Vol 6 - Steam in the Midlands

A film that excavates layers of myth and memory, on an ancient Eritrean steam railway, to learn the elusive truth about Eritrea, its war-ridden history, and at the core of it all, a deep friendship that keeps it all going.

Jim Clemens Collection No.4. A nostalgic look back at the railways of South Shropshire in the early 1960′s. After a visit to GOBOWEN and IFTON colliery in the north, the scenes south and west of SHREWSBURY are covered. A journey from WELSHPOOL to SHREWSBURY, most of it in Shropshire, is taken. Very rare 1932 footage of the SHROPSHIRE & MONTGOMERY RAILWAY shows LNWR 0-6-0′s, llfracombe Goods engines and petrol railcars between SHREWSBURY ABBEY, KINNERLEY and the CRIGGION branch. A comprehensive journey the whole length of the Severn Valley now follows via BERRINGTON, CRESSAGE, BUILDWAS and IRONBRIDGE. The line to LONGVILLE and MUCH WENLOCK is recalled as is the eastern side of the River Severn at DAWLEY and COALPORT in 1959.

Beginning where Part 1 left off at Stafford, we leave the West Coast main line to visit Stoke-on-Trent and the Churnet Valley to Caldon and Congleton which was visited with a Black 5. North to Stockport for extensive coverage of the area through Edgeley and the engines that visited the shed there. The end of steam at Manchester Piccadilly, retum to Crewe via Sandbach. The last ten minutes are spent at Crewe with not only LMS power in the form of Duchesses, Scots and Jubilees but the early electrics and diesels as well. An area covered in detail not seen before on a video.

A video for electric traction fans. Not entirely, for steam was seen occasionally on the route especially west of Dinting, But this is the story of ·the 1500v dc system across the Pennines from Sheffield to Manchester. Filmed mainly in the 1960’s, you will see the EM1’s and EM2’s as they were in their green livery as much as they were in blue towards the end. Passenger services are there throughout the route. Class 506 units are seen on the Glossop service and there is coverage of the EM2 class in Holland. All told a pretty comprehensive film of this period of electrification on an ex-LNER line. One day it may reopen again although not at 1500v dc!

Jim Clemens Collection No.22. An archive film of mainly steam on the lines of Cornwall including Western and Southern motive power. We follow the Great Western main line from SALTASH to PENZANCE, viewing the major stations en route including LISKEARD, TRURO, PAR, CHACEWATER, GWINEAR ROAD, St. ERTH and PENZANCE. There are visits to the LOOE, HELSTON, FALMOUTH, NEWQUAY and St. IVES branches and a visit to PAR HARBOUR for industrial steam and to NEWLYN harbour with narrow gauge diesels. BODMIN to WADEBRIDGE and PADSTOW on the Southern, including T9s. A 1960s visit to the FOREST RAILROAD at DOBWALLS near Liskeard. A complete journey on the last steam to Penzance, the CORNUBIAN tour of May 1964 with a 28xx and a West Country pacific.

An archive programme of the CREWE to HOLYHEAD route via CHESTER and BANGOR. Filmed from 1960 to 1967 with occasional 1980’s visits from preserved steam locomotives providing a contrast. Motive power is mainly London Midland Region with Western Region at Chester. Branches from the route include BIRKENHEAD via HOOTON, the DYSERTH branch from PRESTATYN, DENBIGH from MOLD and RHYL, BLAEANAU FFESTINIOG and TRAWSFYNDD from LLANDUDNO JUNCTION and the AMLYCH branch. The PORT PENRHYN slate quarries to BETHESDA and DINORWIC system are also seen with narrow gauge locomotives. Locations visited include CREWE, CHESTER, SALTNEY JUNCTION, FLINT, TALACRE, RHYL, ABERGELE, LLANDUDNO, LLANDUDNO JUNCTION, BANGOR, MENAI BRIDGE and HOLYHEAD. Motive power includes Princess Coronations, Royal Scots, Jubilees, Britannias, Black 5s, 8Fs, Standard Classes and early diesels of Class 40 and 47, usually in green livery.

A video covering the last section of the route of the CAMBRIAN COAST EXPRESS from ABERYSTWYTH to PWLLHELI and what could be seen in the area from the 1950s to the 1980s. We cover four narrow gauge railways, the Vale of Rheidol, the Talyllyn, the Welsh Highland (1964) and the Ffestiniog, and two miniature railways, the Fairbourne and Butlins, Pwllheli. We even cover the Aberystwyth Cliff Railway! The coast route would see steam and diesel motive power but this film is mainly steam with Standard Classes 4MT, Class 2MT, Class 3 2-6-2Ts and Class 4 2-6-4Ts, GWR 43xx 2-6-0s and Manor Class 4-6-0s, Ivatt 2MTs and even Class 4. The picture is completed by the reopening of Barmouth Bridge in 1986 and Electric Electric Class 37s.

A video featuring the line between MANCHESTER and CREWE. Particular emphasis is on the two places, one a city and the other a railway town. Filmed in the 1960s, steam traction predominates. MANCHESTER VICTORIA and the nearby MANCHESTER EXCHANGE stations were busy with passenger, freight and parcels traffic. It was at the foot of MILES PLATTING incline where banking often took place. At the summit was NEWTON HEATH shed and a visit is made there. The line from MANCHESTER PICCADILLY was electrified from 1960 but steam power existed here alongside the new AC electric locomotives. At the northern end, STOCKPORT kept steam until 1968 and as well as the station, EDGELEY shed is visited. We then travel southwards through CHEADLE HULME, WILMSLOW, GOSTREY and on to CREWE where a wide range of motive power is seen from 1962 to 1968; Princess Coronations, Jubilees, Royal Scots, Crabs and Jinties along with BR Standards, Stanier Black 5s and Stanier 8Fs.

The Bakerloo Line is one of London Underground's main arteries, connecting four of the capital's main line railway stations with the heart of London's West End. The southern terminus at Elephant and Castle consists of just two platforms, requiring fast turnarounds to provide the 3 minute service interval. Just under half the 14½ mile line is in tube tunnel, The 1972 stock trains (amongst the oldest running on the network) surface at Queen's Park. Roughly one in three continues to Harrow and Wealdstone alongside the West Coast Main Line. As well as seeing the entire route in real time from the driver's cab, we also peek inside the Bakerloo Line's signalling and control centre at Baker Street. The Waterloo and City line is LUL's smallest self-contained operation, running for just over 1½ miles between Waterloo and Bank.

The Southern Region s last steam-worked main lines from Waterloo to Salisbury and Weymouth are recalled on this all-colour programme which features cine film made between 1958 and 1967 by John Laird, Brian Robbins and Geoff Todd. After an extended opening sequence at Waterloo and footage of Nine Elms shed, we follow the former London & South Western main line down to Basingstoke. We head west from Worthing Junction to Salisbury before resuming our journey south through Eastleigh to Southampton. There follows some delightful scenes filmed in the New Forest including steam workings on the branch to Lymington. This brings us to Bournemouth where we see the town s two stations and the splendid yellow trolley buses which used to link them. Before reaching the end of our travels at Weymouth there are some superb scenes of trains labouring up the bank out of the town and coverage of a Channel Islands Boat Train on the famous Weymouth Tramway filmed in 1958.

Island railways have a particular fascination, none more so than those on the Isle of Wight. In this programme, produced from films made by railway enthusiasts who visited the island from the 1950s to the present day, we present aspects of the changing face of the island s railways over the last forty years. We begin with John Laird s 1964 films of the steam railway in all its glory with the coverage of the lines to Ventnor and Cowes. This is contrasted with the scene in the 1950s as portrayed in rare colour films made in 1953 on the soon to be closed lines from Brading to Bembridge, Sandown to Merstone and Newport and from Newport to Freshwater. The final steam sequences filmed by Geoff Todd and Derek Norman show the last years of steam operation on the island and the preparations for electrification. The Isle of Wight s new tube trains are shown at first on trial on the mainland, looking quite incongruous at locations such as Clapham Junction.

This programme offers much rare footage made on the railways of the south east of England between the 1930s and the 1960s. The films begin at London Bridge in 1931 with a Schools class 4-4-0 in original condition. Rare colour footage taken in 1938 at London Bridge and Sutton follows. A LBSCR 4-6-4 tank is then shown working a train between London Bridge and Norwood Junction. After sequences showing steam in action in 1931 at East Croydon, the scene shifts to Folkestone with both main line expresses and boat trains on the Harbour branch, in black and white from the 1930s and colour from the 1950s. Coverage of the Golden Arrow and other SR steam hauled Pullmans is followed by extracts from a 1939 cab ride on the electric Brighton Belle.

This programme begins with a trip up the now preserved Severn Valley line from Kidderminster to Bewdley. Both ex-GWR diesel railcars and steam locomotives are seen before we head across the River Severn to explore the branch to Tenbury Wells and Woofferton. Moving into Wales itself the programme then features the lines centred on Brecon which closed in 1962. Starting from Neath Riverside station, the former Neath & Brecon line is followed up to Brecon. The next section features the former Brecon & Merthyr system including the notorious 7 mile bank beyond Talybont on Usk, one of the most challenging inclines on a British railway. We then follow the line north from Talyllyn Junction near Brecon to Three Cocks Junction and on to Hay on Wye along the former Midland route to Hereford before going up the Cambrian line through mid Wales to Builth Road Low Level where this line passed under the Central Wales Line.

Few projects have stirred the imagination as much as the building of the Channel Tunnel. The sheer scale of the enterprise and the immense effort involved in creating the Tunnel, can only be admired. Aware of the historic significance of the project, Eurotunnel employed camera crews to film every stage of the work as it progressed. It is from this vast and hitherto largely unseen Eurotunnel archive that much of this programme has been made. Beginning with a brief historical survey of previous efforts to construct a fixed link across the Channel, the programme concentrates on the railway aspects of the project. The story of the construction of the Tunnel is interwoven with the vital role that railways played in its execution. The large narrow gauge railway network built to service the construction work is explored as is the building and testing of the locomotives and rolling stock which were to be used on Eurotunnel s Le Shuttle service.

The Midland Railway route from Derby to Manchester traversed the Peak District of limestone hills. It was this limestone which produced much traffic for the railway, the ICI works around Buxton provided steam haulage up to 1968. First there is an introduction to the route using the last steam hauled train over the entire route in 1968. Beginning at Derby we go north to Wirksworth and its quarry. A detailed look at the Cromford and High Peak line with its steep incline at Sheep Pasture, J94’s storming Hopton incline, even a B1 at Parsley Hay.

Union Pacific's steam locomotive #3985 is the largest operating steam locomotive in the world. This 4-6-6-4 locomotive, built in 1943 still runs today as part of the railroad's public relations program. In this DVD, we'll follow 3985, which is also called the "Challenger", in Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma & Texas as she shows the public what big steam was really like.

Originally intended as an advertising short, this film follows The Elizabethan, a non-stop British Railways service from London to Edinburgh along the East Coast Main Line. A nostalgic record of the halcyon years of steam on British Railways and the ex-LNER Class A4.

A short documentary about the transportation of goods and livestock by train around the UK.

Vignettes of the New England Steam features the films of noted rail photographers Albert Michaud and William P. Price, as they document the handsome steam power (and the occasional pesky diesel) of the Grand Trump, Central Vermont, Boston & Maine, and New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroads. The mostly color and mostly 16mm production begins with the Grand Trunk in New Hampshire, then moves to the Central Vermont in the White River Jct vicinity, and the Boston & Maine and New Haven, primarily around Boston. Many wheel arrangements are featured, as is the passenger and freight rolling stock of the era ...including truss-rodded clerestory-roofed wooden maroon passenger cars on the B&M! So come along with Clear Block Productions as we journey back to the late 1940's and early 1950's to witness Steam's Final Stand in the Northeast in Vignettes of the New England Steam.

Jerry Macri's Pennsylvania Railroad is huge, 4300 square feet of big time four track mainline! In fact this may be the largest home layout ever built! This HO layout runs from Chicago to New York and can handle more than 1200 pieces of rolling stock. It takes a train 25 minutes to run across the layout. Along the line there is a massive steel mill and a 30 foot deep Horseshoe Curve-- two signature elements of Western Pennsylvania. The Pennsy began in 1990 in a 2800 square foot basement. But then Jerry decided to add more layout space and more house and even a patio above. So the layout is now 3 inter-connected rooms with about 50% of the scenery completed. There are more than 20,000 trees on the layout. This is a prototype-based HO layout with a lot of freelanced scenic elements. Creating realistic and evocative scenes is Jerry's favorite part of the hobby because this helps him remember special times and places from his youth in the late 50s and early 60s.