London Transport Cine Gazette No 11 & 14

Here are two London Transport Cine Gazette's. The first is School For Service, it is about how LT trained its bus & train staff. The second is all about the lost property system. Some nice shots of a world long since departed. If you liked the video please subscribe to my channel, there are lots more transport & quirky vids to upload!

[@ladytron9188]

Lovely bit of social history.Thanks👍😀

[@gymnasiast90]

I love the subtle joke around 14:30 when they show all the signs. The "spectacles" shot starts of unfocused, as if it's seen without glasses on.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, the people who made these films made then entertaining as well as informative!

[@dennisroyhall121]

No sound? Oh! Surprise surprise suddenly as tho’ « lip-reading » sound has come on, so we’re not back in the ‘twenties ( hic! ) But, and seriously, this is really a great documentary like all the others and a credit to all who made them, not forgetting all who have looked after and cared for them when few were interested [ and the effin’ temptation to destroy them for taking up too much storage space...damn those sods! ] and if I may say so - all the rest of us who like me perhaps - bow our heads in very grateful thanks! Sincerely…and definitely...I. lived all through this period AND thro’ the blitz and have a bloody good memory, thank the Lord! Thanks a million for making this and others excellent documentary available for our viewing!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

My pleasure....

[@dodgydruid]

Brings back memorys of my father and uncle Ray, a signalman and driver and with a couple cans of beer would have their pastel coloured works and rules books out on the dining table and testing each other having to know their "patch" not just well but every tiny bit of minutiae, signal patterns and interlock behaviours, every gradient, bridge and trackside feature and when they passed out there were tested super hard and have the ability to tell the invigilator what speeds at such and such chains from a signal, a station or a terminus. My late father had to go to LT signalling school before they would let him loose in Wimbledon A which was a dual operator box that controlled LT as well as BR, he didn't like it much at Lambeth and being one of the couple BR men there, was very much an outsider.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, a driver really has to know his routes he drives over. Even in thick fog you are suppose to pretty much know where you are......

[@CaseyJonesNumber1]

Some nice shots at the old Hounslow West terminus, years before the Piccadilly was extended to Heathrow.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I don't remember the old one, only the new arrangements. There is a film on KZbin showing the new track alignement being built, quite an interesting film.

[@fordlandau]

Marvellous work. Long gone people skills. All handed over to computers.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

There must be a few live bodies still to sort it all out? But, yes i imagine computers have taken on a lot of the workload.

[@jeffkwells2003]

Love the crowds bursting out of a jam-packed tube train, blokes with ciggies in their mouths! What was the atmosphere like inside?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I can remember smoking cars on the Underground, i always avoided them where i could, they reeked of tobacco and the wals and ceilings were yellowed!

[@luislaplume8261]

Back in NYC, in America, smoking was prohibited on subway stations, trains, stairways, trolleys aka trams, buses but for trash in buses, trains, platforms were common in Old NYC in Old America. By the way it has been so since the first subway line opened in October 1904. I am a New Yorker who grew up there in the 1960s Mad Men TVseries era.

[@London1064]

Excellent video

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Quality films made by quality people!

[@philaypeephilippotter6532]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Yes. BTF made a lot of good films though this wasn't much more than average. Watch 'The Third Sam', 'The Scene From Melbury House', 'Between The Tides' and 'The England Of Elizabeth' to see how good these films were - and John Schlesinger's 'Terminus'. I think they're all on YT. Go to nicwhe8.freehostia.com/btf/awards/awards.html to see how many won awards they won and where from (the parent site is www.britishtransportfilms.co.uk ).

[@philaypeephilippotter6532]

In 'Do You Remember' the man who's lost the torso and head of the shop window dummy is A. J. (Charles) Potter - my father. He was a senior manager in British Transport Films, the organization that made this film.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Wow! A starring role in one his own films, that can't be bad. Did he know the ledgendary Edgar Ansty? He was involved in making some cracking films!

[@philaypeephilippotter6532]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus _I_ knew *Edgar* and his wife, *Daphne,* and my father, who started in documentaries when he set up the *LMS* film unit in the 1930s (he set up *BTF* too), knew them very well. I also knew *John Taylor* (another documentary pioneer), *Ken Fairbairn, John Legard, Ron Craigen* and even *John Schlesinger* slightly (he knew *Edgar* well). *John Betjeman* was a royal pain but *Laurie Lee* was a very gentle and compassionate man whom everybody liked. I don't recall meeting *John Grierson* but I probably did as a child. *Edgar Anstey* was one of his_ protégés._ Most of *BTFs* regular employees and freelancers were exceptionally nice people. *David Watkin, ex-SR,* really learnt his trade with *BTF* as did *Billy Williams,* _Oscar-winning_ cinematographers both. I worked occasionally in *BTFs* film library - they freely lent out copies of their own films and some commissioned films were lent out too. The unit's favorite film was *_Snow_* with *_Journey Into Spring_* coming in a close second. *_Terminus_* was well liked too. *_The Third Sam_* was an entirely original approach written and directed by *Ken Fairbairn.* He was a wonderful film-maker but was otherwise the most boring man I've ever met. Nevertheless I liked him. I was a passenger _Guard_ at *Guildford* in the mid/late 1970s, the 80s and very early 90s, way back when the emphasis was still on safety rather than _money!_ Mostly I worked EPBs, VEPs, CIG/BIG combinations, SUBs, 508s and 455s but occasionally I worked REP/TC combinations and loco hauled stuff too. We were lucky to have an SM who really knew his onions. I always felt sorry for those whose guvnor was an _a*s*h*l*!_

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@philaypeephilippotter6532 Some great names there! You have been really lucky to meet such people. I love looking at the BTF films, quite a few were made for LT as well including he Elephant Will Never Forget. We had a driver at my depot who had been a guard at Waterloo and she got on really well with all the drivers there and worked on the WoE loco hauled amongst other things. Later on in 1988 and got a drivers job at Old Oak before ending up on freight. I found freight work much more fun and less agro than passenger trains....happy days!

[@philaypeephilippotter6532]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus *John Krish* made *_The Elephant Will Never Forget_* (only a couple of months before I was born) against *Edgar's* express wishes. Despite this it was a great success - nostalgia incarnate, no less. You should see *_Under Night Streets_* ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/nIa2oaird8ubosU ), an extraordinary film of maintenance in the deep-level tubes of *LT.* The director was *Ralph Keene,* better known as *_Bunny_** Keene* and it was filmed by *David Watkin.* The narrator was probably cockney actor *Leslie Dwyer.* It may seem strange but all of the people I've met from the movie industry, the entertainment industry in general actually, are simply ordinary people with, sometimes, extraordinary talents. Amongst many I've met *Stephan Grappelli, Ray Davies, Leslie Mitchell, John Evan, John Thaw* and *Eddie **_Lockjaw_** Davis* and I was at school with *Ben Elton,* little *_Benjie_* then. I used to drink with the meanest man in the world, nearly, *Terry Scott.* When I was very young, we lived on a farm near *White Waltham* then, our next door neighbour was *Richard Todd* - he bought me a _huge_ tinplate excavator whilst he was filming in the USA. Today I live in *Bramley, Surrey,* near *Guildford*, not far from *Richard Starkey **_(Ringo Starr)._* So knowing what people call _celebrities_ is rather mundane.

[@dodgydruid]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I used to service the Exeter trains at Waterloo, every day many times I would trudge up with my little trolley from the lamp arches and attend to the Exeter trains rear lamps, dropping off stuff from stores into the brake and giving drivers and guards anything they had on order, then down to pick up the errant incoming lamp, then over to the 4SUB's to do their lamps and needs then back down to service the lamps and wait for my trolley to be filled up again. We were incredibly bored down there as my chargehand was either asleep or incredibly drunk and we all thought he was drinking the paraffin as he stunk of the stuff so me and the lads in the stores played pranks on other staff members esp YTS trainees who were always game for a laugh, then the angry Welsh area manager would put us on punishment duties like I had to sweep the whole concourse one week for sending various signalbox staff 1950's porters uniforms from the stores. I was sacked in the end when transferring to Norwood TOPS cabin, I was very good at it but pranks were done and it was when I got the system to task every class 99 into Eastleigh shops for certification that caused a huge sea of chaos and I was just going to sign off when the AM Eastleigh swore at me for 15 minutes without repeating himself and I was summoned forthwith in high dudgeon with the union rep and I was terminated there and then and told never to darken BR's doors again... I now live alongside the Salisbury-Yeovil Jnc section in Gillingham, never thought I would leave London back then.

[@elrjames7799]

How smart, interested and conscientious LT staff appeared back then, unlike the callous attitude, cheap shabby uniforms and greedy drivers which seem more easily noticeable now. Although perhaps the appearance and behaviour of the travelling public has similarly changed.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

These days they all were Hi-Vi vest so as 'to be seen'...If that's the case why issue uniforms, just wear your own clothes with the vest on top! The Hi-Vi is for being seen on the track, it is just not needed on a platform, and from a drivers perspective takes away it's noticeability to see it everywhere, keep it for track work or in an emergency situation!

[@elrjames7799]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Your remarks about High Visibility are very germane.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@elrjames7799 I used to be a driver, and you want to see only when there is someone on the track. Seeing it everywhere dulls the senses.....

[@elrjames7799]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus OIC: yes, you're right, of course. I didn't mean to be rude to you personally: I just wanted to compare the difference in driver attitudes pay and conditions between the days shown in the video and now.

[@Chucklesrailarchive]

No sound for the first 60 seconds!!

[@vickielawless]

I wonder what happened to Percy the tortoise??

[@studio73art84]

This is fabulous! FEaturing Osterley, where my grandparents lived.. do we know what year this was made?

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I'm pretty sure it was the 1950s. Have you seen my Underground cab ride video showing both the old, closed Osterley along with the one that is open today? See it here kzbin.info/www/bejne/hHzOfol7j7SMe7c

[@philclennell]

Nostalgic views of a London where diversity was just an obscure word buried in the Oxford dictionary.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Unlike the chaos of today......

[@ssbohio]

Can someone tell me what kind of signal is shown at 7:18, with the light-colored faceplate?

[@ssbohio]

@TheLCNW Thanks! So it just repeats whatever the normal signal aspect would be? Like a repeater on a curve? And aren't they still needed for foggy weather?

[@dodgydruid]

@@ssbohio Now LT has still got its kick pedal trips in operation but most of the units are self drivers and pretty automated from train control. Only time it would be needed if the driver had to take control but that is a rare rare occurrence these days.

[@rheostar]

Only just seen this video. It’s a fog repeater. They’re always set 120 yards from the actual signal.

[@unclestuka8543]

A Train Guard ? whats that.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

A Guard, that was the man (and later women) who worked the train's doors while the drive just drove the train.

[@philaypeephilippotter6532]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Actually it's a bit more complicated than that (I was a guard on BR). The Guard only works the doors on sliding-door trains but on all passenger trains the Guard is responsible for the safety of the train, passengers and cargo. More recently, but not on LT, the Guard became the Conductor and became responsible for checking and selling tickets as well.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@philaypeephilippotter6532 I too have been a guard, both on LT back in the 1980s and did a bit on BR before moving up to driver. I tried not to go into great depth re the guards role, but to give a basic view of an Underground guard. On LT the guard was actually an emergency driver who could take over if the driver became incapacitated whereas on BR no guard was ever officially allowed to drive (although when a freight driver & the guard was in the cab with you it wasn't unknown for keen ones or ex Secondmen to have a go on the handle, especially if i wanted to eat my sarnies unhindered!). Never did retail on BR, even on NSE i did ballast turns and sandite jobs in the main with just a few passenger turns.

[@philaypeephilippotter6532]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I never wanted to be a driver (except as a kid or on steam locos) but I could drive. But I really enjoyed being a passenger guard - you were always dealing with people. Mostly I used my EP key to pump up the air reservoir when a train had lost it's air and the driver booked to pump it up had vanished (read _gone home_ ). Several drivers did offer me the driver's seat but I never took it. We had one driver known as 'Moon Man' who was fine most of the time but could be really strange. I saw, in Farnham yard, a load of wagons piled up on top of each other and I thought, and said, that 'Moon Man' must have been shunting there - and I was right! One of my antecedents had been a GWR driver at Reading at the beginning of the 20th century but I actually came to prefer the LSWR and the SR. However my main interest is now in light railways and narrow gauge. The Manning-Wardle locomotives are charmingly quirky!

[@locouk]

And not one mention of the Izal Medicated Toilet Paper!

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, i remember that stuff in public and staff toilets alike! Tracing paper......

[@dodgydruid]

Railway parlance of "John Wayne issue" cos its rough, its tough and it takes s... off no one (ask any older rail worker who will confirm it) Also the little bars of Palmolive soap people nicked to take home, wasn't a cheap brand back then but a bit middle class.

[@vulgivagu]

Used to use that for tracing at school in the 1950's !

[@jacksugden8190]

All gone to pot now you’ve got TfL and the London Mayor in charge.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Says it all really, how the mighty have fallen.....

[@delboytrotter8806]

B.B. before blacks

[@Spookieham]

Twat - there has been Black British for hundreds of years. Nelson's crew at Trafalgar had many and they are shown in the famous painting of his death.

[@ERGORSE]

del trotts As I was watching these films I wondered how long it would take to come across such a statement. To my surprise you were the first. Glad today you win f**k all.🥱