‘I want to make the definitive hover train film,’ says filmmaker about prototype tested in Cambridgeshire

A filmmaker aims to produce a feature-length film to tell the remarkable but largely forgotten story of the prototype ‘hover train’ that was tested in the Fens more than 50 years ago.

For Drew Silver, who runs a film company named Fenland on Film, what started as a casual interest as he researched the Fens in heritage films has become a labour of love.

The tracked hovercraft was an experiment in the 1960s that combined two British inventions – the hovercraft and the linear induction motor (LIM) – in an effort to build a train capable of speeds of 300mph.

Born long after the project was consigned to history, 36-year-old Drew became fascinated by the full-scale testing that was carried out between Earith and Sutton Gault from the late 1960s until 1973, when funding was pulled and the hover train project hit the buffers.

“I saw this futuristic looking vehicle that was linked with Earith – I did not believe it at first and I looked into it further,” said Drew, from Ely. “I shared some details on my Facebook page, then some photos, and Brian Pearce at Railworld Wildlife Haven contacted me and said ‘We have a 35mm film’.

“I thought maybe he had 8mm or 16mm film – 35mm film would have been the cinematic standard, and still is to a degree. Then Covid hit and when I finally met Brian, it was 35mm film – and it was unbelievable. It was great that the Tracked Hovercraft company had used 35mm film. They really wanted to sell the idea in the UK and overseas.”

Despite the hover train being reported in the press at the time, Drew says the rediscovered film material he is working with includes some footage that has never been seen before, but there was no accompanying documentation.

“The original film has a very limited lifespan and the colour information is fading,” he said, so Pinewood is helping with a process of splicing, cleaning and scanning so that “every grain of detail” from the source film is captured and preserved.

He said the Earith area was specifically chosen for testing for a few reasons, including these two: “One was there was a long stretch of flat, accessible ground – such is the nature of the Fens – and they had an 18-mile stretch in mind. The other is the very poor ground conditions – they thought that if they could build it here, they could build it anywhere.”

There were different models for different purposes during testing but Research Test Vehicle 31 (RTV 31) was the only full-scale prototype.

“It used the hovercraft principle but adapted to run on a track,” said Drew.

While the hover train was being developed, British Rail was pushing forward plans for the steel-wheeled advanced passenger train (APT). Another consideration at the time was the rapid development of maglev (magnetic levitation), where rolling stock is levitated by electromagnets rather than using wheels.

In 1967 Professor Eric Laithwaite, who had been developing the LIM, joined Tracked Hovercraft as a consultant.

“Professor Laithwaite was the ‘father of maglev’, he was responsible for a lot of the theory behind it,” said Drew. “They were testing the hover train in difficult conditions, they came across things they were not expecting – but they were pioneers.

“British Rail was competing with existing infrastructure while the tracked hover train was a completely new concept and required a lot of investment. It wasn’t without its flaws but the baseline looked promising. But there were too many variables and too many unknowns and financial considerations brought it to a standstill. It became Britain’s forgotten hover train and was unceremoniously cancelled.”

Though RTV31 achieved a speed of 104mph in February 1973 – which received media attention at the time – within days funding for the government-backed Tracked Hovercraft Ltd was cancelled.

RTV 31 ended up at Cranfield University where it remained for more than 20 years.

“It was discovered again by former hover train employees who decided to save it, and then Railworld Wildlife Haven got involved,” said Drew.

While RTV 31 resides at Railworld Wildlife Haven, little physical evidence remains of the project. The test track was removed but some concrete footings remain between Sutton Gault and Earith, there is an electrical substation in Ditton Walk, Cambridge, that was installed to support high-power electrical research work, and RTV 31’s ‘hangar’ survives in Earith.

In his quest to tell the whole story of the hover train in a feature-length film , Drew will release a ‘concept trailer’ film on 12 May on his website fenlandonfilm.co.uk.

He said: “I want to kickstart a fundraising campaign and I’m really hoping it will inspire people to support me. We need to preserve the legacy of the hover train. I have all this information at my fingertips, I have original documents, the only available operating manual, test logs, photos, and I’ve tracked down people who worked on it and interviewed them.

“I’m spending every spare moment on this, it’s a labour of love. I’m the archivist, researcher, videographer – if I could outsource some of those elements, it would free me up to work creatively. I want to produce a feature-length film that tells the definitive story.”

Anyone who wishes to support Drew financially can contact him via his website. He is also keen to work with modelmakers to demonstrate the airlift principle for his film in preference to using CGIs.

Explaining his motivation, Drew said: “There is no official archive for the hover train or any of the testing. A lot of the information out there is speculation or rumours presented as fact. I want to establish an archive and then find a home for it, but that is a way off yet.”

And the working title for his feature-length film?

“The Rise and Fall of RTV31,” says Drew. “It’s been a rollercoaster ride.”

For more information and to support Drew, visit fenlandonfilm.co.uk.