Great video . . . very atmospheric and nostalgic, even though it has the usual pitfalls of changing locations and locomotives, e.g. St Pancras becomes Euston during the departure sequence and the Jubilee changes identity every so often . . . the clue is the change of tender but, as in most movies involving railways, consistency is not the strongest suit!
We all understand that rail opened up the American West but it really was a game changer for the UK too. Think of how difficult a trip from London to Manchester would have been before rail. In a heart beat, an uncomfortable, unreliable, expensive horse + carriage trip of several days was converted into a comfortable few hours.
Remember steam as a kid, also the GMEX as a Station, an indoor car park and now as it is. Nice video, nice piano track. Yeah, I used to play piano at The Midland across the road.
Really,lovely film, in many way sad to think it's all gone. I did notice the train in Manchester was not the same train, note the Gresley suburban coaches. I do remember St Pancras at the end of steam and early diesel days including the fascination of the brand new Midland Pullman. Always thought it looked a bit forlorn compared to the much more exciting Kings Cross. How things have changed today.
I wonder if that was an actor - he stepped on the rails entering the yard and one of the first things you learn working for the railroad is never step on the rail. It is often slippery and you could easily fall. It becomes automatic to step over the rail and not on it.
I think safety standards and crew conditions were higher in the US. US crew did not have to step between vehicles to make connections and few UK locos had power assisted steam reversing of the gear. Coal and ash handling facilities were often very basic compared with the US and on inside cylinder/ inside valve locos things were quite difficult to access. In the UK we had some pretty big locomotives that were hand-fired; indeed mechanical firing was an extreme rarity. All that said, I'd have jumped at the chance to become a steam driver. One other interesting difference was between Britain and France. In the UK and I think US, footplate crew started life as cleaners, became passed to fire (stoke) and eventually went 'through the links' to become top link drivers. But in France Drivers and Firemen/Mechanics went through separate career steps which ran in parallel, perhaps because French designs were more sophisticated (complex!). They had equal status but in Britain, the Driver had higher status to the Fireman.
Interesting camera angles here. Not convinced about the 20's music when this was made in the 40's. Personally, I'd have liked to hear the locos. Thanks for sharing though, this is a real gem!
I don't think Russ did much ragtime. I did once hear him play the Entertainer, but he was more into later stride. His Aligator Crawl was an accurate classic.
I used to go spotting at Hassop station late 40s as a kid,just north west of Bakewell. St Pancras - Manchester and Nottingham - Liverpool were the express services then.Plus the bankers from Rowsley shoving freight trains,great times.
@Chris Webb: I live just up the road from there! The station's still there. No railway though. The only bankers you'll see these days are on their hols! Lol It's a nice little cyclepath\foothpath now called the Monsal Trail.
@@PercyPruneMHDOIFandBars I used to live in Froggatt and cycle to some friends that lived in Rowland,then we'd spend hours at either Hassop or the railway bridge where you turn up to Rowland.
@@PercyPruneMHDOIFandBars There'a bookshop there now I believe.Fearns,the agriculural engineers used it as well.I was at Lady Manners 1953 -56 and in 1954 went on a school trip to Denmark.The St Pancras train made a special stop at Bakewell going south and also on the way back,don't know how that was arranged but there must have been over 30 of us.The Liverpool Street - Harwich train was pulled by a Britannia but I didn't get the number as prefects shoved me into a carriage.The Manchester - St Pancras train had a Jubilee up front but the name escapes me.
@Chris Webb: There is. It's also a cafe/cycle hire place. The agricultural engineers have gone, but on the roundabout at the entrance is a woodworking place. The siding at Bakwell has become a small industrial estate. Next stop, Rowsley is a shopping village but after that there's a preserved railway into Matlock called Peak Rail.
St Pancras to Manchester Central (the Midland Railway station, became GMEX, now ludicrously called 'Manchester Central Convention Complex). Depart 8.20 a.m., arrive 22.55 p.m. implies one or two stops en route. Certainly quicker than the last (pre covid) time I travelled from Manchester to London.
Don't you mean 12.55 pm? 4hrs 35 mins. I expect there were stops at Leicester, Derby, Matlock, Millers Dale and perhaps Chinley? Massively complicated throat into Manchester Central. Not much chance of using standard turnouts there, so expensive.
@@GeordieGroundwater could be it's a couple of months ago and I struggle these days to remember what I did five minutes ago. My fingers are just too big for the small keyboard on my phone so it's high likely I meant the first number to be 1.👍😊
Is 6:25 Euston? Looks very enclosed for St Pancras. 7:43 is Throstle Nest Jct, neat Cornbrook (CLC) on the run in to Manchester Central. 10:53 is running in to Manchester Central.
@@kenthepen4857 Blimey, Throstle's Nest Junction, near where I grew up. I used to go to the rail bridge on Ayres Road to see the trains on that line. The Blue Pullman and the Palatine Express, them WERE the days.
II have the super-8mm version with different style of opening credits. The sound track is totally different with a more modern but familiar music score. The super-8 print is very good,much sharper and less grainy than the Walton version, It's an enjoyable little film
Good but not same loco all the time leaves as jubilee 5614 LEEWARD ISLANDS and becomes a black 5 passing the signal box near the end Reminds me of Hitchcock's Thirty nine steps leaves King's Coss as an LNER A1 and becomes a GWR king in the next shot Presumably going to Scotland via Devon or Cornwall No excuse really ample locos at the time
@@bazza945 Yeah i suppose it would have, just thinking it could have had a "voice over" like the other railway films of that era? still a nice piece of history
3:25 Why on earth would a British engine driver think it was a good look to wear that particular style of moustache just after the Second World War? lol 8:15 Aha! Not the same train. That loco has a Midland-style tender instead of an LMS one !
I've never heard of a moustache tried for war crimes, have you? No doubt Charlie Chaplain should have had his moustache forcibly removed too? Who would hunt down these evil people? I know, let's call "The Fashion Police!"
@@COIcultist Just seemed an odd choice..... I rather think if the driver had been German, DB would have had something to say about it! Anyway, best wishes to you and congratulations on your successful "sense of humour bypass" operation! :)
@@iamiancognito They would have had bugger all to say, as it was Deutsche Reichsbahn till 1949. I thought "The Fashion Police!" displayed an adequate sense of humour. Then again, Germans' and sense of humour? I know I have one for you, "It's A Gas, I'm Sure It Will Kill You!"
Very interesting film but I thought it was funny how the engineer stepped on the rail when getting on his engine. I was always told not to do that as it might be slippery and you could fall and hit your head on an adjacent rail.
As a photographer buff, how did the camera fit in the space of the engine's wheels & the mechanical movement of the wheels/"sliders" to film the movement of the wheels? At about 3' 49" into the film. If you answer me that I'll buy you a coffee at Ko-Fi . OK, what is "Ko-Fi"? I'm in Colorado so please fill me in. :)
The camera was attached to the connecting rod (the one that goes from the crosshead to the main driving crank). They probably used some sort of bracket or clamp to hold the camera on. I have similar footage taken on a German steam loco.
Now we got the West Coast Main Line with Avanti West Coast operating direct services from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly. And soon HS2 will be completed which means less longer journey times from London to Manchester.
Also, he isn't wearing gloves. I've never seen a steam engineer not wearing gloves. A lot of the valves on the backhead get very hot and using bear hands will get you burnt.
The crews hardly ever wore gloves in actual fact, Andrew, as the regulator, reversing gear and brake controls didn't get hot . . . but they always had a rag in hand! Engineers in North America often wore gloves though.
Un vrai métier difficile mais il l aimait . Mon grand père en retraite me parlait souvent de ça divine pacific 231 il a fait de moi un passionné de locomotive a vapeur. Mon réseau ferroviaire n a que des locomotives à vapeurs ma préférence la pacific 231 qui été la plus belle et la plus prestigieux qui soit . Et ne fesait que des trains de prestige il m a dit qu' en 1947 pendant leurs tournées de Musical il avait laurel et Hardy qui étaient dans sont train et qu ils allaient ce produire au Lido. Du coût ma grand mère et mon grand père maternel ont été quelques jours après. Tout il me l ont raconté car en 1947 je n était mais que de belles histoires ils ont eux a me racontés.
I wonder if this was one off for the film Normally I'd have thought there'd be a change of footplate crew at Leicester or Derby. Or maybe he'd work back to Derby and then cushions to St Pancras?
Pretty disappointing but par for the course from a London-based film crew. Showed St Pancras to Wellingborough (including a clip showing a south -bound train) then skipped ahead to arrival in Manchester Central, so nothing north of Leicester, no run up to Peak Forest through the best scenery on the route.3/10!
Brilliant footage - a ride back in time!
a fantastic film that captures a glimpse of how things were. A gem!
Even saw Sherlock Holmes on board
Great music and a very nice film to with it. Rag-time is a good choice to go with this kind of period setting. Thanks.
A very sophisticated piece of film making.
Awesome I love the videos of the olden day trains. Ty for sharing.
Thanks for posting this nostalgia wonderful,
Great video . . . very atmospheric and nostalgic, even though it has the usual pitfalls of changing locations and locomotives, e.g. St Pancras becomes Euston during the departure sequence and the Jubilee changes identity every so often . . . the clue is the change of tender but, as in most movies involving railways, consistency is not the strongest suit!
Yes, it switches from Barlow's train shed roof at St.P to the multi columns of old Euston, very briefly and I detected an early Fowler tender too.
Leeward Islands beautiful 3 cylinder stanier jubilee handsome from any angle
We all understand that rail opened up the American West but it really was a game changer for the UK too. Think of how difficult a trip from London to Manchester would have been before rail. In a heart beat, an uncomfortable, unreliable, expensive horse + carriage trip of several days was converted into a comfortable few hours.
Remember steam as a kid, also the GMEX as a Station, an indoor car park and now as it is. Nice video, nice piano track. Yeah, I used to play piano at The Midland across the road.
Used to dine in the French Restaurant there but way back in the 60's - 70's!
Nice views of Belper as the train passed through the stone lined cutting and the station
love the old films.
Really,lovely film, in many way sad to think it's all gone.
I did notice the train in Manchester was not the same train, note the Gresley suburban coaches.
I do remember St Pancras at the end of steam and early diesel days including the fascination of the brand new Midland Pullman.
Always thought it looked a bit forlorn compared to the much more exciting Kings Cross.
How things have changed today.
I wonder if that was an actor - he stepped on the rails entering the yard and one of the first things you learn working for the railroad is never step on the rail. It is often slippery and you could easily fall. It becomes automatic to step over the rail and not on it.
I think safety standards and crew conditions were higher in the US. US crew did not have to step between vehicles to make connections and few UK locos had power assisted steam reversing of the gear. Coal and ash handling facilities were often very basic compared with the US and on inside cylinder/ inside valve locos things were quite difficult to access. In the UK we had some pretty big locomotives that were hand-fired; indeed mechanical firing was an extreme rarity. All that said, I'd have jumped at the chance to become a steam driver.
One other interesting difference was between Britain and France. In the UK and I think US, footplate crew started life as cleaners, became passed to fire (stoke) and eventually went 'through the links' to become top link drivers. But in France Drivers and Firemen/Mechanics went through separate career steps which ran in parallel, perhaps because French designs were more sophisticated (complex!). They had equal status but in Britain, the Driver had higher status to the Fireman.
Nobody is perfect
I noticed that straight away. Also if you slip the gauge is just about the right distance so you would hit your head on the rail opposite.
The Jubilee was in her prime and what great shots from low down considering what cameras they were using.
I'm a tram and I approve this video
Thanks a lot…..as a youngster I spent a fair bit of time riding with the LMS.
Interesting camera angles here. Not convinced about the 20's music when this was made in the 40's. Personally, I'd have liked to hear the locos. Thanks for sharing though, this is a real gem!
the movie no sound!!!
i got this movie on Super 8 home movie made by Walton Home Movies !!!
The music is older than the 1920's - it's Edwardian (early 1900's). Yea, it doesn't quite go with the film but nevertheless is amusing!
@@porks1946 true, that piano was excruciating
@@robtyman4281 Yes music was a' turn of the 20th century' Scott Joplin piece, Great!!
45614 Leeward Islands was the jube .
I think that was Belper @7:58 .
Very nice film though - thanks for posting.
The original LMS film is also available on youtube and better quality too.
Loved the video thanks sounds like Russ Conway on the piano.
Couple of tunes from Epidemic Sound.
I don't think Russ did much ragtime. I did once hear him play the Entertainer, but he was more into later stride. His Aligator Crawl was an accurate classic.
I used to go spotting at Hassop station late 40s as a kid,just north west of Bakewell. St Pancras - Manchester and Nottingham - Liverpool were the express services then.Plus the bankers from Rowsley shoving freight trains,great times.
@Chris Webb: I live just up the road from there! The station's still there. No railway though. The only bankers you'll see these days are on their hols! Lol
It's a nice little cyclepath\foothpath now called the Monsal Trail.
@@PercyPruneMHDOIFandBars I used to live in Froggatt and cycle to some friends that lived in Rowland,then we'd spend hours at either Hassop or the railway bridge where you turn up to Rowland.
My grandad worked at Hassop then 🙃
@@PercyPruneMHDOIFandBars There'a bookshop there now I believe.Fearns,the agriculural engineers used it as well.I was at Lady Manners 1953 -56 and in 1954 went on a school trip to Denmark.The St Pancras train made a special stop at Bakewell going south and also on the way back,don't know how that was arranged but there must have been over 30 of us.The Liverpool Street - Harwich train was pulled by a Britannia but I didn't get the number as prefects shoved me into a carriage.The Manchester - St Pancras train had a Jubilee up front but the name escapes me.
@Chris Webb: There is. It's also a cafe/cycle hire place. The agricultural engineers have gone, but on the roundabout at the entrance is a woodworking place. The siding at Bakwell has become a small industrial estate. Next stop, Rowsley is a shopping village but after that there's a preserved railway into Matlock called Peak Rail.
An excellent video but, at 1:14, it shows a journey of four and a half hours to Manchester. ‘Those were the days’. 🐨🇦🇺
St Pancras to Manchester Central (the Midland Railway station, became GMEX, now ludicrously called 'Manchester Central Convention Complex).
Depart 8.20 a.m., arrive 22.55 p.m. implies one or two stops en route. Certainly quicker than the last (pre covid) time I travelled from Manchester to London.
Don't you mean 12.55 pm? 4hrs 35 mins. I expect there were stops at Leicester, Derby, Matlock, Millers Dale and perhaps Chinley?
Massively complicated throat into Manchester Central. Not much chance of using standard turnouts there, so expensive.
@@GeordieGroundwater could be it's a couple of months ago and I struggle these days to remember what I did five minutes ago. My fingers are just too big for the small keyboard on my phone so it's high likely I meant the first number to be 1.👍😊
The continuity errors are fascinating and yes no railwayman steps on the rails always between. Lesson 1 day one. Were they all actors I wonder?
Belper at 8:00.
At 9.40 it appears to be running south as the freight lines are to the right of the main lines as you head north
St Pancras to Manchester Central, yes? Excellent filming from the midst of the motion. Anyone identify any of the stations etc?
I reckon the one with the stone lined cuttings just before was Belper.
Is 6:25 Euston? Looks very enclosed for St Pancras.
7:43 is Throstle Nest Jct, neat Cornbrook (CLC) on the run in to Manchester Central.
10:53 is running in to Manchester Central.
@@kenthepen4857 Blimey, Throstle's Nest Junction, near where I grew up. I used to go to the rail bridge on Ayres Road to see the trains on that line. The Blue Pullman and the Palatine Express, them WERE the days.
Fascinating Film love it.
Just a year before I was born. I thought I recognised the clothing and hair-styling of post-war Britain...
-
They took a Jubilee off shed down to St Pancras, but upon departure the Jubilee mysteriously turned into a Black 5 ha ha.
At the very beginning we have a guy who must be in his 50s saying goodbye to a wife who looks 40 with two children under the age of five.
Jubilee = racehorse
Black Five = work horse
Black five, jack of all trades and master of some.
8F = shire horse
About right
Seems to be changing coaches a few times?
I wonder why the driver's daughter and grandchildren said goodbye to him instead of his wife?
Rog5466: She is at home doing the laundry. They had no washing machines yet in 1948.
II have the super-8mm version with different style of opening credits. The sound track is totally different with a more modern but familiar music score. The super-8 print is very good,much sharper and less grainy than the Walton version, It's an enjoyable little film
Good but not same loco all the time leaves as jubilee 5614 LEEWARD ISLANDS and becomes a black 5 passing the signal box near the end Reminds me of Hitchcock's Thirty nine steps leaves King's Coss as an LNER A1 and becomes a GWR king in the next shot Presumably going to Scotland via Devon or Cornwall No excuse really ample locos at the time
Pure nostalgia!
Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be?
A very nice film, great history, I wonder why they filmed it without sound? it had been around for 20 years at this point,many thanks for showing.
The sound recording equipment would have filled the cab.
@@bazza945 Yeah i suppose it would have, just thinking it could have had a "voice over" like the other railway films of that era? still a nice piece of history
3:25 Why on earth would a British engine driver think it was a good look to wear that particular style of moustache just after the Second World War? lol
8:15 Aha! Not the same train. That loco has a Midland-style tender instead of an LMS one !
I've never heard of a moustache tried for war crimes, have you?
No doubt Charlie Chaplain should have had his moustache forcibly removed too?
Who would hunt down these evil people? I know, let's call "The Fashion Police!"
@@COIcultist Just seemed an odd choice..... I rather think if the driver had been German, DB would have had something to say about it!
Anyway, best wishes to you and congratulations on your successful "sense of humour bypass" operation! :)
@@iamiancognito They would have had bugger all to say, as it was Deutsche Reichsbahn till 1949.
I thought "The Fashion Police!" displayed an adequate sense of humour. Then again, Germans' and sense of humour? I know I have one for you, "It's A Gas, I'm Sure It Will Kill You!"
@@COIcultist 1949? Then I must salute you, good sir.... I humbly acknowledge myself as being soundly vanquished on the field of pedantry! :)
@@iamiancognito I'm definitely a pedant.
Here’s a piece of advice to anyone contemplating watching this , mute the awful music and enjoy this great reminder of yesteryear in peace .
I DISAGREE!..... Music is inspirational Scott Joplin!! Great music!!
Very interesting film but I thought it was funny how the engineer stepped on the rail when getting on his engine. I was always told not to do that as it might be slippery and you could fall and hit your head on an adjacent rail.
No kiss to the wife😅
As a photographer buff, how did the camera fit in the space of the engine's wheels & the mechanical movement of the wheels/"sliders" to film the movement of the wheels? At about 3' 49" into the film. If you answer me that I'll buy you a coffee at Ko-Fi . OK, what is "Ko-Fi"? I'm in Colorado so please fill me in. :)
Filmed with Go-Pro Mk1.
Mirrors
I second your question Paul. That's some technical feat.. hard to imagine there was even a camera small enough in 1948 to wedge into that space.
The camera was attached to the connecting rod (the one that goes from the crosshead to the main driving crank). They probably used some sort of bracket or clamp to hold the camera on. I have similar footage taken on a German steam loco.
Now we got the West Coast Main Line with Avanti West Coast operating direct services from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly. And soon HS2 will be completed which means less longer journey times from London to Manchester.
Also, he isn't wearing gloves. I've never seen a steam engineer not wearing gloves. A lot of the valves on the backhead get very hot and using bear hands will get you burnt.
It would burn a bear’s hands too! 😀
The crews hardly ever wore gloves in actual fact, Andrew, as the regulator, reversing gear and brake controls didn't get hot . . . but they always had a rag in hand! Engineers in North America often wore gloves though.
I’m a steam engineer and I don’t use gloves. I have them with me if I need them though.
Great video. Muted the music.
The music is about 30 years older than the film!
More than 30 years older than the film!!
Forgone conclusions then, Arsenal without a chance?
A pity we couldn't hear the sounds made by the iron beast, sounds that are better than any music.
Original was a silent film! As per the description
Un vrai métier difficile mais il l aimait . Mon grand père en retraite me parlait souvent de ça divine pacific 231 il a fait de moi un passionné de locomotive a vapeur. Mon réseau ferroviaire n a que des locomotives à vapeurs ma préférence la pacific 231 qui été la plus belle et la plus prestigieux qui soit .
Et ne fesait que des trains de prestige il m a dit qu' en 1947 pendant leurs tournées de Musical il avait laurel et Hardy qui étaient dans sont train et qu ils allaient ce produire au Lido.
Du coût ma grand mère et mon grand père maternel ont été quelques jours après. Tout il me l ont raconté car en 1947 je n était mais que de belles histoires ils ont eux a me racontés.
why is />
Interesting they book-off 15mins after arriving in Manchester but don't appear to be carrying lodging bags. Unpaid turn-round time perhaps?
I wonder if this was one off for the film Normally I'd have thought there'd be a change of footplate crew at Leicester or Derby. Or maybe he'd work back to Derby and then cushions to St Pancras?
#RandomRailways
Then there was British Railways and no concerns about climate change LOL!😁
Take away the pretty poor editing & that was well worth a watch.
Pretty disappointing but par for the course from a London-based film crew. Showed St Pancras to Wellingborough (including a clip showing a south -bound train) then skipped ahead to arrival in Manchester Central, so nothing north of Leicester, no run up to Peak Forest through the best scenery on the route.3/10!
There's Belper and emerging from Leawood Tunnel.
Heard the music and was expecting Charlie Chaplain to be driving the train.
Awful Music to complement a professional at work. Its not taken in the silent movie era, so why make us believe it is????
Stupid music turns it into a Chaplin movie😡
Not stupid music but a Scott Joplin Rag!! Wonderful!
Fig Leaf Rag So different from all the other Joplin rags. Yawn.
Do you mean the one the driver wiped his face with at the end of the video?
@@neveradullmoment4463 Ha ha. Good one.