfield branch line and plans the rescue.

To complete the new train, the villagers assemble a working locomotive by borrowing Dan Taylor’s home carriage body strapped to a flat wagon. The components are gathered in time for the inspection run.

On the morning of the inspection, Pearce and Crump drive to the village to take passengers, only to find the new train waiting at the station. Distracted by the sight, Pearce crashes the bus into a police van carrying Valentine and Taylor, and Crump admits their involvement in the sabotage, leading to their arrest.

With Taylor arrested, Weech enlists Ollie Matthews and the Bishop of Wilchester to pilot and oversee the Thunderbolt for the inspection run. The train departs Titfield late as police secure transport for Mallingford officials, but the run proceeds toward Mallingford.

The Thunderbolt arrives in Mallingford and passes every requirement for the Light Railway Order, though by the narrowest margin. If they had been any faster, the inspector might have rejected the plan, but the villagers triumph in securing the line’s future.