Vintage railway film - Forward to First Principles - 1966

This vintage railway film, produced by British Transport Films in 1966, scans the present and the past to show those economic principles governing the early railways have been rediscovered as a basis for modern freight trains.
There have been railways in Great Britain for over three hundred years. In the nineteenth century, railways spread across Britain and changed the geography, history, economy, and the life of a nation, but already there existed primitive railways for moving coal and other minerals from the pits and quarries to navigable water and roads.

[@Tom-Lahaye]

The BTH P Paxman class 15 with the proper sound in the beginning of this film is rather unique.

[@MrPete1x]

Thank you for showing this. Please don't ever delete it

[@jeffreymcneal1920]

A most interesting perspective on the how and the why of railroading. I've not seen this kind of analysis before, and it was most engaging.

[@roberthuron9160]

The overlooked portion was the lack of continuous brakes,as British Rail,in the 1950's,still had 500,000 wagons with hand brakes(ONLY),and that put them 30+years,after practically everyone else! The reason that was so,was the lack of investment,and a concerted campaign by the oil and road interests,to disinvest in the railroads! The irony,was and is that the roads,can only handle 25% of the railroads traffic,and the costs are 10 times more! Banquo's ghost,has come back to haunt the feast! Accountants,and lawyers should never be allowed anywhere near operations,as the lack of understanding of simple physics is beyond them! Thank you,for a very educational video,and really more people should be made aware of the history 👏! THANK YOU!! 😊🙏👏

[@jackx4311]

Actually, the reason that so many goods wagons had only parking brakes at this time was because vast numbers of them were not owned by British Railways, but by private companies, such as quarries, steel merchants, coal merchants, and all sorts of factories, etc - and it was THEY who stubbornly refused to pay the costs of fitting their wagons with continuous brakes.

[@hypergolic8468]

@@jackx4311 Good point, and the quarry owners / coal board had another advantage to wagon moved coal and the lack of investment. The rail sidings when you see them full of loaded coal wagons are land, huge amounts of land that the wagon owners were not paying for. It therefore was cheaper to pay for a wagon and not have it move than it was to pay to expand the holding tip at the colliery etc (often hemmed in by housing). One of the British Rail traffic surveys from the 1960's showed the average speed of a wagon on the British Rail network was 1/2 mile an hour! As someone who'd done the work said to me, we realised we'd have to stop been a land agent and become a transport company! Finally many people don't realise the cost that the Second World War imposed on British Rail. Most of our European Neighbours arrived at 1945 with destroyed rail networks, but the advantage was they could cut the fat (bin the old working practices), straighten out curves and reorganise marshalling yards. Much of the British infrastructure had taken a huge beating, but we were bankrupt (we'd not pay of our war debt till 2007!), at the time of this film the UK was paying for the Cold War too, so improvements were often little more than patch up and mend. The bomb damage at York Station was only finally repaired in the 1980's!

[@roberthuron9160]

@@hypergolic8468 There is another factor,in the fact that,in order to maintain,their supposed power,the British elites,were prepared to bomb their rivals back to the stone age! Consider the fact,that the US,and Britain,prior to the opening of the war,were already having bombers(pre-planned),being built from 1934,on! The minimum time for design,construction,and transport,was at least 5 years! Four engine bombers were,and are expensive,so you have to ask yourself,who really did what to who! For the US,the question is,and was,why were we backing the British Empire,which at that time held 20%percent of the world in its grip! Also,in both wars,Britain declared war,on Germany FIRST,and they had the Fleet at sea,and the reserves called up,so Churchill,and his colleagues,did a very one-sided propaganda campaign,along with Colonel Stephenson,in the US,to influence the outcome of the war! Note also,Britain was already bankrupt,by 1939! So the US,taxpayers bailed out Britain twice,in both WW1 and WW2! See also Roosevelt and Churchill's behind the scenes,skullduggeries,in the years leading up to the war! Remember that they were both Naval Secretary,at points in their careers! Thank you for your time and allowing me,to get a bit of overlooked history into the conversation! Thank you! 😊

[@steffenrosmus9177]

Sorry to say that, but the UK is 40 years behind in every aspect of technique, society , health care......

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

BR started life with 1,223,634 wagons of which only 131,965 had automatic brakes and 1,047,439 were handbrake only. By the end of 1967 BR had 466,623 wagons of which 190,853 had automatic brakes and 275,770 were handbrake only. At the same time average capacity rose from 12.5 tons to 16.94 tons. At the peak (at the end of 1961) BR had only 320,162 wagons with automatic brakes. Approximately a third of the wagons inherited from the LMS were built prior to the Grouping in 1923.

[@jimthorne304]

Very historic shots; the Cromford and High Peak closed entirely in 1967.

[@paulnicholson1906]

My dad, my brother and I went on the Cromford and High Peak before it closed on a special excursion. It rained, we were in open wagons and we were miserable. Great memory though. The first scene is the exit from Dove Holes tunnel and the station with the banking engine is Great Longstone where my grandparents lived. My grandad worked on the railway until he retired.

[@regcotterill7332]

@@paulnicholson1906 I spotted the film of a train going through Great Lonstone station immediately and played it through several times. Thought it seemed familiar. I've walked through there many times as the the Monsal trail never lucky enough to be around whilst it was still a railway

[@paulnicholson1906]

@@regcotterill7332 nice walk. I want to cycle it sometime soon.

[@paulredding5864]

In this months Model Rail, there is a small feature on a company offering the CHPR Mineral wagons. They look very nice so have ordered 4 about £15 each and postage in UK is £4. HTH

[@PercyPruneMHDOIFandBars]

The High Peak is now a walking\cycle path. It joins up with another ex-railway at Parsley Hay that goes down to Ashbourne. At the Ashbourne end, there's a tunnel where you can still hear the trains! ;-)

[@davidfox3258]

It is actually superb. The photography is excellent. The Colour is excellent quality for a 1966 film. It's incredibly interesting. And Professor Jack Simmons is an academic of the old school.

[@favesongslist]

WOW what a great documentary, TY so much for uploading.

[@craighobbs3708]

Great view of Great Longstone!

[@jennyd255]

What a fabulous film. I started to watch this largely out of nostalgia for my 1960's youth, but I found it absolutely fascinating.

[@KidarWolf]

This was incredibly interesting to watch - I'm generally interested in steam engines, and in horses, and have never been terribly interested in diesel or electric locomotive power, but this was a fascinating look into how railways very much are highly specialized in carrying fixed freight. It has given me things to think about with regards to my views on moving the majority of freight back off the roads, and onto the rail network, in order to avoid quite so many wildlife habitats being fragmented by roads and highways - clearly, small freight quantities are ill-suited to the railways, and yet the continuing growth of the road network, and the pollution that comes with it, is something that I think we need to come to a reckoning with if we're to still have human life on this planet many generations from now.

[@johncourtneidge]

First class! Thank-you! And, of course, in my own life-time all that has been turned into an inevitable museum: there is no such thing as Sustainable Mining.

[@marvwatkins7029]

I never realized that wagon size was directly related to draft horse capacity. Most enlightening.

[@beeble2003]

Yes, right until the end of steam, wagons in small yards and at customer sites were moved by horses. A locomotive would be too expensive. Today, single-wagon traffic is dead in the UK but, in the US, they either use winches, front-end loaders or tiny locomotives called trackmobiles to move freight cars at customer sites.

[@DeadlyKiss000]

I realized it.

[@johnsharp8632]

An excellent railway documentary and there are so many on You Tube. I was envious of the young people out on such a great and educational school visit. My geography teachers in the early 60s took us nowhere.

[@doncarlton4858]

Outstanding look at steam railways in days gone by!

[@mandymoo7406]

enjoyed that thank you,it was interesting to be explained why the marshalling yards were out of date

[@beeble2003]

And yet still they built new ones, at great expense, and then closed them all 15-20 years later.

[@peterstudley1804]

Great views of Great Longstone Station on the Midland mainline ,38 seconds in ,closed to passengers in march 1967 and totally in August 1968 , now part of the monsal trail in Derbyshire.

[@adrianrosenlund-hudson8789]

Nostalgic, but highly enjoyable and interesting.

[@Sam_Green____4114]

Very rare shot of a Class 15 there at the beginning !! And in Colour !!! at 01.15.

[@Mounhas]

Always informative these videos, cheers, felt for the horses though, definitely beasts of burden.

[@Erzahler]

Yep, but those horses appeared to be Clydesdales. They were bred to be very strong and powerful. They are tall horses, standing about 16 hands high on average, give or take a hand or two. The Clydesdale breed originated in the Lanarkshire area of Scotland in the early 18th Century. From the National Museums Scotland website: "The Clydesdale breed was founded in the early eighteenth century when two breeders, John Paterson of Lochlyoch and the 6th Duke of Hamilton, imported Flemish stallions and mated them with native draught mares in the Clyde valley." Just a little info for you. 🙂

[@andyrob3259]

Always amazed given how strict they were with other things back in the day when approving railways that they allowed stations to be actually built on the curve.

[@WilliamMooreHCFS]

That's one of the main differences between Britain's railways and the North American railroads. Up to and including incredibly complex track work and points on curves as well. North American prototypes have so much more real estate to utilize for their switches, and their loading gauges are quite a bit larger too.

[@davidfarrell7318]

great old film very interesting schools should show this to their pupils compulsory viewing

[@markholroyde9412]

LOL how would that work?, they all have the attention span of a fkn fly.....

[@davidfarrell7318]

that's true and absolutly no respect

[@billpugh58]

@@davidfarrell7318 you must hate our kids today.

[@DeadlyKiss000]

1966 was the last great year on this planet

[@briandobson9272]

what a brilliant video,,,,,,,, thanks brian d.

[@fordmotorman]

17:11 I believe this is the only footage of a Frenco Crosti 9F, only one without the other smokebox

[@gardenman3]

Dont forget the horse also manufactures its own replacement.

[@DeadlyKiss000]

Railways are so functional and the landscape so beautiful. That is masc and fem energies in a nutshell!

[@andyrbush]

I was 15 in 1966, it was a much nicer time.

[@robertstorey7476]

the modern world is rubbish.

[@johnlunnun9769]

You bet it was! It wasn’t perfect, but it was totally removed from the ghastly shit we now have on our hands!

[@island29]

I remember watching the steam trains go under the bridge by the old Wimbledon power station, probably about that time. Who would think the world got so bad it such a short time

[@noaerrr]

It wasn’t that 1966 was a much nicer time it was just that being 15 was a much nicer time

[@andyrbush]

@Eddie Riff We never realized we had hardships. People were nice to each other, that's all that counted.

[@Ben31337l]

1:19 That's the first time I've seen a class 16 caught on tape.

[@PenzancePete]

Class 15.

[@Ben31337l]

@@PenzancePete Not exactly, I thought that at first, but look at the differences in buffer design.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

The horses were filmed at Newmarket where they remained in use, primarily but not solely, for the movement of racehorses.

[@beeble2003]

Though horses were used throughout the country, until about the 1960s.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@@beeble2003 most were gone by the 1950s replaced the internal combustion engine. The last horse used for shunting, Charlie, retired in 1967. Five years later BR stopped handling racehorses and cattle.

[@robertmoir5695]

I d like to see videos about passenger trains in the 1960s

[@stevehunt8423]

We had it all..... and we wasted it and threw it away......

[@keith6400]

Horse locomotives? How do you spot them and record their numbers?

[@Erzahler]

As to that, how does one refuel and rewater that horse loco? How does one dump the fire? And what does one do if a horse loco "derails?" Ugh! 😁

[@bluebellsfan8704]

Nice! Love it

[@A60stock]

This was the head of BTF, Edgar Anstey's, favourite BTF production.

[@philfluther2713]

Sputnik and the steam train marched in unison. Yes that's right, actually. 'The Rocket' prophetic.

[@djburland]

Rail, here, there and everywhere, until that vile Dr Beeching

[@andyrbush]

I believe that he had investments in road transport.

[@jackx4311]

Beeching was only doing what idiot politicians told him to do - but he wasn't worth a fraction of what they paid him. Any accountant can look at a business, see which bits of it are not making a profit, and close them down. It takes real knowledge, imagination and competence to work out WHY a business is not making a profit, and to know how to turn that business around so that it does. Both Beeching and his political masters were lacking in all respects.

[@roberttisdale4441]

@@jackx4311 Beeching had a few "achievements" while working as Marples hatchet-man. The first were his passenger and freight traffic density maps, which were used to close down passenger railways, and to create the motorway and trunk road network for the road haulage industry. Along with passenger railway closures, he was the originator of privatisation of passenger transport. When many towns around the country lost some or all of their railway routes, the alternative was the replacement bus service. Many former train users, mainly men, at that time, would have not been very happy about sitting on a bus, being overtaken by cars, on their journey to work, and would have taken their first step into car ownership as a result. So, there must have been a huge rise in car sales following the Beeching closures. I wonder how many reluctant first time motorists lost their lives in car accidents after being forced into driving when they were unsuited to it. Beeching was once asked if he would have liked a locomotive to be named after him - his reply was that he would prefer a pub to be named after him. I remember being told that Beeching and Marples were both married into the Ridgeway family, which was involved in engineering - I have some brace bits which bear the name Marples Ridgeway. The sin of Beeching's actions was that he discounted non-contributary revenue, which was the added value of branch and secondary line passengers making longer journeys because they had a local station.

[@andyrbush]

@@jackx4311 Politicians are the source of all the problems in the world.

[@jackx4311]

@@andyrbush - well, maybe not quite all, Andy - but they're working on it . . .

[@eliotreader8220]

nice Quarry Hunslet engine

[@alistairkewish651]

How long did the hump shunting yard survive?

[@beeble2003]

The humps were all closed by the mid 1980s. Total waste of money building those yards in the late 1960s, when they already knew that the traffic was moving to the roads.

[@wiedep]

You can see how the Python's got their ideas for parodies from doco's like this...

[@beardyface8492]

Then the government decided industry wasn't worth the effort, & one Margret Thatcher, followed by one Tony Blair closed most of it down & the nation became a much lesser place.

[@djrichylaurence8991]

They sold us out and killed our traditional industries. Now look at the mess we're in.

[@chriswaring5565]

GET THEM STUDENTS WERE BORED LISTENING TO THE SILLY OLD MAN WOBBLING ON

[@TailsFan369no2]

17:10 Franco crosti 9f

[@judicator375]

I watch this and all i can think is: i was born in the wrong era :(

[@novakingood3788]

1 in 14...by 'eck!

[@geoffsclassiccars]

Pretty sure the bearded explorer's been here recently

[@dulls8475]

Where is the horse on the track filmed?

[@beeble2003]

No idea, but they were used throughout the country.

[@ZalMoxis]

Those poor poor horses.....

[@jackx4311]

They were well fed, well cared for, and had a healthy life - which is a damn sight more than can be said for many of the 3,000+ horses that I've worked with.

[@ZalMoxis]

@@jackx4311 it is ongoing cruelty.

[@jackx4311]

@@ZalMoxis - no; what's ongoing cruelty is OVER FEEDING horses, and giving them insufficient work to keep them healthy, so that they end up clinically obese, and develop diabetes, and what is far worse, laminitis. You want to know what laminitis is like for a horse? Imagine having bils all over your feet and having to wear tightly fitting boots 24/7. You, mate, are both woefully ignorant about horses, as well as being a feeble-minded fool.

[@lizlawrence4553]

Those horses were fine, working horses. They are not soft or stupid. Like parts of the current ill Informed generation.

[@tuktuk8844]

So one horse’s ass width makes a Narrow Gauge and two horses’ asses width make a Broad Gauge.

[@briansearle4138]

Health & Safety be F ********D

[@bajexe]

I'm not sure how on earth youtube got me to this video but it was surprisingly interesting. Really high quality production, impressed it's over 50 years old now.

[@DeadlyKiss000]

It got you here because you're brilliant!

[@k.h.4698]

In the United States, we are still waiting for the day the trains primarily serve passengers, and not just freight.

[@nikerailfanningttm9046]

Your a fucking joke you bloke. Here in the states, we prioritize FREIGHT. Passengers were left behind when “Amtrak” was created. After the war, America’s passenger lines were becoming less popular with the advant of the jetliner and coach bus.

[@tommythomason6187]

The United States is a different animal from Europe. The government run passenger service, Amtrak, exists because the private railroads could not make long distance passenger service work. And Amtrak has not once made a profit, which is telling. It has operated in the Red since it's inception, May 1st, 1971. And it primarily operates over tracks of private freight railroads. If private railroads could not make this service work, then there is no future in it. Short-haul routes, however, can be profitable and the Brightline service in Florida is an ambitious example of a private entity making passenger rail service work.

[@luiscaprara3504]

​@@tommythomason6187áááaa

[@redboyjan]

​@@tommythomason6187rubbish. If shareholder profits were removed then it could be profitable

[@IndianaNorthWestern]

​@@tommythomason6187 too be fair they did operate less in the red last year iirc

[@robharding4028]

You can see why so many young people back in the 50's 60's grew to admire our steam trains in ever increasing numbers. The introductory pic is so inviting, I would love to be able to sit on that platform bench for just 5 minutes, while I open my picnic basket, and just take in the wonderful atmosphere from that great decade. Wonderful old film,

[@paulnicholson1906]

The first shot is coming out of Dove Holes tunnel at the south portal and the next is going through Great Longstone station (now a private house) with the passenger train passing the steam powered mixed goods train going up grade to Peak Forest.

[@Jerry-cc4nk]

Greatings to the home of the steam enginge from Germany. We had the same stuff in Germany as well in the Ruhr area in North Rhine Westfalia, but not such beautifull landscapes surroundig it. And why do I watch this? I am 28 and I love that kind of stuff to be honest.

[@andrewcraig-bennett3659]

That’s a good film. I’m 68 and I can just remember the end of horse shunting in East Anglia, but until I watched this I had never made the connection between the size of a wagon and the ability of a horse to pull it.

[@robhaigh4068]

Greetings to the home of the diesel engine, from the UK!!

[@Poshypaws]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nKSuo5VnnK2Naqs Das Mansfelder Land - Vielfalt auf Schienen | Eisenbahn-Romantik

[@stefankassbohrer2765]

A great, interesting footage from the homeland of the steam engine. Best regards from south Germany

[@nbandpinportugal]

Thank you. Same to you mate.

[@neilfurby555]

Astonishing production, in all respects. A masterpiece of documentary making.

[@mountainrover]

a great film, nice to be informed in an interesting way without being yelled at, 'amused', given sentence fragments or lazy speech by somebody who thinks it's all about him, or her.

[@BibtheBoulder]

So, no longer do we have mashalling yards. Instead we have motorways full to capacity, and as I type (August 2021) a severe lack of lorry drivers meaning supply issues....

[@jackx4311]

. . . and all in the name of efficiency . . .

[@inregionecaecorum]

@@jackx4311 Or lack of in the current instance, we moved backwards not forwards with the Beeching era.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Marshalling Yards were a waste of money. Investment should have been made in to more modern freight handling such as containerisation, which the LMS were at the forefront of promotion prior to nationalisation.

[@tonyclough9844]

@@inregionecaecorum Beeching was a necessary no one on British rail had costed the branch lines, they all lost money.

[@adrianpeters2413]

@@tonyclough9844 ever heard of public service, you know, that's the taxpayer,

[@marc21091]

The commentator who appears at several points in the film is Professor Jack Simmons whose books on the history of railways in Britain remain among the best still to read. He is not captioned, only introduced verbally, and his name is not in the credits. Fascinating to see him discuss the history of railway freight in 1966.

[@haroldwilkes6608]

Designing and building a mixed freight consist was one of the most complex actions in railroading, a near perfect challenge for mechanization and later computerization. The US N&W, a 90% coal road, had it relatively easy. I've read stories of the terror of "riding the hump", being on the cars and separating them before switches. Not my cup of tea. Great video.

[@Isochest]

I hope this line can reopen between Great Rocks and Matlock. Interestingly the greatest pressure is coming from freight as it would relieve the congested less ideal Hope Valley route.

[@boblovell5789]

Steam may have been on the way out but the 'grease top' still part of the uniform. Loved that massive steam dredger.

[@suedearing-ex7ve]

Someone talking to the camera without waving their arms or jumping about. So good to see.

[@mickricereto8012]

At 23 minutes, "I am now going to question the computer ..." Wow this is totally where the Willy Wonka filmmakers got the computer interlude from, the tone is identical! WW: "I am now going to tell the computer EXACTLY what he can do with a lifetime of chocolate!"

[@djrichylaurence8991]

I watched this because I was born in 66. Best year of the 60s! Fred Dibnah would've loved this film.

[@sansovino4124]

I thought that was a William Mathias score - he was professor of music at UCNW, Bangor during my time there - a very distinctive sound. As for the railways, fantastic - nice to see how freight developed and sad that all we get nowadays is freightliners and block freights.

[@jimdieseldawg3435]

Excellent display of consummate trainmanship from the driver of the Class 25/2 (or /3 maybe?) at about 27 minutes in. Superb film. Thanks for sharing 🙂

[@inregionecaecorum]

1966 the year of the Beeching cuts, and the murder of British Rail, we don't need no stinking HS2 we need our old goods trains back.

[@beardyface8492]

HS2 is exactly what we need to free capacity on the other main lines in order to get freight moving on them again. HS2 itself is a means to an end, not an end in itself. The point is freeing capacity elsewhere, not "fast trains".

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

This old good trains were inefficient and uneconomic. They had to be provided with engine and crew(s) and a timetabled path for each day of operation, even if there turned out to be no traffic that day. The local trip working of Speedlink services represented around 80% of the services costs and the costs back in the 1960s would have been comparable. Prior to Beeching an average wagon went 11.9 days between loadings and spent between 1.5 and 2 days loaded on a journey of only 67 miles. So most of the time the average wagon was standing idle costing the tax-payer money, and when it was earning revenue it spent a lot of time in marshalling yards being switched from one train to another. Hardly an efficient use of wagons. BR had to drop the Speedlink service because the costs were too great. To break even BR need each user of Speedlink had to send out 10 wagons per day on journeys of at least 500 miles. Something in the order of 70% to 80% of the cost was in the marshalling and remarshalling of the wagons and the provision of the local trip workings. BR also worked out that even if they could reduce costs by 40% then only 10% of the Speedlink traffic was economic.

[@ProfessorPesca]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 Come on now, you know no facts are allowed on KZbin, just rose-tinted nostalgia.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@@ProfessorPesca sorry I forgot.

[@p.istaker8862]

@@beardyface8492 Why not just reinstate some of the lines that were ripped up? That could create capacity and is much cheaper than a bullshit box ticking exercise.

[@mr.polemikus4933]

they did not know that within 15 years they would disappear coal & miners, any English car, entire railway networks

[@edwardhulin9935]

A rare priceless treasure!

[@eliotreader8220]

lovely history film about the goods that the railways carried. the historian's voice sounds posh a bit like the teacher I knew during my Collage days in Cornwall

[@djwarren5081]

I used to live close to a hump shunting yard. Always fascinating to watch the 08 class shoving the waggons, watch them roll down the hill.

[@loveeuropehatetheeu5271]

Same here, Toton.

[@aidenstammler4618]

This is the same type of stuff we all saw in the model Thomas and friends. Finally putting the tv to reality is such a beautiful thing to see and realize. Thanks mate for sharing all of these videos and for being just an amazing person

[@redboyjan]

Thomas the tank engine was evil. Look it up

[@chrisblay]

Rarely see freight trains these days. Used to see them regularly up to the eighties. Seems very short sighted, as it’s still the most efficient way of moving goods and raw materials. Enjoyed watching this old documentary.

[@alanwood4968]

Destroyed by Beeching. It would have taken extra money to go over the railways by a intelligent man it was allowed to get old by politicians. Now we have roads cluttered by large lorries.

[@marvwatkins7029]

Amazing. Astounding. To think that what should be demonstration 'working' museums are actual enterprises using manuel labor and literal horse power at the same time (admittedly primitive) computers are used elsewhere. Talk about 'railways in transition'!

[@PaulRoseGuitar]

These guys pushing the wagons and shinning up a rope dont look like they've been sitting around waiting for pizza and hagan daz to be delivered.

[@PenzancePete]

I'm fairly sure that we used to show this film at the Southern Region training centre at Beckenham.

[@TrainSpotterTVIndia]

Beautiful compilation, love it

[@beeble2003]

It's not a compilation. It's a single documentary.

[@pulsecodemodulated]

@ 23:11, I was half expecting him to say "I am now telling the computer exactly what he can do with a lifetime supply of chocolate"

[@EmpyreanSasarai]

Holy crap I grew up 3 miles from Wellingborough in the village that the ironstone quarry railway came from!

[@marvwatkins7029]

An historical film covering an historical period of British rail working, surely.

[@angelsone-five7912]

A lovely watch. All gone now and we are none the better for it.

[@steelhelmetstan7305]

Excellent video and what I would give to visit that long ago and disappeared time when the world was run by 'grown ups '. The professor chap who pops up now and again would today in a film or video like this....probably have a beard and tattoos , and nose piercing, talk a load of slang and constantly twitch in front of the camera saying things like 'wow! , gosh ! ,amaaazing! '....etc etc....like I said when the world was run by grown ups 🤔

[@Red_wine]

I know that exact hill he is standing on at 15:27 I grew up only a mile from it, especially considering what has become of ambergate now, the junction looks absolutely amazing, I was born far too young to see it, and I'm sad that I never will.

[@abhaydasteki918]

considering i've never been there ,or enland for that matter . i kinda want to make it a goal in my life to go to that hill and compare past and present

[@DeadlyKiss000]

No one is ever born far too young

[@ExposureTVChannel]

fantastic!

[@Finglesham]

Very professional film with a explanation of the system as at that time. What a difference 57 years makes though! I passed my driving test that year. So did thousands that then bought cars and left the railway. British Transport Films were very solid and fair and truthful.

[@Senna-xi1gr]

Thanks for this great video footage.👍🇬🇧

[@samuelfarris1949]

Despite this being such a well-presented short film overall, my favourite part actually is 18:44-19:33; just the ambiance of a bustling railway at night, coupled with a soothing yet thought-provoking musical composition, is a treat for me to watch. Regards, Samuel Farris.

[@johnkolassa1645]

Was the quarry operation shown at the beginning still a serious operation during filming, or was it a tourist operation?

[@russeldavis1787]

The slate quarries in Ffestiniog didn't close for a further 3 to 4 years after the film was released. So I'd say what we saw was deadly serious economic activity

[@johnkolassa1645]

@@russeldavis1787 Thanks

[@phwbooth]

And yet marshalling yards are still being used, and extended elsewhere in the world.

[@esseel7896]

excellent

[@alsmith5604]

Fabulous historical record. Its interesting to look back with clear hindsight and realise how wrong they were about the future of the railways. If only they had known much damage the 'bulk load' strategy would do to the railways and the country, maybe they would thought again!

[@unconventionalideas5683]

Unit trains dominate in the US, with trains carrying large loads from point to point without stopping. The US has the highest per capita usage of freight railways in the world after Switzerland, so I guess they did something right by inventing this strategy.

[@beeble2003]

You have it backwards. In your description, the railways decided to concentrate on bulk traffic and that forced everything else onto the roads. It was the exact opposite. Freight shippers moved non-bulk traffic to the roads, and that forced the railways to concentrate on bulk traffic.

[@gunnersteve13]

Great video. Since I don’t know of any film footage of narrow gauge lines and trains in mines in Pennsylvania, USA, I’ll have to settle for this. Though we do have the East Broad Top 😃

[@BenNewton-c6z]

Isn't the whole premise behind this film flawed ? Surely paying passengers - today's 'customers' - should expect good service and value-for-money if they are shelling out their hard-earned cash ? Otherwise, why not place the 'Rocket' at the front of the train and put passengers (or 'customers') into open coal trucks and 'tip' them out when the train stops at each station !

[@RobRob5656]

beautiful movie!

[@tinytonymaloney7832]

They just don't make them like that any more 😒

[@MiLLwallpaul231258]

Where did it all go wrong

[@megamanmuppet]

I think it was the Modernisation Plan followed by the Beeching Report.

[@raypitts4880]

more greed more money sod the system use it abuse it.

[@saltspringrailway3683]

Thatcher :)

[@richardchadwick4028]

So many reasons 😪...but it still is a very good environmentally form of transport..

[@beeble2003]

@@megamanmuppet You're confusing cause and effect. Goods traffic moved onto the roads, so the railways that used to carry those goods were closed because they were under-used.

[@lineshaftrestorations7903]

At about this time railroad/railway companies began to adopt the "abandon your way to prosperity". The US practiced it with vigor only to learn it created bottlenecks where before none had existed.

[@UrbanShadowGaming]

Just can't beat a good British steam engine

[@herzschlagerhoht5637]

Love the music at the beginning! Do you know the name of that theme? Thanks!