Paddington to the West in the 1960s and 70s

Long before the idea of electrification at Paddington had been considered, diesel locomotives dominated the scene at this London terminus. Following steam days, diesel-hydraulics ruled the roost here for a decade and a half before their replacements in the form of Class 50s and later HSTs. The pullman sets had made an appearance in the early 70s which worked services to and from Birmingham in addition to Bristol. Captured here are several scenes depicting this and the changes that took place over the two decades. Also featured is the rare appearance of a Deltic working a railtour westward from the capital. Please note that this film has been transferred from silent 8mm stock and thus has no sound.
Special thanks to Roger G Howard for use of some of this material.

[@paulnolan1352]

Wonderful and evocative memories of a time gone by. Many thanks.

[@thomasburke2683]

Lovely that you (or someone) got this footage, in an era when colour cine film was expensive. The new livery did not suit the Blue Pullman, especially the front. The two-tone green on locos such as this class 47, really was superb, providing it was kept clean. The Hymek was always a lovely locomotive, such a shame that it was scrapped prematurely merely because hydraulic transmission became non-standard. Providing the train was not too heavy, it could perform well on express trains. Thank you for putting it online for all our enjoyment.

[@foretrak]

Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@brianbunn3604]

Amazing 🤩 real trains, unlike the boring, plastic, foreign rubbish infesting our “railways” now. Thank you so much for sharing, thoroughly enjoyed your video 👍

[@foretrak]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@Msfiona69]

Ditto to that ❤

[@antonysmith9173]

Indeed these were real proper trains,with character and lovely powerful sounding engines,never thought those days would end 😢

[@Peakxv750]

Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. Made my day, thanks.

[@foretrak]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@nedkabinder]

Brilliant capture s of glory s past .such and array and variety of traction .oh for a time machine .would love to have known what the pullmans sounded like too.i see a few of them here were clagging a bit .

[@foretrak]

Glad you liked it

[@johnbarthram2761]

Class 52s a smashing Loco, i remember them coming into Temple Mills on a cross London freight.

[@rodgertaylor2387]

Lovely to see the British pullman in white great footage 👍

[@rodgertaylor2387]

Thanks 👍

[@daystatesniper01]

Superb once again

[@foretrak]

Thank you so much 😀

[@johnhenstock9668]

Very good!

[@foretrak]

Thanks!

[@jimmillington8299]

Another gem, John...

[@chorlton4]

Wonderfull! thanks for sharing

[@foretrak]

My pleasure!

[@krysspace4405]

...a Deltic? 😲

[@foretrak]

Yes, it was on a railtour though not sure which one.

[@robertnicholson617]

Probably the Deltic Dragon of October the 12th '75. Ran to Cardiff and back, with 55003, stock and loco, seem to match the pictures on Chronicles of Napier website.