Somerset & Dorset Railway How we filmed it
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- Опубликовано: 28 авг 2024
- Professionals, notably the BBC, had sound cameras. I worked with an amateur film-making friend, the late Ken Barter, to record the S & D as we saw and heard it. Why the late start - the last few weeks? It had taken months to convince Ken that post-synchronising the sounds we would hear would be possible. Here, then, is the Inside Story.
Thank you for some more lovely Memories of the S&D, was a special Treat.
Thank you Peter.
We may have taken on the task at a late date - Ken refused to believe I could synchronise "wild" sound until he fortunately gave in at the last moment, but succeeded in capturing - and synchronising! - sound and vision from Bath to Bournemouth and Highbridge.
Best Wishes and Stay Safe at this time,
Philip
Many thanks Philip for sharing this excellent film, the editing and synced sound, plus making the most of the poor lighting conditions has really helped capture the later day mood of the line, Ken and yourself have produced a wonderful archive of the crews and people that worked and used the now sadly lost S&D.
Thanks so much. Yeah, archive it surely is. We got humans in as much as we could. Nice to know you noticed!
Best Wishes,
Philip
Wonderful, but very sad. What a fantastic heritage line the S&D would have made.
Yeah, it sure would have! Thanks David,
Philip
Wonderful historical record. So grateful to you for making it, and sharing it. Thank you!
Thanks PH for your kind comment.
Best Wishes,
Philip
Absolutely wonderful! Thank you for sharing again. I can’t help but think of how morale must have been waning in the latter years. How massive engineering and infrastructure was ever allowed to be simply scrapped - in the pursuit of progress - is concerning, even now. Films like this ooze with nostalgia and that child-like thrill of train spotting is restored, albeit for just a few minutes!
Thank you Bob.
Those really are the actual sounds recorded at the time - so you get to hear from a couple of working railwaymen for instance. Sound had fascinated me from way back as a child. I got my hands on a portable tape machine around 1960. It took time to persuade amateur cameraman Ken Barter to work with me using his treasured 8mm Bolex on a synchronised film, just in time to cover the main aspects of the whole network. Glad you appreciate it.
Best Wishes,
Philip
@@philipfowler5280 ŹŹ,,,,,
Thank you so much for sharing this lovely video of this greatly missed line. A nice job with the sound and I absolutely loved it.
Thanks so much! Making those recordings was a great pleasure. Peter Handford's biography is very interesting if you can find a copy. His records were my inspiration.
Best Wishes,
Philip
@@philipfowler5280 Thank you Philip, I've just had a quick look at some history about Peter on Wikipedia which all looks very interesting and I can clearly see where you got your inspiration from. I'm sure there are many of us that would loved to have been with you that memorable day, but we are so lucky that you were there for us to enjoy this video so many years later! The S&D was one of many lines to go, I was a young boy at that time and I remember feeling quite saddened and absolutely helpless knowing that there was nothing that we could do to save these lines from being destroyed. We had only known them for such a short part of our lives and for me the feeling has never faded. Best Wishes, Tim.
Hi @@levelcrossing150
Thanks for your note on this subject. I got my copy of the bio on a trip to second-hand bookstores in Hay, £1. 50 so a no-brainer!
Should you be interested further, it is still obtainable from Amazon. Not quite that price, but one comment at Amazon was 'This is an excellent read even if you aren't interested in sound recording. Peters film and railway anecdotes are wonderful'
Best Wishes,
Philip
@@philipfowler5280 You're welcome and thank you very much for the extra info Philip. You've got me interested and I will keep an eye out for the book. Best Wishes, Tim.
@@levelcrossing150
Thank you very much indeed Tim.
Best Wishes,
Philip
My greatest loved lost railway. I did a 2 year survey from Bath to Poole, of the entire trackbed as a feasibility study to the government reopening the entire line to relieve gridlock and put Radstock back on the network. Sadly it looks like this has been overlooked or forgotten about 😢 80% of the trackbed survives along with bridges. Used as a partial heritage steam line it would bring in MILLIONS of tourists to the UK’s most scenic railway that should never have been closed!
Word got around about this and developers DELIBERATELY BUILT on the site of the old station and trackbed as quickly as possible making it impossible to ever run a rail link back into Radstock now! It was awaiting a public enquiry to decide IF the building should go ahead........ the builders went ahead regardless......great huh?🤷🏼♂️
I think it would be poetic justice if the government later APPROVE the scheme and DEMOLISH THE NEW BUILDING thats blocked the entry to the town😂😂
Thank you for this wonderful footage you lucky people👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thanks KK. That must have been an interesting task though!
If it were not for our MP here in Wiltshire being excellent, I would say "save us from politicians"
In Bristol, neglect of rail routes but fancying an Underground. What?!
Best Wishes,
Philip.
What a great task surveying the S&D. I always understood that basically the whole idea of planning permission was to protect everyone's interests and to prevent any wrong doing. If the builders went ahead with building without permission then what does that encourage others to do?.....in that case we might as well not have it and let everyone do as they want which is totally unacceptable. New houses can always be replaced elsewhere, so yes the builders should remove the houses and allow what is best for the whole area and community.
I too noticed that and thought it a trifle strange to see houses sitting plump on the old formation.
And a very good job you made of it too. A lot of scenes here I haven`t seen in other films so all the more interesting. I hope you get to see the S & D make its` comeback.
Many Thanks Hazel.
It would be nice just to see Avon Valley get back to Bath! The visitor traffic would be stupendous.
Great GWR railcar image you have.
Best Wishes,
Philip
Beeching crippled the Raul network. Makes it hard to be competitive with road transport. Lovely scenes in this film enjoyed that locoman interview. This film could use a good digital restoration. I'm guessing Ivo Peter's used a higher grade film? Ivo didn't make audio recordings sadly so this is an improvement have some original sound. Thanks for sharing this old great footage.
Lovely...thanks for sharing this
Thanks John, Very pleased you enjoyed it.
Best Wishes,
Philip
What a lovely film ,many thanks, Midsomer Norton station has about a mile of track, and hoping to extend one day.
Thanks Neil - keep going!
Best Wishes,
Philip
Excellent archive, not easy to archive on old school 8m ciny film.
Yeah, absolutely. Great fun at the time, when the Rushes came back from Kodak for viewing. Then, synchronising the location sound was "interesting" shall we say. I started with a stopwatch and refined it down and down to fit, running the film over and over to get it right.
Public performances were an amazing experience.
Best Wishes,
Philip
Yes, I remember Mike Palmer from when I lived at Witham .
Me too, John.
Mike was very kind to me. Sad loss.
Kind Regards,
Philip
25:13 'Buses better hearing told' and that's how they destroy something precious, with a simple lie.
what a loss turn back the clock im gone
Thanks Chris,
Philip
@@philipfowler5280 I love all these old films of our lost railways ( especially the old branch lines) Do you have any footage of Taunton to Barnstaple taking in Milverton Wiveliscombe and onto Venn Cross. Do you have a mailing address or email that I can message you?
@@video-trax9263 -Thanks -wish I did. lanternfilms@hotmail.co.uk is the address if you would like a dialogue about the shooting and editing (3 years collaborative work!) of this unique material.
It all started due to a life-long fascination with Sound Recording...
Kind Regards,
Philip