Train Station: London Terminus - 1944 British Council Film Collection - CharlieDeanArchives

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

I remember the News Theatre adjacent to Platform One at Waterloo. And the departure indicator which was operated by punch cards and wires! They were both still going strong in the 1960's.

[@robinwitting2023]

The plate layers look as though they've just left their front rooms in their pull-overs and trousers. I was looking around for health and safety paraphernalia. Signs, high-vis clothing, lamps etc. Unimaginable today. When men were men etc. These films are superbly made and a window on a lost world. Robin Witting

[@simonlilley]

Which is why so may staff got killed each year.

[@Finglesham]

@@simonlilley They did post look outs that blew a horn when a train was approaching. Working with 'live' trains kept delays down as was essential in wartime.

[@simonlilley]

@@Finglesham I agree, in wartime needs must, but post war some 50 staff a year or more were being killed by being hit by trains.

[@peacockpaula4723]

How interesting and fascinating. Amazing video, narated beautifully.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

I noticed around 5.20 that the railway staff were wearing their oval "Railway Service" badges, which were introduced so that when they were going home etc., people would know they were in a Reserved Occupation and therefore not in the army fighting. This was done to stop people shouting at them "Why aren't you in the army like my son?". At 12.51 the Station Master was wearing his. My grand-dad was a signalman and he always wore one.

[@paulnicholson1906]

my grandpa worked for the Midland railway during WW1 and I guess he was in a Reserved Occupation as well since he never was in the army. He actually met my grandmother when she was working for the railway during the war. Only just recently I learned he had a brother who was killed in France in 1916. I guess they never talked of it. My grandmothers brothers were killed one missing in 1916 the other died of wounds in 1918. They were railway workers, also for the Midland Railway but I guess volunteered for service.

[@daffyduk77]

The porter playing dominoes with his mate on their break was brilliantly captured

[@johnlunnun9769]

The way we were, not perfect, but a bloody sight better than many things are today!

[@callumhurley6913]

objectively they're not at all. Let's go by one standard, the infant mortality rate was 47.6 out of 1000 births today it's 4. There was also a world war. Take off your rose tinted glasses.

[@johnlunnun9769]

@@callumhurley6913 you’ve overlooked the most important thing, and that is morality, which colours everything!, but seemingly that doesn’t count for much these days!

[@callumhurley6913]

@@johnlunnun9769 Ah yes, no one has morality anymore. People were being gassed across Europe as this video was being taken.

[@dulls8475]

@@callumhurley6913 I am with him. I would rather live then then now. I suspect there were a lot less abortions then. Does that offset enough?

[@Mr.SLovesTheSacredHeartofJesus]

@@johnlunnun9769 I fully agree.

[@johnrafferty8087]

What a great time Capsule. Love the footage of a Merchent navy before Rebuilding

[@GRAHAM1514]

Excellent film thanks for sharing

[@johnestowell]

1944, the year I was born, 20 years later I was working there, then I moved to Australia and worked on Victorian Railways, they were the good old days of Steam.

[@Kelpie119]

Great - thanks for posting!

[@southafricandominion]

Absolutely wonderful

[@JohninRosc]

At 4.25 "all season tickets must be shewn" - I was never aware of that word. Presumably a pre 40's version of shown?

[@ichabodon]

That surprised me!

[@richardmaggs2843]

This is the old English spelling. As used in the King James (AV) Bible, e.g. "O Lord, shew forth Thy mercy..." etc.

[@JohninRosc]

@@richardmaggs2843 Thank you

[@EdMcF1]

As Richard M says, it's a now-archaic version of 'shown', you can see it a lot in legal judgments from the Victorian era onwards to about the 1950s, e.g. '...the Plaintiff has not shewn...'

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

I was taught that To Shew is as valid as To Show.

[@algiles881]

A clever way of framing the film - the soldier meeting his girlfriend then accompanying them into the news theatre.

[@London1064]

Great Video

[@laurenceskinnerton73]

Interesting.

[@markturner4219]

Some nice rare footage of a MN in original condition taking charge of the ACE.

[@davidw1518]

I'm curious that the name Waterloo Station [aka *railway* station] was never mentioned - was it considered a breach of security to name places? The name did appear on the side of the signal box, though. And the brief shot of the bus terminus looked like Victoria, not Waterloo.

[@Clivestravelandtrains]

During the war much signage was removed, so that if the Germans invaded they would have no idea where they were. I think the buses outside Victoria were part of the film our young lovers were watching.

[@davidw1518]

@@Clivestravelandtrains You're quite right, of course, about the removal of many direction signs, and town and village name signs (although we saw "Waterloo" still on the signal box!). I was thinking more about the spoken narrative in the film, which never, once, mentioned the name of the terminus. Thanks for the clarification about Victoria - I must have lost my concentration for a few seconds!

[@kenstevens5065]

The driver at 8.55, is that some kind of flint lighter he's lighting his pipe with?

[@Ben-xe8ps]

Are we sure this was actually made in 1944. I am curious as to the lack of a blackout in the night time scenes, the lack of any blackout or protective tape on the train windows, the lack of any 'to the air raid shelter' signs on the station, the fact that nobody is carrying a gasmask case and the total lack of anything else that you would expect to see in wartime other than the occasional shot of a man in army uniform. I also thought the full restaurant car services were suspended during the war years.

[@acesigma06]

Trains didn’t have cross tape, they used blinds, so they could be used day and during blackouts, by 1944 few people carried gas masks, as there had never been an attack.

[@Finglesham]

Interesting. There is a lack of luggage , no holidays in wartime, but little traffic on roads - only taxis. clothes march teh period but did for years afterwards! I take it for real.

[@wordsmith52]

In early autumn 1944, the blackout regulations were greatly relaxed - a 'dim out' it was called - due to the reduced risk of enemy air raids. However, V1s and V2s were still falling until late March 1945 but blackouts would have been no good against those menaces. That may explain your point.

[@gordonayres2609]

In one brief shot I saw a barrage balloon floating above the station, so it would be wartime .

[@r.markclayton4821]

Regulations were eased in 1944. From September blackout became "dim out".

[@peterg463]

Many thanks for these very interesting fillers.

[@HH-qm2gc]

The introductory music is a bit somber! It needs something a bit more jolly.

[@robtyman4281]

....it was made while WW2 was still going on. What do you expect???

[@derekmills1080]

Hang on! This is 1944. Firstly, there's a war going on, secondly travel restrictions. BUT the trains are running, the platforms are clean, the staff seem to know what they are doing and there are crowds of people. NOW we have a kind of war with covid19, hardly anybody is using the trains since most people are confined to their homes (before covid the trains in my part of the world - Bolton, Lancashire, UK - only ran when the runes allowed), in normal times the trains are grubby as are the platforms. Most staff (in normal times) are indifferent and usually haven't a clue about anything and, if you had the misfortune to travel when the platform was crowded it would be a disgusting melee. Leave out WWII, but keep the rest and 2021 would be improved.

[@ichabodon]

Thanks. As I have said on other YT videos you always live and learn. But the spelling really does look weird!

[@ccityplanner1217]

0:27: "Route 24 for Camberley and Reading": The Southern used their headcodes in announcements‽ This particular announcement is technically incorrect: the 24 is Shepperton; Camberley & Reading is the 28. Platform 21 did exist at this time, but was later closed. 6:11: "Devotion to duty": as if the modern railway had such a concept. 9:19: "Most often go back to their owners": these days most lost property articles are unclaimed. 10:00: The automatic car wash was invented 2 years later.

[@Ben-xe8ps]

No the Southern never used the headcodes as route numbers or in announcements as far as I am aware. I have listened carefully 3 times and I think the announcement is actually saying 'The 1024 to Camberley and Reading'.

[@theoracle6639]

Never heard of a railway fireman being called a stoker.

[@tjpj111]

Railway Station

[@randomtux1234]

9:42 whaaaaaaat?!!! "boots or babies" good lord

[@ccityplanner1217]

The left-luggage system was so efficient that back then before the pædophile paranoia craze they probably would've trusted their left-luggage system as the safest facility available for uniting a baby with its mother.

[@blackthorne57]

A teddy bear

[@Satters]

i was taught "Railway Station" not train station

[@whiterose.5684]

Probably a 12 year old in the upload team.

[@viscount757]

The channel is U.S. based where train station is a very common term, or railroad station. Railroad is a more common term than railway in the U.S., unlike Canada where it's the opposite.

[@HH-qm2gc]

It gets worse. Some people now say 'transit stop'

[@mickwillis6981]

And which decade of the 19th Century were you taught in?

[@steveannells9252]

@mickwillis6981 at the time this was filmed (no matter what indignities have been visited upon the English language since), it was known as a railway station, so that's good enough.

[@alangeorgebarstow]

Who is the halfwit who labelled this as a "train station"? there's no such thing. It is a railway station.

[@kenstevens5065]

That's the Internet for you.

[@Sparky-ov1ot]

Pity things don't run as well now? and no war on.

[@trainrover]

however, in between times, literature would have you believe that the likes of frivolous streamlining never e v e r got to fouling wartime austerity around the BI there........

[@luislaplume8261]

The Long Island Railroad and its owner the Pennsylvania Railroad has better built electric commuter trains.

[@barriegilbert1315]

Definitely war time ! One shot you can see a barrage balloon

[@doodemog]

That Porter at the start of the film had some seriously bad teeth 🤮

[@Eddie_Schantz]

If you are talking about the guy 2:24, his definitely is not practicing good dental hygiene. Great video.

[@trevordance5181]

@@Eddie_Schantz Before NHS dental treatment.

[@jakmak1199]

A face mask would cover up those rotting gnashers very nicely .

[@stevewilson5292]

@TheRenaissanceman65 His bad teeth did stand out. Dental hygiene has really made advances in my lifetime.

[@stevewilson5292]

@TheRenaissanceman65 I don't need your invitation to participate.

[@ivanahavitoff7308]

Teeeeeeeth!