ALL aboard, as the Wanstead Players pull into the Kenneth More Theatre, with their production of The Ghost Train from Thursday, February 4.

Written by Arnold Ridley (aka Private Godfrey in Dad’s Army) in 1923, the play revolves around a party of passengers who are stranded at a deserted train station haunted by the legend of the ghost train.

“When it was originally staged they would unleash gas cylinders backstage and pull garden rollers over slats of wood nailed to the stage to make the sound of a train pulling into the station,” says director Peter Wilson. “Now there is an absolute world of technology out there and we have the benefits of a sound library. We have spent ages getting the right sound of the bells and listening to Great Western trains.”

The company’s commitment to the authenticity of the play extends to the sets themselves.

“The drama all takes place in a waiting room so we reseached into what they looked like at the time and reproduced old holiday posters and timetables,” says Peter, who joined the players more than 20 years ago. ”It’s been a very interesting experience.”

The Wanstead Players are no strangers to The Ghost Train, having performed it once before about 30 years ago, but for steam engine enthusiast Peter this is his first time at the wheel.

Summing up the play, he tells me: “It’s an old fashioned story told in a good old fashioned way.”

The Ghost Train runs at the Kenneth More Theatre, Ilford, from February 4-6, 7.30pm. Saturday matinee, 3pm. Tickets: 020 8553 4466