BR North Eastern, 1966

Another in the series of my late father's silent 8mm cine films. This is a collection of scenes around the Beamish and Blyth areas.

[@ozgopher7766]

Engines 62005 (1.30) and 65894 (10.40) are still around today. Both looking a lot better today then in 1966....

[@philipdavey9182]

Very valuable archive footage. Such an insight into times gone by and educational for those born say, 1965 onwards.

[@larx4074]

Tremendous!! Many thanks for sharing.

[@robinforrest7680]

Great footage. Thanks for sharing a family heirloom !

[@petetrundell5454]

I grew up in that area in the late 70’s and although I new the railway system then I had no idea just how extensive and busy it had been when coal, iron and steel were still the major employer. So much had been abandoned just ten years later and now barely a trace remains. Great film footage. Thanks for sharing.

[@cosmicmaniac1886]

A big thank you for this truly amazing footage.

[@alanhuntley]

Thank you for sharing, helps with my model railway design.

[@markahomer]

Invaluable to any modellers- level of grime!

[@iandocwra1169]

Yes - essentially just spray black all over and wipe small sections semi-clean!

[@paulbissitt4754]

What a wonderful treat to watch.Amazing footage.Would have been the icing on the cake to had sound as well but you can't win them all.Thanks for sharing it.

[@anthonyhitzke717]

A big THANKS to you for sharing these films.

[@bigturboxr3i]

Superb. I love these railway treasures.

[@birchwoodracing]

Brilliant piece of filming. It rather poingant and sad as well that it was literally the last days of steam on BR and the locomotives had seen better days,

[@douglasmiller1458]

I was only 6 or 7 and my mum took me via slag heeps over Wrekenton, Heworth then Pelaw. I remembered alot and thought there would be no record of all this industry, but you have, thank you

[@peterwilsonking1207]

Thank you very much for sharing these evocative videos. Spent much of my youth watching J27s on the Blyth and Tyne, and of the NCB Backworth system. Have a special fondness for North Blyth shed, which was an amazingly rundown out of the way place.

[@BrianSeaman]

What a great time you had there Ian - swinging on the gate - there'd be an H&S full-blown enquiry today! Thanks for sharing the fun you (and others) were permitted in the past. Cheers, Brian

[@iandocwra1169]

I'm just disappointed/glad they weren't rising barriers!

[@paulwilson3083]

JUST FANTASTIC Ian, thank you so much for sharing, the only H and S advice those days would have been hold on tight boy, what great childhood memories the kids today will have no noticeable memories to pass on, thank you again Ian.

[@TONYNORTHEASTERN]

Wonderfull memories. thank for sharing this very rare footage.....many thanks Tony

[@RLukeDavis]

Very interesting, thanks. Apparently this was just two years before BR phased out steam engines. 🙏

[@DrDave_63395]

Thanks for a reminder of my childhood. The shot towards the end of the J27 going past the abandoned Ryhope Colliery is particularly memorable. I've climbed the cliffs in the cutting in the background and walked along the pipe you can see in the running along beside the track.

[@steveciazynski1231]

Brilliant! Fantastic shots of Q6s and J27s in action! Thank you.

[@jackking5567]

Thank you so much for sharing this!

[@DistrictDriver]

What a fantastic video! Loved the bit of you riding on the crossing gate! Thanks for sharing.

[@peterwills5533]

Some really fabulous footage, thank you for sharing. I don't know about these things but by this time had railway men, knowing the writing was on the wall from them personally, become discouraged and less caring? I sense in the driving at 11.07 - 11.20 that a rather cavalier attitude was taking hold??

[@aliasdeputydog]

The latter days of steam trains and the rundown state of the locomotives that used to be the crews pride and joy.

[@robertpearce2244]

Awesome film, thanks for sharing 👍

[@richardskelton5119]

Fantastic film and loved the lack of sound. Thanks for sharing! I think I was born 20 years too late!

[@barryballsit4944]

great footage, thanks for sharing

[@timhancock6626]

Clapped out best describes those steam trains, but its fantastic footage. It's easy to forget that while many of the Durham pits had already gone by 1966 the Northumberland pits were still active, if struggling. I was watching "Escape to the Country" the other day in Shilbottle a bit north of this location, where the mine finally closed in 1981. I wondered what the miners from the 50s and 60s would have made of that ! It's a very different place now. As a boy in the late 50s I still miss the sounds of the railways of those days.

[@michaelnaisbitt7926]

We are indebted to your father for these great clips Didn't realise how complex the system was Loved the Q6s and J27s in full action But especially the little boy ignoring H S R riding the level xcrossing gates 😄

[@mscangliarail]

Great video Ian your farther did well with 8mm camera brought back memory's for me I was S&T Technician at Pelaw Jct in the 60s thank you for sharing

[@geordieceltic2]

Great video, thank you for sharing. The film of you riding the gates is classic and typical of the period. I note the Pelaw film where the Leamside junction was. I watched trains at Penshaw and can remember the Lambton Tanks, again shown in the video.

[@misstrever1952]

...beautiful archive film, thank you, so nice to see it as it actually was semaphores and grime 👌

[@DavidRobinson-rj2sp]

J27 at 11:24 65894 was a Sunderland loco and is now preserved.

[@TheDaf95xf]

Fantastic thanks 🤩

[@PorcyMane]

That's a smashing historical record. Thanks for posting it up. At the end of the video I think that is D5111 hauling the saloon and D5104 (or D107) on the irons ores at Beamish.

[@kevingray3550]

It must have been around 1966 when I last saw for the last time a steam engine pulling a coal train across the Wearmouth bridge in Sunderland. Although I 'recall it vividly and it has stayed with me I didn't realise at the time that it would be my last. It had however become a bit of an unusual event by then and perhaps that's why it suck in my mind

[@trainsontuesday]

This is a great video but it needs a sound track. I would die for that Cortina today, I had my first drive on the road in a green one in 1966.

[@iandocwra1169]

It's just a matter of taste I suppose. I dislike silent films where music has been added because it's almost always irrelevant and inappropriate, and a running commentary is quite hard to get right. I have inserted some text in places and otherwise just prefer to let the film run as it was taken. Thanks for watching.

[@johnfellows2867]

My first Mk 1 Cortina , GDM 552C, sold spares / repair in 1974 for £ 25 !

[@grahamisherwood6803]

just one thing to say WOW !!!!

[@gitfoad8032]

Feels vaguely familiar. I remember a marshalling yard up the road from here full of yellow-black chevron shunters which terrified me.

[@aib0160]

Happy days, so glad not to be a kid now, this was the best time ever.

[@iandocwra1169]

Nostalgia is so beguiling but can you imagine being a kid (or an adult) in 1966 and being offered, say, a smart phone? Our minds would have been blown!

[@aib0160]

@@iandocwra1169 Yes I know, but try explaining to a millennial that back then nobody had a mobile phone or a computer. Most didn't have a phone at home either. Everything was designed with pen and paper with perhaps a slide-rule. Kids left school at 14/15 and could work out the cost of multiple purchases in their heads even though there was 12 pennies in a shilling and 20 shillings in a £! These days kids are still wearing pullups/nappies to school aged 7! On your point, how I used to love watching Star Trek with Jim Kirk able to use his clam like phone with screen to say "beam me up Scotty". We've a ways to go yet till I'm truly impressed by it all!

[@bigwezz]

That is some spectacular footage, thank you for sharing it!

[@paulbennett5370]

well done for sharing

[@mikeportjogger1]

Lovely record of how it was. A lot of those engines had steam coming out of places steam shouldn't have been coming out of!

[@NWP_EXPLORING]

62005 that is in your video is a preserved loco now!

[@PreservationEnthusiast]

Yes but a lot of these later year locos were cut up at Drapers in Hull. Hughes Bolckow of Blyth also did great work scrapping about 150 locos and they were mostly LNER with a few LMS.

[@timosha21]

I'm a choo choo train and I approve this video!!!

[@danielellis2151]

long live the LNER

[@kevincollis4768]

Time machine please 😀

[@a11csc]

what would you pay to go back ,and to see what bits the mind boggles

[@Travelling_about]

That looks like my dad firing that K-1 at winning…. Shame it wasn’t in 4K lol

[@PoulLausen]

Was it you in that Cortina?

[@iandocwra1169]

Oh yes (and riding on the gates at Winning)!

[@geoffreyault423]

Some of the houses in the background seem unnaturally clean next to many railway lines. Was it a new estate?

[@colinmcgregor123]

N/E what. England, Scotland, Wales, NI, UK ?

[@iandocwra1169]

North east England.

[@colinmcgregor123]

Why it not say that @@iandocwra1169

[@iandocwra1169]

@@colinmcgregor123 I think "BR North Eastern, 1966" describes it adequately for the target audience for the video. Others, of course, can easily look up the places mentioned.

[@colinmcgregor123]

Thankfully most folks nowadays mention the film is based in Scotland, Wales or Eire in the title @@iandocwra1169

[@colinmcgregor123]

Thankfully an awareness of Scoland , Wales and Eire railways is made obvious by adding the country name in the intro.... @@iandocwra1169

[@fifelad55]

Why no narrative? Pointless otherwise

[@iandocwra1169]

Silent films, and most locations are identified in the shots. No need to add anything (as I don't have enough extra details to make it worth adding).

[@ronholfly]

Happy days, not a migrant in sight?

[@iandocwra1169]

Happy days perhaps, but certainly not for that reason!

[@kevinjewitt6347]

Probably a few Irish, Pakistani, Indian, Australian, Canadian, Caribbeans, etc etc etc, in my opinion most welcome.

[@ronholfly]

@@kevinjewitt6347 They are not the problem. It's the spreading of Islam that creating divisions.