Bob and Ann Cryer in The Railway Children

Back in February I blogged that, as a little boy, John Cryer (now Labour MP for Leyton & Wanstead) appeared as an extra in The Railway Children.

It turns out that both his parents - who were both Labour MPs - were extras in the film too.

Bob Cryer was Labour MP for  for Keighley (1974–1983) and Bradford South (1987–1994) and also represented Sheffield in the European Parliament from 1984 to 1989.

He was killed in a car accident in 1994, and Ann was later to sit for Keighley between 1997 and 2010.

As I blogged the other day, Bob Cryer was the force behind the reopening of the Keighley & Worth Valley line as a private steam railway and it was there that the film was shot.

Ann and John just appeared as extras in period costume, but Bob's involvement went deeper than that. Not only did he organise the running of trains to suit the needs of the filmmakers, he appeared in one of the most famous scenes.

As The Golden Age of Railways showed us the other night (start at about 32:15) Bob Cryer is the guard in charge of the train that pulls out of the station just before Jenny Agutter's father emerges out of the clouds of steam - "Daddy! Oh my Daddy" and all that.

In fact you can clearly hear Bernard Cribbins say "Right away, Mr Cryer" before the the train pulls out.