Requiem for a Railway: A Job For Life?

3rd April 1986
Part 2 of a 3-part BBC series
See also:
www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/conten...

[@grandslam1998]

I remember it well! Great tradsmen Great workmanship and Great brotherhood!

[@kickemallout]

How sad that this is all history and has now all gone.

[@mentonish]

Thanks for the memories, as a young lad the wednesday visit to the works was always a great pleasure. We visited the steam museum in Swindon last year, which brought back many happy memories of Swindon in the late 1950.

[@MrDavil43]

So as you sit in yet another motorway traffic jam, complaining about the lack of road space, just remember what this film was about, and how it was decided that road haulage is the future. Think about those who's fortunes were made on the back of the railway industry's destruction and how we now need that industry back with a vengeance. In our short-term thinking we are but fools.

[@riverhuntingdon6659]

And so today, all our trains, except for the Vivarail DEMU, are built to designs conceived abroad, by the likes of Bombardier, Siemens,etc. Bombardier was particularly spiteful so I was told, when the last MK1 EMU was overhauled, they had loads of parts they'd never need again. You might think they'd ask the various tourist lines or heritage lines if they'd want the parts. Well they did, but the buyer'd have to pay the full catalogue price so to speak. Needless to say the tourist lines couldn't do it and so all these bits were scrapped and sent to China to make into more crap. There were faults with BR, but today's buck - passing privateers are no improvement. And they're still being bailed out by the government. Just costs more.

[@tridentmusic5570]

"it's GOT to change, otherwise this Country will NEVER recover............." Many a true word (not) spoken in jest. 2014. Proven to be correct.

[@LupusAries]

tridentmusic Yes, sad that it took people so long to see through the neoliberal bullshit.

[@paulthackery4082]

yeah same as the coal fields.put people out of work.kill comutities and all's well.

[@Scotsman60103]

The Beeching report was part of a conspiracy. Do you realise that Richard Beeching's superior in the ministry of transport was employed by a road haulage company? The intention was to axe unprofitable Branch lines in order to make way for new roads planed by Lorry and Bus companies. Thus eliminating the competition. The only thing is the road companies don't seem to care about the small villages whereas the railways served almost every village in the country. If the Great Central Mainline hadn't been ripped up due to the Beeching report then there would be no need for HS2/3 as it already provided a link to the east Midlands and the north west from the capital in one journey.

[@rayrandall5680]

Scotsman60103 Earnest Marples who was Minister of Transport was part of the Marples Ridgeway civil engineers who were heavily into road construction at the time of Beeching.Talk about conflict of interest,pity the Press wasn`t so crusading in those days.

[@Scotsman60103]

I know What you mean :( If the Great central Mainline hadn't been axed then their would be no need for HS2.

[@PreservationEnthusiast]

Beeching was a hero. Cut the old polluting steam locos for scrap, and demolish the old railway works. Expanding the road system is the way forward!

[@paulthackery4082]

really.seen it now.stfu.

[@ianhumble1]

The working man has been betrayed again!

[@orange70383]

An entry level job was tending the gents room. Part of your duty was when an important bloke strolled in for a leak you waited till he was done and you stepped up to give his Mr. 2 shakes and a tuck.

[@mikerochburns4104]

_"this engine was _*_not_*_ manufactured, she was built"_

[@Vajra_Bodhi]

Interesting video. Thanks a lot.

[@mandywithell]

@eastnorfolkboy. You are partly right-it was dirty and dangerous work but ask any railwayman from the steam age and they almost all say there was a pride and satisfaction in the job that's missing today.

[@quintoflyer]

It was a job for life till ASLEF sold us down the river

[@wiedep]

Don't rely on any government for a job, you will be disappointed and let down.

[@peterbradshaw8018]

When did you discover this Columbus? Governments are their primarily to maintain law and order if they cant do that chances are they cant create sustainable jobs.

[@Sys-Edit0r-1995]

I hope to built my own standard gauge steam locomotive soon, it will quite small

[@gilgarcia3008]

These grand factory’s are gone forever. When I hired on at ALCOA I thought I would spend my whole working career there, but 17 years later I was looking for another job. I lucked out by getting a job with the largest water wholesaler in the country and was able to put in 25 years to retire.

[@terfle1106]

Right on !!!

[@mandywithell]

@eastnorfolkboy Ps. You're Wrong on Thatcher. Spending on BR went up!!! By the way i'm not a railway enthusiast blinded by nostalgia. I actually drive a lorry for a living but understand the value of integrated transport.

[@Scotsman60103]

If a HST breaks down outside Swindon they can't repair it, I has to be taken to Derby or Doncaster? What a fucking waste of time,fuel and effort. I'm sure the Lads at Swindon could easily repair the problem without the HST being dragged all the way to the east Midlands.

[@johnbrown9092]

Great presentation but so sad. I worked on the railways for 49 years, but not at Swindon.

[@stablestaple]

@lmogden1 Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@lukeeveleigh2011]

Those days where steam trains were running were long gone, although I still see steam trains running on various routes! It was however very interesting!

[@JBofBrisbane]

Don't forget Atlee gave the Soviet Union the Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet, just the thing they needed to make the MiG-15 a formidable fighter. Next thing you know, they're shooting down B-29s at will over Korea.

[@Lukeashley2323]

Such a sad loss Swindon works,the S&D many many railway connection now lost. By the way could anybody give the name of the piano work in this programme very nicely fitting with whats going on.

[@joblo3940]

the whole works

[@mandywithell]

@m eastnorfolkboy. As for beeching and Thatcher getting it wrong, mmmm! How many lines are being re-opened and check the conjestion on British roads today compared to countries that kept railways. Also, why are we buying railway stock from companies abroad when our own workshops could have done the work? (Check out the debacle over Bombardier in Derby)

[@woodlandsteve]

We evolved from the swamps to a great empire when we needed millions of workers, technology has evolved so we don't need as many workers yet the human race keeps expanding. The only way forward is to devolve back to the swamps and start again, sad but true.

[@eastnorfolkboy]

What is wrong with "hard and dangerous" is that it takes it out of you physically for very little reward, nor were these jobs remotely fulfilling. You then retire before dying young (if you manage to escape being killed during the course of the job) with very little pension provision. Having done "hard and dangerous" in the oilfield until I saved enough money to start a business I do know what I am talking about. Believe me, hard and dangerous is for fools.

[@foxcell]

All that Work force :-( Bloody outragous

[@JawTooth]

Le mochen beatle en detay

[@RedtailFox1]

the same governments who do this are also the ones who demand that 'something must be done' about unemployment and try to make it harder for people to get onto the dole to start with and are all too willing to cancel their dole for any little reason.

[@simonsteam]

Thatcher has alot to answer for. oh yes close all the industry down. what were all the people supposed to do for work? swindon works needed investment and upgrading to build the newest and most up to date railway engines.

[@paulthackery4082]

and greed set in.........same........on this country.

[@xr6lad]

Actual its people like you and me that are responsible. No one else. You know why.....we are the idiots that never ever learn time after time year after year and keep voting the same people, Labour and Conservative, Conservative and Labour, into power. And each time we get screwed and each time we say 'thank you sir, can we have some more'

[@mandywithell]

Thatcher made the mistake of thinking manufacturing was old fashioned. Banking provided quick profits with few staff. Look where that got us. Compare Britain with Germany that still has a Manufacturing industry. Take heed Cameron, Osbourne and Clegg. Unfortunately these poliTiTians have no experience of real life unlike politicians of the past.

[@TooToo-kt8gy]

Britain is the world's 8th largest manufacturer. Its not a secret.

[@adam11111]

Combine harvester

[@JonatanGronoset]

Them whizzy whippersnappers

[@eastnorfolkboy]

At the risk of getting into a protracted dialogue, you are talking nonsense. I suspect that I am a bit older than you, I can remember when people worked ther nuts off for nothing, there is nothing romantic about cleaning out a smoke box on a cold and wet day or crawling into a hot fire box to replace the bars. I have worked hard and I have had the easy life, on the whole I prefer the easy life.

[@oldiron1223]

Business exist to make money not to employ workers. Governments exist to provide those things necessary for society to exist, not to employ workers. When society lost that basic knowledge the troubles began. Need a job? Find a need and fill it, everything else will come form that.

[@eastnorfolkboy]

Anybody who has nostalgia for crap like this needs their brains tested, it was hard and dangerous work for little reward. Places like Swindon long outlived their economic. viability at a cost to us all and that's why nobody else was prepared to take it on. Beeching and Thatcher both got it wrong; they didn't go far enough.