My Father worked on the former M&GN lines during the 1950s,in the relay gang. The track was in excellent condition when they closed the line,money had been invested not only on the track but also signalling, a new turntable and engine shed at Melton Constable,they were building a new engine shed at South Lynn when the line closed, such waste.
Great, thank you so much. The dear old S&D. I met Peter Smith the engine driver last year at the Swanage, hadn't seen him for some 35 years! Donald Beale has of course passed away a good few years ago now, a real gentleman bless him.
Thank you, Frank. I'm pleased we filmed driver Bill May, and subsequently met him again at a public screening. If you have missed it, it's about 11 minutes into: ruclips.net/video/qgYuGdZlK8w/видео.html&ab_channel=PhilipFowler That was the advantage of being able to record sound alongside the camera. Best Wishes, Philip
All S&D crews were incredibly friendly and I have been privileged to have known many of them. Thanks to a footplate ride shunting cow and gate sidings at Wincanton at the age of 3 the bug bit and the crew and I remained friends until their sad deaths a couple of years ago
Really enjoyable upload, previously unseen footage, quite unique and some stark winter scenes also. Older generations keeping the S & D spirit alive but I should imagine it will all be forgotten in a decade or so.
Greg, I always liked American vs English until incredible footage like you have preserved. How truly fascinating and loved by true train lovers over the world. Cheers from Colorado, USA!
Thanks Chris. I've had the privilege of being able to watch it for half a century, and still find new things pop out that I hadn't previously noticed. Best Wishes, Philip
Thank you for this i adored this railway i have many books on it. Always brings a tear to my eyes when i see this sadly i was only a child when this was ripped up. I have done a 2 year survey of existing trackbed from Bath all the way to Poole.....and surviving bridges and viaducts. As there was a rumour the government wanted to reopen closed lines as roads are now overloaded! However in spite developers in Radstock heard about this and DELIBERATELY built on the site of the old station, (as a possible public enquiry was possible) preventing the town getting a rail link again! It is feasible to relay the S&D and a mixture of modern trains and Heritage steam would bring in MILLIONS in revenue to the run down areas that ‘died’ when the railway was cruelly taken out. Many people are illegally ‘possessing’ track bed that still belongs to the railway company! The Chilcompton tunnel has been back filled but. A weekend with a JCB would see it reopened. SOMEONE PLEASE RESCUE THE S&D before any more houses get built over the track ned making it impossible to ever reopen🤷🏼♂️😢
Thanks KK. Yeah, absolutely. And now we have the Preservation Trust being booted off the Minehead line/appealing for funds. Have you seen: ruclips.net/video/LjaImKH2IBQ/видео.html Best Wishes, Philip
No, reopening the line would not bring these benefits. It would cost a lot of public money. The structures should be thoroughly demolished, track bed landscaped and repurposed with useful things like housing and industry.
Thank you sir. You are absolutely spot on. Very challenging. There were faster films, but at the time, faster meant less quality, less definition.Ken went for the quality over everything else. Where location sound was concerned, I had the mk 1 generation recorder modified to get the best result possible at the time. Best Wishes, Philip
Thank you so much for this. As a devotee of the S&D, I thought that I had either got or seen all the archive footage available-until now. I travelled as a child on the S&D on the Pines from Manchester several times in the 1950s and the last time in 1962, just before rerouting, and could scarcely believe the contrast between grimy north Manchester and the beautiful scenery south of Bath. My last memory is of leaning out of the carriage window on the Pines listening to the engines straining up to Masbury on the way home from Bournemouth. Since moving down to Devon, I have tried to explore as much of the line as I can when on holiday, bearing in mind what is left of it. I can still hear those engines 60 years on. Your film is quite wonderful in that it shows the line not in ideal conditions as most of them do, but in difficult ones which gives me a rare new perspective. If this is a short version of what was filmed, is there a full version available to purchase?
Love anything to do with the S&D. Too young to have seen it in action, but as my sister lives in the area l have spent many a happy few hours exploring what's still remains
Yeah, Michael. Know how you feel. I missed lots too - being on GWR territory. At least we pretty well made up for it in the end. Have you seen my "Day Out on the S & D"? It visits Bath, where, thanks to micro cameras, it turns out that the line had a reprieve after all... Thanks for the comment, and Best Wishes, Philip
Thanks Michael. I am hoping to upload a version of my "Day Out" to this channel soon, after checking it through a few times. According to it, the S&D lives on as a Heritage Line, rather like the Settle & Carlisle... Best Wishes, Philip
@@philipfowler5280 Thanks for your reply. I will look at your Day Out film as soon as it goes on You Tube. Have been to Bath several times in recent years and have visited Green Park Station a few times as well. At least the Station building is still there
Next time readers attend the Glastonbury Festival you can walk the branch line trackbed. When I was a child I used to visit Bournemouth West sheds. Southern region still had ex LSWR gated push pull coach stock in the early 60s that did shuttle from Bournemouth Central.
Whoever shot the winter scenes deserves a medal! To see a ride over the Somerset & Dorset - in much clearer weather - in 1963, go to ruclips.net/video/Tz0mNHWRF98/видео.html which I shot as a cine film, when I was a young man. Dare I suggest that "S & D" also represents the Stockton & Darlington, opened in 1825 by George Stephenson. Over the following years that S&D expanded until it became of comparable size to your S&D, before being absorbed into the North Eastern Rly.
Thanks Dave. Very kind of you. I made the full feature-length movie available on VHS and then DVD for a good few years. You could find copies around - I lost count of sales when it went past 1,000. 'Puffed Out' was the title. Also there was 'Filming the S & D'. I originally marketed them through the lovely folk at The Signal Box in Leicester, and the Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust. Still considering whether to upload any further selections. Best Wishes, Philip
Slightly pedantic, but surely the winter of 1965/66 can't have been the worst for many years, as in 1963 the UK had suffered what is universally acknowledged to be one of the harshest winters in the 20th century?
I think you will have to blame the late Ken Barter - cameraman and narrator - for that - but thanks for your comment all the same. Philip - sound recordist
Hi! Any errors are mostly mine, but I suspect this remark was Ken's. We can't ask him any more, sadly.He was old enough to have been in France when it fell to the Germans. Left behind, made his way to the coast and was taken off after a couple of weeks dodging Jerry bullets. Thanks for watching, Philip
can't help laughing - the automatic subtitling machine really can't recognise the wonderful sounds of a steam engine and interprets them as ' 'applause' - which is exactly what this film dererves!
@Jack Warner The original sound is inseparable from the film. Hence such film voiced by the late Ken Barter (cameraman) is used. Material voiced later by me (sound recordist) is recent. Hope that helps. Philip
Philip Fowler 1 second ago @Jack Warner & xr6lad The original sound is inseparable from the film. Hence such film voiced by the late Ken Barter (cameraman) is used. Material voiced later by me (sound recordist) is recent. Hope that helps. Philip
Наука
My Father worked on the former M&GN lines during the 1950s,in the relay gang. The track was in excellent condition when they closed the line,money had been invested not only on the track but also signalling, a new turntable and engine shed at Melton Constable,they were building a new engine shed at South Lynn when the line closed, such waste.
A beautiful lost branch line made even more beautiful by the atmospheric weather.
Indeed. Many Thanks Gary.
Best Wishes,
Philip
Great, thank you so much. The dear old S&D. I met Peter Smith the engine driver last year at the Swanage, hadn't seen him for some 35 years! Donald Beale has of course passed away a good few years ago now, a real gentleman bless him.
Thank you, Frank.
I'm pleased we filmed driver Bill May, and subsequently met him again at a public screening. If you have missed it, it's about 11 minutes into:
ruclips.net/video/qgYuGdZlK8w/видео.html&ab_channel=PhilipFowler
That was the advantage of being able to record sound alongside the camera.
Best Wishes,
Philip
All S&D crews were incredibly friendly and I have been privileged to have known many of them. Thanks to a footplate ride shunting cow and gate sidings at Wincanton at the age of 3 the bug bit and the crew and I remained friends until their sad deaths a couple of years ago
Very enjoyable, thanks for sharing.
Great film footage. I have been looking for historical maps of the Line passing through Ashley Heath..impossible!
Standard 4 tanks used to slip quite easily even starting quite light loads. Great to hear again!
Really enjoyable upload, previously unseen footage, quite unique and some stark winter scenes also.
Older generations keeping the S & D spirit alive but I should imagine it will all be forgotten in a decade or so.
Thanks Greg. Can't believe I humped that tape recorder around so much. Best Wishes, Philip
Many thanks Greg.
Philip
Greg, I always liked American vs English until incredible footage like you have preserved. How truly fascinating and loved by true train lovers over the world.
Cheers from Colorado, USA!
i could watch this all day long
Thanks Chris.
I've had the privilege of being able to watch it for half a century, and still find new things pop out that I hadn't previously noticed.
Best Wishes,
Philip
Thank you for this i adored this railway i have many books on it. Always brings a tear to my eyes when i see this sadly i was only a child when this was ripped up. I have done a 2 year survey of existing trackbed from Bath all the way to Poole.....and surviving bridges and viaducts. As there was a rumour the government wanted to reopen closed lines as roads are now overloaded! However in spite developers in Radstock heard about this and DELIBERATELY built on the site of the old station, (as a possible public enquiry was possible) preventing the town getting a rail link again! It is feasible to relay the S&D and a mixture of modern trains and Heritage steam would bring in MILLIONS in revenue to the run down areas that ‘died’ when the railway was cruelly taken out. Many people are illegally ‘possessing’ track bed that still belongs to the railway company! The Chilcompton tunnel has been back filled but. A weekend with a JCB would see it reopened.
SOMEONE PLEASE RESCUE THE S&D before any more houses get built over the track ned making it impossible to ever reopen🤷🏼♂️😢
Thanks KK.
Yeah, absolutely. And now we have the Preservation Trust being booted off the Minehead line/appealing for funds.
Have you seen: ruclips.net/video/LjaImKH2IBQ/видео.html
Best Wishes,
Philip
Did the Local Council approve this?
No, reopening the line would not bring these benefits. It would cost a lot of public money. The structures should be thoroughly demolished, track bed landscaped and repurposed with useful things like housing and industry.
Thank you so much! Some of the most atmospheric railway footage I've ever seen. The S&D and the 'Withered Arm' are surely among our most missed lines.
Thanks so much, David.
Best Wishes,
Philip
Had to go get a hot water bottle whilst watching 😵💫
Absolutely fantastic film! Well done and thanks for sharing. Brilliant.
Thanks Bob!
Best Wishes,
Philip
Weasely BR couldn't find much of a paltry excuse to get rid of the s&d.
Thank you gents for sharing this archive, it must have been challenging to say the least with the slow film speed of the day.
TC.
Yeah. 8mm Kodachrome and winter rain don't mix well!
Regards,
Philip
Thank you sir. You are absolutely spot on. Very challenging. There were faster films, but at the time, faster meant less quality, less definition.Ken went for the quality over everything else.
Where location sound was concerned, I had the mk 1 generation recorder modified to get the best result possible at the time.
Best Wishes,
Philip
Excellent Thank you
Thank you Peter,
Philip
Thank you so much for this. As a devotee of the S&D, I thought that I had either got or seen all the archive footage available-until now. I travelled as a child on the S&D on the Pines from Manchester several times in the 1950s and the last time in 1962, just before rerouting, and could scarcely believe the contrast between grimy north Manchester and the beautiful scenery south of Bath. My last memory is of leaning out of the carriage window on the Pines listening to the engines straining up to Masbury on the way home from Bournemouth. Since moving down to Devon, I have tried to explore as much of the line as I can when on holiday, bearing in mind what is left of it. I can still hear those engines 60 years on. Your film is quite wonderful in that it shows the line not in ideal conditions as most of them do, but in difficult ones which gives me a rare new perspective. If this is a short version of what was filmed, is there a full version available to purchase?
Thanks Nigel. The Film was "Puffed Out", sold commercially for years. Could run off a copy for you. More info:
lanternfilms@hotmail.co.uk
@@philipfowler5280 Many thanks, Philip. I have e-mailed Lantern Films to see if they have got any copies left.
8:10 - Good to know they couldn't shut the sun down
Love anything to do with the S&D. Too young to have seen it in action, but as my sister lives in the area l have spent many a happy few hours exploring what's still remains
Thanks Roly. We did our best to show it like it was. Winter weather was something for us, as well as the railway, to battle with!
Best Wishes,
Philip
An opportunity missed as far as i'm conce rned. I never managed to visit the S and D. I wish that i had. I was 16 when it closed. Thanks Beeching.
Yeah, Michael. Know how you feel. I missed lots too - being on GWR territory. At least we pretty well made up for it in the end.
Have you seen my "Day Out on the S & D"? It visits Bath, where, thanks to micro cameras, it turns out that the line had a reprieve after all...
Thanks for the comment, and Best Wishes,
Philip
Thanks Michael. I am hoping to upload a version of my "Day Out" to this channel soon, after checking it through a few times. According to it, the S&D lives on as a Heritage Line, rather like the Settle & Carlisle...
Best Wishes, Philip
@@philipfowler5280 Thanks for your reply. I will look at your Day Out film as soon as it goes on You Tube. Have been to Bath several times in recent years and have visited Green Park Station a few times as well. At least the Station building is still there
@@michaelhampton9493 Thanks Michael. Shouldn't be long. Best Wishes, Philip.
@@michaelhampton9493 Hi Michael. You should now find it at: ruclips.net/video/A4AX8I3BC5c/видео.html
Best Wishes, Philip
Next time readers attend the Glastonbury Festival you can walk the branch line trackbed. When I was a child I used to visit Bournemouth West sheds. Southern region still had ex LSWR gated push pull coach stock in the early 60s that did shuttle from Bournemouth Central.
Many Thanks,
Philip
It’s so bizarre to see this footage knowing that there’s almost no trace of this line still in existence
Thanks Tony.
I suppose the most bizarre moment for me was a trip down the S & D courtesy of Gartell!
Regards,
Philip
Excellent but very sad ☹️
Many Thanks David.
Best Wishes,
Philip
Whoever shot the winter scenes deserves a medal!
To see a ride over the Somerset & Dorset - in much clearer weather - in 1963, go to ruclips.net/video/Tz0mNHWRF98/видео.html which I shot as a cine film, when I was a young man.
Dare I suggest that "S & D" also represents the Stockton & Darlington, opened in 1825 by George Stephenson. Over the following years that S&D expanded until it became of comparable size to your S&D, before being absorbed into the North Eastern Rly.
I really enjoyed this. Is there a longer version available?
Thanks Dave. Very kind of you.
I made the full feature-length movie available on VHS and then DVD for a good few years. You could find copies around - I lost count of sales when it went past 1,000. 'Puffed Out' was the title. Also there was 'Filming the S & D'. I originally marketed them through the lovely folk at The Signal Box in Leicester, and the Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust.
Still considering whether to upload any further selections.
Best Wishes,
Philip
Thanks Dave. Currently debating whether perhaps to release more material pertaining to the 'branch', which got less attention on the whole.
The emergency service began on 5th Jan 1966,not 1965 as said on the film.
Superb footage of the most famous line in the UK.
Absolutely.
Thanks,
Philip
Thanks Michael. You can never ever win them all!
Philip
Slightly pedantic, but surely the winter of 1965/66 can't have been the worst for many years, as in 1963 the UK had suffered what is universally acknowledged to be one of the harshest winters in the 20th century?
I think you will have to blame the late Ken Barter - cameraman and narrator - for that - but thanks for your comment all the same.
Philip - sound recordist
Hi! Any errors are mostly mine, but I suspect this remark was Ken's. We can't ask him any more, sadly.He was old enough to have been in France when it fell to the Germans. Left behind, made his way to the coast and was taken off after a couple of weeks dodging Jerry bullets.
Thanks for watching,
Philip
can't help laughing - the automatic subtitling machine really can't recognise the wonderful sounds of a steam engine and interprets them as ' 'applause' - which is exactly what this film dererves!
Thanks Al. Good one!
Best Wishes,
Philip
What is the deal with two completely different voices???
@Jack Warner The original sound is inseparable from the film. Hence such film voiced by the late Ken Barter (cameraman) is used. Material voiced later by me (sound recordist) is recent. Hope that helps.
Philip
Philip Fowler
1 second ago
@Jack Warner & xr6lad The original sound is inseparable from the film. Hence such film voiced by the late Ken Barter (cameraman) is used. Material voiced later by me (sound recordist) is recent. Hope that helps.
Philip