Bressingham Steam and Gardens’ Norwegian locomotive King Haakon is back on display in the village’s museum after undergoing a cosmetic transformation to be part of The Legend of Tarzan, which was released in cinemas on July 6.
Phillip Rooke, from the museum, said Warner Brothers had been looking up and down the country before it found the loco it was after.
He said: “They gave us a phone call and a couple of visits. More and more people came and at the end we got the contract.
“They wanted a loco, something that would’ve looked like it would have run in Africa and the Congo.”
We went to see this movie yesterday because of the 1880s ships that appeared in the trailer; the train--of which there are also interior scenes in the soldiers' carriage--was a bonus. We've posted a few items about Congo railways, and not long ago, British TV host Chris Tarrant experienced what the present day scene is like there in the Extreme Railway Journeys series.
As for the movie: well it's chock full of special effects which engendered mixed reactions: we'll leave it there.
An interesting aspect, however, is that it deals with the role of the King of Belgium's emissary to the Congo in the 1880s and 1890s, Leon Rom. The Belgians gained a reputation for brutality and from accounts of what Rom did, he was the sort of person who would easily fit into ISIS. What is shown in the movie is mild compared to the reality. An article about him and other colonists in Africa is here
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