Vintage railway film - The North Eastern goes forward - 1962

[@acampbell8614]

Astonishing how the future turned into nostalgia so quickly.

[@norbertnedsworth7172]

Tomorrow's almost over, today went by so fast It's the only thing to look forward to, the past

[@chief9938]

English Electric built locos, still going after 50+ years, now we’ve got Azumas, breaking down approx every two weeks & some being scrapped, what wonderful progress!

[@bobtudbury8505]

since we joined the eu we have lost it all, we really need home investment

[@enigmatwist6548]

@@bobtudbury8505 Old school diesel electric weren’t particularly reliable (though they did have charm) and UK loco builders selling out to foreign owners had nothing to do with EU membership. Thing about Azumas is they are a lot easier to maintain and fix, they’re also assembled at the company's Newton Aycliffe plant in County Durham. So at least partially made in UK, though I too still prefer the old trains built in the UK in the 60s. Sad to see the HSTs being sent of to be scrapped but Azumas and their ilk are the future.

[@bobtudbury8505]

@@enigmatwist6548 some of the new stuff is very very unreliable and some are scrapped already, wrote off, keep up....this country had it all pre eu there was an agreement to stop manf. and concerntate on banking, which the germans now want too. all fact.Direct because of the eu / eec

[@JamesWilson-gw2ij]

@@bobtudbury8505 you’re talking shit bob 😂

[@bobtudbury8505]

@@JamesWilson-gw2ij why the laughing face? it should be the moron. there was a young girl took by force a short time ago on a train, let's do that one too. You know looking in the window as the train goes by, great stuff. pass the popcorn

[@robharding4028]

I was a young boy in this period, and often went on the trains with my old dad. wonderful memories .

[@uni-tradesupportserviceslt2166]

I was born the arse-end of '61... this is just a brilliant reminder of how the railways looked when I was growing up... 👍👍

[@johnmehaffey9953]

Well close enough to the arse end not to matter 😇

[@lewisner]

It's amazing how much of this investment was so short lived. Tyne Yard and Dringhouses were mostly abandoned after 20 years, Zetland House is demolished, Consett steelworks long closed. Now we rely on imports and road haulage.

[@Bungle-UK]

They were building facilities to streamline operations of the day, rather than looking to the future. Much of the ‘modernisation plan’ investment was wasted.

[@lewisner]

@Bungle-UK and later. I remember BR building a completely new Depot at Clifton carriage sidings in York in about 1982 and 2 years later it was abandoned.

[@heinkle1]

@@Bungle-UKa great example of preparing to fight the previous war

[@ianblakemore4681]

I used to work between Zetland House and Middlesbrough goods yard, it was a rough ole place back then (70's) bodies in the gutter which had been rolled out of cars the night before, prostitutes touting for business outside the Grand by the station and the onion peelers outside the pickled onion factory with their skirts rolled right up. Bit of a learning curve for a young man with his John Thomas still in it's packing case ;-) but the people I worked with were the best, miss those days.

[@paulrounding5260]

I was 6 years old when this was made, my father was a signalman, my 2 brothers and I used to travel by train during the summer holidays to visit aunts and uncles, from Saltburn to York and Selby, brings back some happy memories.

[@jonsmith8582]

Such confidence from a bygone age , sad how it all went wrong

[@heinkle1]

Managed decline and too many economic wrong-turns

[@TONYNORTHEASTERN]

Great find. anything north eastern i am very much interested in. very atmospheric and nostalgic. thank you for sharing.......best regards Tony

[@jazzman1626]

I love everything about these old films right down to the sound of the voices of the narrators.

[@peterburgess980]

Hi Tony, I came across this gem and thought of you, but you had already found it. I thought they may have shown Newhassle but no such luck.

[@marcushenno]

Wish i could go and experience this era of rail / network we had

[@martyndavid2094]

bygone age look how clean/ proud we once were

[@pyroplim6967]

I was born in 66 so missed steam by a few years. But living near the climb from Crewe to Kidsgrove i was rocked to sleep by the sound of the Sulzer being thrashed in the class 24 and 25s up the gradient.

[@wwebradbutt]

Last steam train service was 11 of August 1968

[@peterhodes6708]

Thanks for posting, great footage from my teen years😃

[@edwardhulin9935]

The old liveries seemed so much more tasteful than today's.

[@fairalbion]

It was at around this time that the standard shipping container, as championed by Malcom McLean, was just beginning to appear. Containerization changed everything, rendering obsolete the goods handling methods shown in this film.

[@Irena_Posner]

I had the same exact reaction when they started to talk about the goods wagons: Well, they ain't gonna be useful for very long. And "the great marshaling yards of the future"... of the future that will never come. The early 1960s is in many ways an optimistically naive period. Containerization, the extent of the Beeching axe, outsourcing of industry and the social upheavals of the late 60s and early 70s are still unimaginable when this film is being made.

[@robtyman4281]

But it was more economical for the shipping companies, and they were able to get more crated up in less time. Ok, it did mean employing fewer people and making redundancies, but some were retrained in the containerization of our ports.

[@bobtudbury8505]

why are you putting a Z in that word, is it copy and paste?

[@fairalbion]

@@bobtudbury8505 American spell check I guess.

[@stephenwestlake7164]

@@bobtudbury8505 I have a pre-war British dictionary. 'Z' was used pretty much everywhere until people go the idea is was 'American'.

[@1903bretep]

In light of what subsequently happened a trifle optimistic, a great upload nonetheless, many thanks.

[@xXExtremeGameXx]

Just "bumped into" your channel, lovely films. People dont talk like that anymore!

[@furiousbigface1]

This is fantastic, how different things were back then.

[@davidreay5911]

Nowadays Intermodal traffic bringing us mostly things that last a few years before ending up on a train full of rubbish bound for waste transfer stations for recycling ( that's a joke) or landfill .I remember if a kettle broke we went to a "kettle fixer".

[@bobtudbury8505]

lol young uns today thing they invented recycling. we used to repair everything if we could

[@vernonjones3613]

Thanks for the upload very interesting and enjoyable a touch of pure nostalgia

[@Soupdragon1964]

I wonder how BR would have felt if they'd known the freight services they were investing so heavily in had already been sold out from under them by the Government and their relationship with the RHA?

[@edwardshirley9314]

RHA?

[@Soupdragon1964]

@@edwardshirley9314 the Road Haulage Association

[@begudmaximan953]

Very true.

[@Isochest]

Those in Government are the enemy within.

[@Bungle-UK]

Nice conspiracy…..the reality being that fail can’t compete with Road for most logistics. Bulk movement of the same item is where rail has the advantage, not mixed goods and parcels.

[@jimstrainsandstuff9539]

Lovely old footage

[@captaindbheadcase1303]

40 years later wagon load freight ceased to exist. The new marshalling yards either weed strewn wastelands with a few pw wagons or turned into industrial estates. Coal traffic replaced by imported biomass and all the parcels go by road. Even the North Eastern Region didn't last much longer after this film was made.

[@itssteve1923]

Hopefully the stupidity of smalls by road may change with environmental concerns

[@davidpnewton]

29 years later. Speedlink ended in 1991.

[@tubs1725]

​@@davidpnewton transrail introduced a new wagonload service , enterprise in 1994, it was continued by EWS but im unsure as to when it was stopped

[@lawrencecody4085]

This is a film of its time, but at crucial point in the history of the railways, where changes were on the way, new signalling, locomotives, coaches, electrification on the WCML..I remember the slow introduction of diesels, and the electrics..I grew up with steam all around me, having a steam loco shed a stones throw from where I grew up, and a mainline station 5 mins away..I had a great childhood for a young lad with an interest in railways. It was many years later, after doing many jobs, when I decided to give the railways a go, as a signalman. and stayed there for over 30 yrs, working signalboxes I looked up at, in awe, never imagining I would be in charge of some of them many years later. and having the experience of railwaymen who would remember this modernisation plan being implemented..this film relives those happy times for me..

[@frenchsteam7356]

I started on the North Eastern at Wylam in 1964 -we were not happy when Fiennes came along and merged us with the Eastern -one thing in his favour was of course 22 Deltics!

[@klbird]

Interesting I arrived in the UK in 1962 ( US Army Harrogate-Menwith HIll ) and witnessed many of these changes. I loved the steam but could see the end coming.

[@chrissyhenderson2427]

Great video, thanks for posting.

[@seany84uk]

Fantastic stuff! Found your channel today i am hooked! :)

[@ianthomsonnewman4048]

It amazes me that the powers that were understood so little about what was going on.

[@bobtudbury8505]

well it was labour, still the same now

[@malcolmbrown3532]

Great find. Sad thing though most of these modernisations have gone to . Both Tyne and Teews Yards mentioned are semi derelict waste lands, with most track rmoved................

[@clivetucker176]

Throughly enjoyed that. Thanks 👍🇬🇧

[@martynbertalan9143]

Wonderful look at the past, thank you. 😊

[@direktorpresident]

Marvellous! In the local vernacular, they weren't backward in coming forward! :-)

[@jimstrainsandstuff9539]

My mum and dad used to say that.

[@saltspringrailway3683]

The cement works in Hull was on a line with many level crossings which they wanted to close. So they connected it to a high level line which was nearby needing substantial earth moving. Then a year later the cement works closed! Good job it's only tax payers' money.

[@bryantonks5364]

Great Video - I wonder how many even imagined then, that the NE Region would be the first to be so severely cut back that in only a couple of years it would be merged into BR's Eastern Region?

[@frenchsteam7356]

11 Million parcels! Now we don't handle any!! Marshalling yards closed/reduced No coal traffic etc etc -I give up!

[@bluebellsfan8704]

I'm excited! Thanks for posting this!

[@nemo6686]

You don't have to have a comb-over to work in Head Office, but obviously it helps.

[@koko2bware]

The UK was so beautiful and different back then, but it is so unrecognisable and sickening today!! Traitors after traitors have ruined this once beautiful and proud nation!!

[@seankeane6482]

Superb. That is all.

[@RHR-221b]

👍 🍻 😎

[@mce_AU]

Nice find.

[@cknop]

Very Good! Thank you!

[@WeROffOn1]

great stuff this, good old documentry

[@7649angel]

Great fun! Thanks

[@johnward374]

The marshalling yard at Leeds Sturton was cancelled, to close to the one at Wakefield Healey Mills. Later Leeds Frieghtlinner depot was built there. I was a fireman at Stourton steam shed. Interestingly I was also at Hull Central goods yard as a 15 year old Lad Porter when that film was made.

[@Senna-xi1gr]

Thanks for this video. Great.👍🇬🇧

[@johnbeck7019]

Great stuff

[@alistairkewish651]

No computers on board, no ETMS, the system ran well, the Class 37s plough on, it shows you that modern technology is not always cracked to be as brilliant nor reliable as we assume. Perhaps we are taking too many things for granted?

[@BorderTerrier-yk2hw]

We’ve come a long way on the railways in sixty years. On the other side of the coin, industry has changed as well.

[@Twinmill69227]

It sucks that I live in the US and I can’t go see a railway museum

[@InventorZahran]

2:08 "A goods train! A *goods* train! The shame of it! Oh, the shame of it!" -Gordon, in 'The Three Railway Engines'

[@daylightman8459]

Gordon is a prototype A1 but the engine on the time stamp is a V2. Completely different engines.

[@InventorZahran]

@@daylightman8459 I knew it was a V2, but the imagery was similar to that scene from 'Edward and Gordon'.

[@daylightman8459]

Wait a minute…. It’s not a V2, it’s a B1! Sorry about the misinformation, I couldn’t see the loco properly.

[@g7pxk885]

the working man getting replaced with automatic systems but looks like they wanted plenty of suits pushing pens

[@messi8921]

Britain looked a lot cleaner and generally nicer back then lol

[@mrcarestreamhealth]

Would like to live in that era again.. When science was not that developed.. People had time.. Steam engines gushing around... Just beautiful.. No internet.. No laptops.. Nothing... Ample time to count bogies.. Noting down engine numbers... What an era that was... Now my son know everything but feels nothing... Sigh

[@gnosticbrian3980]

There have been few, if any, fundamental developments in science sine those days. Quantum mechanics and General Relativity were already well established and understood. Of course Political Correctness and Wokery were still in the far future.

[@dmrr7739]

…coal dust poisoning the air… soot blackening buildings and lungs… chemicals dumped indiscriminately into rivers… consuming the last of natural resources with no plan… cold war raging… yes, it was a magical time…

[@tim3172]

@@gnosticbrian3980 I know, right? You could be openly racist and homophobic with zero pushback. Such better times... for some small-brained people, I guess.

[@petergrossett6763]

The modernisation plan flopped due to the road lobby. The railways are a great world wide success, still in Europe, Japan, and China Modernisation vandalised,and crippled the railways.

[@JohnThomas-rx7eo]

The class 40 pulling into Darlington station at the start appears to be missing one of its nose doors.

[@speakfreeley4473]

Made just before Beeching.

[@trainrover]

right! I'd forgot about that practice there where firms reserve the right to livery goods wagons in their company or corporate colours or heralds

[@mercomania]

Great view of Halifax, as was, at 1.51.

[@stewartmcmanus3991]

Born in Middlesbrough 1946 so I saw all this first hand. No steelworks or chemical works nowadays, no shipbuilding, not much of anything but mostly, no hope.

[@TC-qd1zw]

Travel through Pelaw regular. Now Metro but still used by rail to Sunderland.

[@NJTCOMET]

“A fill of oil, a touch on the starter and I’m off. No bother, no waiting. They have to fuss round you for HOURS before you’re ready…..”

[@jazzman1626]

11:12 The film is in1962, but the locomotive here 61303 was withdrawn in 28th. February 1953.

[@michaelketteringham9417]

I think you will find that B1 61303 was withdrawn from York 50A in November 1966 and broken up at Arnott Young in February 1967.

[@jazzman1626]

@@michaelketteringham9417 I just looked it up on railuk.info so I stand corrected 😁. I must have got it mixed up with another locomotive.

[@jimmyviaductophilelawley5587]

Wasn't the green livery beautiful before the horrid yellow warning panels ruined it

[@philaypeephilippotter6532]

The yellow warning panels saved lives.

[@jimmyviaductophilelawley5587]

@@philaypeephilippotter6532 don't care looks better without

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

@@philaypeephilippotter6532 Allegedly - hard to prove. Even with headlights, trackworkers are still killed.

[@edjones7709]

All those blast furnaces - and not one left.

[@itssteve1923]

The standard of signalling and traffic control was clearly second to none.

[@lewisner]

My local railway (Sunderland - Penshaw) was resignalled with new upper quadrant signals and one lifting barrier crossing in 1962 then just 5 years later it was closed and signals cut up with oxy acetylene torches.

[@2112pk]

how did aslef feel about the redundancy of firemen once dieselisation took hold? can't imagine they allowed single man running easily

[@scotsguy422]

Entire depots were closed, so it wasn't just firemen and cleaners, but drivers, guards and all the support staff. ASLEF secured an arrangement at some depots where men with a certain seniority and where there were no redundancies, would be placed in a Starred Link. Starred men had protected earnings, some all the way through to the mid 1980's. For most firemen it was a case of seniority, the least senior men being made redundant first. Also, almost all the mainline diesels at the time had steam operated boilers for heating the train, so there was a sizeble number of "Secondmen" at each depot. Finally, you have to remember that during the time in question of this film, jobs were aplenty. Unskilled men could and often did, walk out of the depot one day and be in a job the next. I knew many drivers who had over twenty years experience on the footplate and simply walked off with a redundancy payment. Many stated it was the best decision they ever made - leaving the railway!

[@SATF21]

👌😍 i love it

[@edjones7709]

And how much freight is carried today? THAT was the railway's money spinner, not passenger.

[@fuccasound3897]

Look at the particulate crap in the atmosphere in these pics, it's a shame the jobs provided by these industries are more or less gone but old mother Earth is breathing a sigh of relief! There were houses in areas of Teesside where the roof tiles of houses were covered with tarpaulin type stuff to stop the crap getting in. Washing hung out on the line would come in with a grey film of dirt on it.

[@itssteve1923]

You could see the smeg then!

[@fuccasound3897]

@@itssteve1923 never mind see it, you could taste it!

[@12crepello]

Yep, it's all been moved to China now!!

[@fuccasound3897]

@@12crepello You have a point. You probably also have a load of stuff in your house that's been produced in China just like everybody in the world, we all seem happy enough to buy their stuff. We are a world of NIMBY's

[@trek520rider2]

True. I grew up in a village 3 miles from the nearest railway. I can remember my ma taking washing off the line and doing it again, it was so mucky.

[@bob-sb2zu]

"The regions services exist for all of them"! If they still had a local railway when they'd finished ! Not to mention a job !

[@artvanwag3257]

What went wrong.. Answers Please

[@little_britain]

Several parts. Firstly the real problems were not dealt with: aging infrastructure, poor track alignment, harsh gradients, varying loading gauges all meant trains couldn't keep decent timetables. So the public's faith was eroding at the same time as new motorways were being built (by a firm owned by the brother of the transport minister). Instead of working on the infrastructure, they threw a lot on untested diesels at it. Without thoroughly vetting each new model. Giving contracts to many factories without experience in building locomotives - as political patronage. They also spent a huge amount on those marshalling yards, chasing traffic that was going by road. Finally, they scrapped thousands of steam locos that had only been built 5-10 years ago. What could they have done? Created a 20 year plan for track re-alignment, one mainline at a time. Electrified each line as they went. Drop the Railways (Conveyance of Mails) Act 1838, removing the obligation of British Railways to deliver mail throughout it's network. Roads enough exist for rail and road to openly compete for traffic and let the chips fall as they may. Rail was required to carry parcels to every station they served, at the same low national rate, by law. (This requirement actually tipped some lines from profit into loss all by itself). Don't build the marshalling yards. (Saves a ton of money that can be used for the mainline improvements). As a stop gap, triaged the worst points on all the mainlines in terms of causing traffic delays, congestion and poor timetable keeping - and introduced necessary adjustments, repairs and re-signalling. Kept steam until the end of its natural life, not scrapping nearly new locos like the 9Fs and Britannias (a considerable savings). Slowly introduced diesels in phased in plans with proper trials, shakedowns and then increasing numbers. (another considerable savings - half the locos they rushed in didn't last much beyond 10 years). As each main line is electrified, that frees up locos for other lines and allows the scrapping of obsolete motive power. Spent some money on container operations, RoRo stock etc. This happened anyway. Spent more on fitted trains to speed up services. Some of this happened, but not planned - just enough to keep up with demand. These are just some things that would have been considerably better than what did happen.

[@aidenteszke9000]

@@little_britain A logical answer? You're meant to blame brown people

[@DominicAmann]

@@aidenteszke9000 Being as I am brown people (at least mixed) myself, I am hardly likely to do that!

[@redbeard3923]

@@aidenteszke9000 why

[@ccityplanner1217]

@@aidenteszke9000 : Well if that's what your strategy relies on, & you cannot argue with anything that lacks such a weakness, then I say to you, Aiden Teszke, you've lost the argument.

[@Railroaders_For_Life]

The NWR (North Western Railway) may be fiction, but it's real in some of our eyes

[@oceanmariner]

Interesting seeing so much industry. Before Labor finished destroying British industry.

[@tominnis8353]

All gone!

[@Richardsrailway]

Steam any day !

[@simonf8902]

Forward to the back.

[@gainsbourg66]

The reality is - everything got worse. The travelling experience is now dire by comparison. A complete mess was made of freight. The railways were vandalised. Much of this film is pure propaganda. Diesel railcars, for example - a horrible experience compared to locomotive hauled trains that came before. Heritage railways have shown how quiet and clean steam trains really were. The same thing is now happening with renewable energy. The reality is - it is inferior ,impractical, inefficient and polluting in its own way. Fossil fuels are not the demons they are made out to be. We're driven by fashion instead of practicalities and common sense.

[@FrankWilkinson-ig6co]

Have a read at these comments Ken. Makes you weep.

[@kalicom2937]

Mostly gone now....

[@paulkandi]

All that industry, all now gone, this country is not just dying , its dead....!

[@Ashley_van_Schooneveld]

I can hear the Geordie

[@JonAschenbrenner]

Nowadays everything in this documentary's anachronystic today.

[@bobtudbury8505]

the labour party , i cannot believe they hated the working class so much .They closed hundreds of pits in the 60's then closed all the lines, many on top which were not in beechings report.Afterwards they then gave beeching an award???? Labour still doing nothing for the uk

[@notyou6950]

Too bad it's all dead today.

[@Sam_Green____4114]

This wasn't the first railway in the world bollox !! The first steam locomotive was made in 1802, at Coalbrookdale ,Shropshire ,England by Richard Trevithick and ran on a short length of track !!! Then in went to London to run on a circular demonstration track in 1803 and then hauled the worlds first train (powered by a steam locomotive ) at Merthyr Tidfyl in South Wales in 1804 !! This is all rubbish !!

[@mikefandango9455]

It doesn’t dispute that but the Stockton to Darlington railway was the first passenger line and also hauled goods too, it wasn’t some gimmick that went nowhere but an actual service. An actual running railway with stations, the first railway!!!!

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

@@mikefandango9455 Railways existed in collieries, but the S&D was a public road; big difference!

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

So many productive industries, so few third-world incomers, no €USSR . . .

[@aidenteszke9000]

Found the racist, always can

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

@@aidenteszke9000 Indeed, you outed yourself. As an observation of the country in those days, pertinent and observable.

[@EllieMaes-Grandad]

In the 21st century, an extensive wasteland.

[@andrewcowling5804]

Absolute tosh. Most diesel locos built back in the 50’s and 60’s were nothing but trouble when first built. It took a fair while to sort out the ones which survived. Some designs were an abomination. Underpowered. Or unreliable. Never fit for the job they were meant to do. The engines compared to today’s units were not easy to work on and the running gear takes a lot of work even now. The HST’s has teathing problems when first introduced notwithstanding the brakes which had to have a new type of brake block designed for them. The breakdowns of present day trains are minuscule by comparison. They are much easier to work on. Whether they will last as long is open to question given the present day penchant for replacing them years earlier than normal due to tax reasons largely. Another thing to remember, units today run many more miles in between services and complete more miles in their lifetime than stock of old. So they are life expired sooner