Sir John Betjeman on the end of steam trains - 'Railways For Ever' (1970)

This film is available to buy as part of the 18-disc boxset 'The British Transport Films Collection' - filmstore.bfi.o...
11 August 1968 is a highly significant date in British railway history, marking the official end of regular mainline steam operation. As we see the last steam train crossing the Pennines and hear the Edwardian music-hall song 'Watching the Trains Go Out', Sir John Benjamin begins to reminisce. His nostalgic verse and prose recall the great trains of old as he moves through a photographic exhibition in Kingsway.
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[@paulrimmer2853]

What a marvellous feel of Old England! Polite,funny & chirpy. Masterful. Thank you Mr.Betjeman.

[@philiprufus4427]

A railway film ! Lets have some silly moronic background music !

[@KieranKelly-o9s]

He really was an absolute joy to listen to

[@WallaseyanTube]

The joys of travel. This is the chap that saved St Pancras for us.

[@HH-qm2gc]

..... also, if it had not been for him, the redevelopment of Liverpool Street would have ended up like Euston

[@spanglestein66]

@@WallaseyanTube unlike the chap that has purchased the trocadero in Piccadilly Circus To be turned into a mosque…..surely we can’t let this happen….enough is enough

[@soundnicetome]

What a refreshing change to the garbage on tv. Anything that Sir John Betjeman did was quality, far removed from what we get today which is utter rubbish.

[@TaxingIsThieving]

2012? Things are so much worse now.

[@peters1127]

Excellent old footage, I also cannot believe the Arch was torn down.

[@adel3529]

Yes that stunning stone arch was pulled down. I can remember in the 1980s part of the arch was laid on the floor in the station cafe. It had been painted in gloss white paint! A double insult if ever there was one.

[@OscarOSullivan]

The last steam locomotive passenger service in the UK was 30th of March in 1970 in Northern Ireland hauled by NCC WT No.4 (preserved)

[@paulbroderick8438]

Train travel is the most restful way of observing the countryside and the cows in the field! Loved this. Thank you.

[@philiprufus4427]

Nhat ! Without moronic Terpsicoria ?

[@raymondrayban]

AWESOME! john if only we could go back in time ,to how it was!!!!..IF ONLY!

[@angelacooper2661]

Unfortunately, this was at a time when my brother Anthony was a baby and I hadn't been born (August 1968). Shown in 1970, by which time I was being born!

[@ketoking9435]

Luv this,,reminds me of growing up back in those days,,,magical times,,,,

[@briansearle4138]

50's 60's 70's best times of growing up , making dens climbing trees & quarrys bird nesting ,

[@martinwilde2737]

Can you squeeze in the 80s as well? It wasnt bad then - compared to mad house we live in today!

[@xxxchrist1]

That was just great. Thanks for posting.

[@jorybennett5932]

Motor rail was a brilliant concept.

[@railwaystationmaster]

WOW was that comment really 10 years ago ? , JB should have been Transport Minister his vision was light years ahead of Beeching and his band of assassins who hated the railway .

[@Jeffybonbon]

I cant belive we pulled the Euston Arch down Whats wrong with this country

[@clarepover4978]

Us! Sad to see the destruction ,,,who "does" it?

[@heinkle1]

At least trains are as important to us now than ever before

[@thesoupdragonat121]

Just wonderful.

[@sleeming88]

Betjeman's description of the painting of the marriage proposal was so subtle that I'd watched it three times before I realised he was rhyming.

[@jettscream]

thate exhibition came to wardown park luton and my dad took me to see it i love betchxxx

[@martinensor]

Got this film on Super 8mm. Lovely keep sake of a golden era.

[@stevedn1]

Sir John Betjeman - really like his 1962 film of a train journey from Kings Lynn to Hunstanton - sadly already closed when this programme was made. Sadly in the 80s Margaret Thatcher would be a second Beeching, closing even more more railways. Now we have a "road building obsessed" Tory chancellor called Gideon George Osborne.

[@7554EdwardG]

Love this valentine to the age of rail. Does anyone out there know the author of the poem John Betjeman reads at 2.11 : "She sat in a first class carriage and her questioning eyes were sweet, when her hand was asked in marriage by the youth on the opposite seat..." Maybe it's Betjeman himself?!

[@JudyReadsCards]

I saw Railways for Ever on the telly at least 6 months ago and have been wondering the same thing ever since. Today I suddenly remembered it and decided to do some research, which is how I ended up here. I'm surprised to see you posed the same question only 2 weeks ago. Sadly, I haven't been able to find any reference to the poem - other than yours. 😕 I rather suspect it was penned by Betjeman just for this film, it so perfectly fits the painting.

[@7554EdwardG]

@@JudyReadsCards Thanks Judy. I too had a good look on the internet to see if I could track down this poem (there are quite a few sites where you can search for a poem by the first line - or sometimes any line - but they all came up blank. I think you are correct in that he probably improvised it to give extra impetus to the railway themed painting, so we will only have the few lines - but it's still lovely at that. I think Betjeman came alive when immersed in the world of the railway. Great to see Moving Pictures TV channel give his magical films some airtime.

[@7554EdwardG]

Meant "Talking Pictures" TV channel!

[@JudyReadsCards]

@@7554EdwardG Ah, I knew what you meant. 😊 I love that channel.

[@TheSuperHarrygeorge]

Can only assume john wrote it specifically for this documentary.

[@keithbroomhall7139]

Brilliant short film, I liked the futuristic 6 car unit, and seeing it run, anyone know who made it and does it still exist?

[@DoctorMeatDic]

This is the poem Slough by SirJohn Betjeman, probably never been here in his life.

[@philipcollier263]

Undenominational But still the church of God He stood in his conventicle And ruled it with a rod. Undenominational The walls around him rose, The lamps within their brackets shook To hear the hymns he chose. “Glory” “Gopsal” “Russell Place” “Wrestling Jacob” “Rock” “Saffron Walden” “Safe at Home” “Dorking” “Plymouth Dock” I slipped about the chalky lane That runs without the park, I saw the lone conventicle A beacon in the dark. Revival ran along the hedge And made my spirit whole When steam was on the window panes And glory in my soul.

[@TankEngine75]

???

[@QHarefield]

@@TankEngine75 One of JB's poems; Glory, Gopsal, etc., are hymn-tune names.

[@TankEngine75]

@@QHarefield Ok

[@spanglestein66]

To lament the passing of steam in much the same way as we now lament the passing of the English way of life …..hastily thrown away in to the hands of all comers from the deepest darkest corners of the world , only to be chewed and spat ….on their grabbing and grasping way to god knows where

[@steviejd5803]

Wholeheartedly agreed

[@barrybarry6592]

Grasping grabbing hands of international financiers, 7 !

[@michaelpuleston3496]

I would love to hear what JB would hsve made of the GWR Hitatchi trains we have to endure in the SW.

[@Mike-vd7ee]

When you watch something like this you do realise what a dump of a country we live in now

[@granitesevan6243]

And they made him a knight of the realm...

[@OscarOSullivan]

And was almost killed in Ireland during the 1940’s

[@DoctorMeatDic]

overrated....doesn't he like girls?

[@OscarOSullivan]

@@DoctorMeatDic Looked that up and nothing

[@railwaystationmaster]

They hate anything well made , it gives them a guilty conscience .

[@1258-Eckhart]

This is a Betjeman quotation without the quotation marks. It was said in a vandalised GWR railway carriage.

[@railwaystationmaster]

Wrecked by teds from Highbridge no doubt !

[@pufferkuesser97]

Does someone know of the song is anywhere in the internet to hear and how the name is? Didn't find much with the title "watching the trains go out"

[@leecoulson4224]

Almost sounds like Jon Pertwee singing it maybe?

[@AntPDC]

Sounds like Sir John's been at the helium again...

[@lewis72]

0:08 "Sunday, August 11th, 1968. The very last train to operate on std gauge track hauled by a British Railways steam locomotive." - Fortunately, I don't think that that was the case !

[@chrismccartney8668]

The HS2 cockup would make Brunel turn in his Grave !!

[@ElzevereBlock]

Thanks again John for reminding us what idiots run this country.

[@EastwoodBirds]

ugggh, you brits had some ugly diesels! Lovely steam locos though, you made the best ones in the world.

[@Domdeone1]

Don't think John Benjamin would like HS2, concrete structures, long tunnels impersonal terminus stops all at a massive cost to the tax payer

[@neilbillybob3065]

Correct date was august 1968 when England felt like England, now it's a lawless third world cesspit. give you thanks for this to the British Governments.

[@Bolivar2012able]

LET'S HOPE IN THE NICEST POSSIBLE WAY THAT SIR JOHN BETJEMAN IS FOREVER WRONG!

[@TaxingIsThieving]

Trains are faster now

[@Lytton333]

And what of railways now? A sort of numbing aesthetic anaesthesia. Of course, it was always going to head that way when money forced the human race to hurtle increasingly towards absolute homogeneity.

[@danw1374]

I despise dr beeching.

[@Mike8981]

He was just doing the job he was employed to do. Many lines, which had operated since Victorian times, were loosing huge amounts of money. Remember, this was after the Second World War and the country was still recovering from massive debt. At that time, roads were considered to be the future and a stream-lined rail service was required. That is was Beeching delivered.

[@TankEngine75]

Who Doesn't?

[@heinkle1]

Mick the scrapping of the Varsity line is still felt acutely today. Try taking a 3.75 hour coach from Cambridge to Oxford.

[@alantraish3368]

@@Mike8981 The Beeching report wasn’t telling the truth. The surveys taken on passenger numbers to justify closure were taken off peak and when the schools were closed. Also social need was never taken into account and then we get the question of Ernest Marples . A crook who used Beeching to hide behind his road building company Maples/Ridgeway

[@MrHenryrolls]

And he was in bed with the road construction firm Marples

[@lorenzbroll101]

The public school types are really smart. Let's wreck the countries infrastructure when cheap coal is under our feet!

[@keithbrowning3899]

Doesn't sound like Betjeman - someone speaking his words.

[@greatwesternproductions2857]

It definitely it is, listen and learn

[@lennylaa1686]

John sounds rather ''camp'' here! Oooooh! What a gay day! Hahahahaha! lol.

[@ukipwarrior]

yuck old britain was awful

[@Lytton333]

< sigh >

[@amberlantern9328]

In many ways things are better today, in many other ways other things were better before. Before the WW2 its railways were supreme. BR sort of ruined it in a way, though it probably did slightly improve communication somewhat, with everything under one ownership.

[@johndavey8683]

@@amberlantern9328 let's not forget that before BR, the Germans inflicted heavy blows to the network as a result of two wars. The railways never fully recovered from the wear and tear and lack of investment.

[@simonf8902]

Just delightful.