Brief Encounter 'is still people's favourite film'

Brief Encounter was nominated for three Oscars - best director, best actress and best screenplay

Now 80 years old, Brief Encounter is still widely regarded as one of the greatest romantic films ever made.

The 1945 black-and-white tearjerker tells the story of housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) and Alec (Trevor Howard) - two ordinary people whose chance meeting leads to an unforgettable and impossible romance after he helps remove a piece of grit from her eye.

Because filming took place during World War Two, Carnforth station in Lancashire was chosen as a location for the film's fictional Milford Junction as it was remote and presumed safe from attack.

"You'd be amazed at how many people say it's their favourite film," Robin Brogden, from Carnforth Station Heritage Centre, said.

Parts of Carnforth Station still pay homage to the film's 1940s era

"They come into the heritage centre on a weekly basis and are so enthusiastic about the film," he said.

Brief Encounter is a tale of restraint and decency, shame and guilt.

Though married to other people, Laura and Alec fell in love but never acted on it.

When they parted for the last time, he went off to southern Africa, and she went back to her cosy but rather humdrum family life.

Cue the tears.

Brief Encounter was adapted for the big screen by Noel Coward from his own one-act play Still Life, with filming taking place overnight so the station could run as normal during the day.

While the film's exterior station scenes were shot at Carnforth station, its refreshment room scenes, where Alec and Laura meet, were filmed in a studio.

Amazingly, Brief Encounter nearly didn't make it to the big screen.

Following a test screening in which one woman laughed throughout the whole tearjerker, director David Lean said he considered breaking into the film lab so he could "steal the negative and burn it".

Fortunately that never happened, and in 1946 it was nominated for three Oscars - for best director, best actress and best screenplay - and its soundtrack features Rachmaninov's heart-stirring Piano Concerto No 2.

The station clock appears in the film and is back in place in Carnforth

The demise of steam and the radical reorganisation of the railways in the 1960s led to a gradual rundown of Carnforth station.

Its mainline platforms were closed and removed in 1970 prior to the electrification of the West Coast Main Line. Its buildings gradually fell into disrepair.

Stories of the dilapidation sparked a revival and, in 1996, the Carnforth Station and Railway Trust was formed to save and restore its semi-derelict rooms.

Former rail infrastructure company Railtrack invested in it and local residents raised £1.5m to restore it to its 1940s glory.

"It was partly on the back of the fact it was used for filming, but people in Carnforth wanted to save the building from demolition," Mr Brogden said.

After three years' work, the Brief Encounter refreshment room, heritage centre and offices were opened in October 2003.

It was at risk of closure again last year but "it spurred a group of volunteers and local business people to come together and try and rescue it - and we're still open" Mr Brogden said.

The centre has been refurbished this year and includes a 1940s-style cinema room where Brief Encounter is shown four times a day.

It will close for a couple of months in December for "some serious refurbishment" before re-opening in March.

It looks like the station - just like the film - is set to stand the test of time.