The Whistle Stop Inn is a railway themed restaurant in Switzerland that appeared in the Thunderbird 6 movie.
Interior[]
The restaurant is quite unique in that it actually uses a model railway layout with model steam locomotives and rolling stock to bring the food from the kitchen to the tables rather than waiters. Alan and Tin-Tin were both quite impressed with the set-up. Also, it has a replica of a steam locomotive in the center of the dining room.
Diners[]
Altogether, there were 32 diners inside the restaurant. In terms of the number of puppets, it is the biggest crowd scene ever filmed in Supermarionation.
1.
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6. (In background)
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11./16.
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32.
Other Appearances (Isn't that...?)[]
Table 1 (back row, left)
- 1. Steward Carter seen earlier in this film
- 2. Hank Marvin Jr. from Thunderbirds Are Go (film)
- 3. Ocean Pioneer I Commander from Danger at Ocean Deep
- 4. John Rostill Jr. from Thunderbirds Are Go (film)
Table 2
- 5. Bruce Welch Jr. from Thunderbirds Are Go (film)
- 6. Grandma Tracy
- 7. Stingray puppet (Professor Cordo). Seen earlier in the film as the Indian Shopkeeper.
- 8. 4th NWAC Executive seen earlier in this film
Table 3
- 9. Nicky from Give or Take a Million
- 10. Nurse Nimmo from Give or Take a Million
- 11. Steward Hogarth seen earlier in this film
- 12. 1st NWAC Executive seen earlier in this film
Table 4
- 13. Kyrano "smiler"
- 14. Steward Martin seen earlier in this film
- 15. Stingray puppet (Marina). It also appeared briefly in Thunderbirds Are Go.
- 16. Space Colonel Harris "smiler"
Table 5 (front row, right)
- 17. Brian Bennett Jr. from Thunderbirds Are Go (film)
- 18. Mrs. Lucas from Path of Destruction
- 19. Cliff Richard Junior from Thunderbirds Are Go (film)
- 20. Skythrust Co-Pilot from Alias Mr. Hackenbacker
Table 6
- 21. Tin-Tin Kyrano
- 22. Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward
- 23. Captain Foster (The Imposter)
- 24. Alan Tracy
Table 7
- 25. 2nd Fashion Buyer from Alias Mr. Hackenbacker
- 26. 1st Reporter (Zero-X) from Thunderbirds Are Go (film)
- 27. Newsreader from Give or Take a Million; played an NWAC executive earlier in this film.
- 28. 3rd NWAC Executive seen earlier in this film
Table 8
- 29. Blanche Carter from City of Fire
- 30. Simms from Path of Destruction
- 31. Stingray puppet (Atlanta Shore)
- 32. Matthews Field Commander from The Cham-Cham
Trivia[]
- Judging by Tin-Tin's phrase "it must've being fun riding on trains like this years ago", it seems that by the 2060s the steam railway preservation movement has become confined to museums, especially with the introduction of the monorail system.
- The trains used are OO/HO Scale trains made by British model train maker, Hornby, and the rolling stock came from Triang. Some of the trains used were a LNER B12 4-6-0 in British Railways Black, a British Railways Standard 9F 2-10-0 along with Caledonian 4-2-2 Single No. 123, in its company's color, Caledonian Blue.
Holden LNER B12 4-6-0
Caledonian 4-2-2 Single No. 123
- This restaurant is based of one of various locations around the world with this concept. In Prague called The Boiler House, LGB trains deliver beverages to both the bar and the various tables, in the U.S, a diner called the Choo Choo Diner uses O scale Lionel trains, and there was once a restaurant called the Iron Horse Restaurant located in Seattle, Wa, but closed in November 2000 due to rising rent and lack of patrons. The trains, track, and railroad memorabilia have all been sold off at auction.
- The knitted sweater worn by no. 3 was previously seen in Stingray.
Troy Tempest