The portrayal of steam in the media

You either need to be belch great clouds of dense black smoke or be wheels spinning all throughout the filming, otherwise you will be consigned to the cutting room floor...

 

Will you make the final edit this time Anthony ..?

 

I understand both those BBC series employed the services of the professional railway film maker Nick Lera who is now better known for his own series of Railway DVDs. I think it was the case of them using a man who understood steam locomotives.

 

I like 'the train now departing' in 'The Long Drag' I love Adrian Vaughns Enthusiam for his subject he really does get passionate!

 

and in the preservation episode where a younger version of himself is interviewed on 7029 1960s special comparing steam locomotives to horses.

 

'That thing up fronts got a voice'

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01875ph

Not currently available, but a 2 part programme was made at Llangollen. Was very well made actually, with old cine film, interviews and film recorded at one of our galas edited into a good couple of programmes. I think it only went out on BBC Wales though.

 

I must say that Mark Williams On The Rails was probably my favourite series of railway programmes as it covered quite a vast area of subjects and as others stated Mark Williams is a great presenter.

Chris Barrie has had a few good programmes and is another good presenter as he has quite a passion for engineering. Massive Engines where he drove 60009 Union of South Africa on the Severn Valley (its also I think where the footage of 60009 with its numberplate covered up comes from that appeared in other programmes). He also had a series called Britain's Greatest Machines. In one episode he drives another A4, this time it was 60019 at the West Somerset as part of a look at the machines from the 1930's and another is a special around the early days of railways.

Trains With Pete Waterman which was also on Discovery around a similar time to the Mark Williams series (as I think they were made to coincide with the 200th Anniversary of Penydarren in 2004) and two Monster Moves episodes with the 2 Turkish 8F's that got repatriated and the 2 North American A4's on their way back to the UK, although I think I saw somewhere, they made situations look worse than they were on those shows. There was also a series called Trainspotting which again I think was on Discovery.

Green Five mentioned Southern Steam which used to air on ITV Meridian, I always enjoyed it when I was a kid and still miss it today. Then there was Central Steam and Yorkshire Steam which focused on the GCR and NYMR and although I haven't seen much of Yorkshire Steam I enjoyed Central Steam.

Some of these are 10 years old or more though but some can still be bought on DVD, On The Rails for example.

 

I thought the Golden Age of Steam Railways were excellent. The 'Flying Scotsman - A Rail Romance' one wasn't great in my opinion - hope the new BBC one is better

 

The BTF films are still good I love 'This is York' and 'The Elizabethan'.

 

I remember being somewhat surprised when the narrator on 'Southern Steam' (which oddly enough sometimes gets repeated on the Horse & Country channel) described the Bredgar & Wormshill's fleet - all of it - as "pig ugly".

 

My vote is for Channel 4s "Diamonds were Forever" (celebrating the products of the North British Locomotive company) for its photography - especially the final breathtaking sequences filmed in Australia.

Maggy Whitehouse's "Manchurian Express" (another channel 4 film from the 1980s) is a close second with the dramatic footage of the Chinese Locomotive erecting shop.

 

Which it turns out is available on DVD: http://panamint.co.uk/diamonds-were-forever-39-p.asp

 

This is on youtube - search for Manchuria ExpressMed

 

Mentioned on the SVR forum but repeated here. The Golden Age of Steam Railways is currently online on UKTV Play until the end of February.
http://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/shows/the-golden-age-of-steam-railways/watch-online/?video=3993613214001 Episode 1
http://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/shows/the-golden-age-of-steam-railways/watch-online/?video=3801634910001 Episode 2

 

Though not principally about steam there is a BBC4 documentary at 9pm tonight in which they are likely to feature:
The Nation's Railway: The Golden Age of British Rail

 

That was rather enjoyable. I rather enjoyed the the cranks comment about the 125 'the seats were comfy, they all had an armrest and they lined up the window.' Did anyone from Hitatchi watch and take note?!

 

Probably not, but I wonder today whether a train with no windows at all would attract much comment from passengers. After all, most of them, from what I've seen, are looking at some kind of screen the majority of the time. How long before "virtual windows" replace the real thing ?

 

Already done, I have worked in several buildings that had them, the correct term is "Outside Awareness Panels" Back on track re "The Nations Railway" on last night - I thought it very good, its nice to see the Class 43 getting the plaudits it deserves, it rescued BR and in my view is possibly the finest train ever built in the world. (specially In terms of fitness for purpose and success)

 

Interesting that there was no mention of Jimmy Savile. He was ubiquitous during the period.