British Transport Films Collection [DVD]

This is a collection of short documentary/educational films, made between 1950-83, some in colour, some are black and white, running times range from 5 to 40 minutes.

Many aspects of the railways are covered here, from steam, to the electrification of the railways, and diesel, also including track and railway stock maintenance, with various cleaning jobs and lost property, as well as featuring various passenger reasons for using the railways, such as work, recreation and holidays, on many occasions we see the various destinations of daytrippers and holidaymakers, these are basically short travelogues. Besides the railways, other subjects are covered by these short films, including other forms of transport, there's even the odd nature film!

This set is not just for rail buffs, these short films are a snapshot of a Britain long gone, I found myself charmed and drawn into this collection, even where normally I wouldn't have a particular interest in some of the subject matter, I still found it very soothing and relaxing to watch.
This 18 disc boxset consists of nine, 2-disc volumes, consisting of the following films:

* Volume One: ON AND OFF THE RAILS - Blue Pullman (1960,colour,25 mins)./ Elizabethan Express (1954,B/W,20 mins)./ Train Time (1952,B/W,28 mins)./ Rail 150 (1975,colour,14 mins)./ The Diesel Train Driver Part One (1959,B/W,7 mins)./ On Track For The Eighties (1980,colour,15 mins)./ Cybernetica (1972,colour,20 mins)./ Under The River (1959,B/W,27 mins)./ Snowdrift At Bleath Gill (1955,B/W,10 mins)./ This Year - London (1951,B/W,25 mins)./ This Is York (1953,B/W,20 mins)./ The Great Highway (1966,colour,20 mins)./ A Day Of One's Own (1956,B/W,20 mins)./ John Betjeman Goes By Train (1962,B/W,10 mins).

* Volume Two: SEE BRITAIN BY TRAIN - West Country Journey (1953,colour,26 mins)./ A Letter For Wales (1960,colour and B/W,25 mins)./ Cyclists Special (1955,colour,16 mins)./ Holiday (1957,colour,18 mins)./ The Heart Is Highland (1952,colour,20 mins)./ Any Man's Kingdom (1956,colour,20 mins)./ Glasgow Belongs To Me (1966,colour,17 mins)./ The England Of Elizabeth (1957,colour,27 mins)./ Capital Visit (1955,colour,20 mins)./ The Heart Of England (1954,colour,20 mins)./ East Anglian Holiday (1954,colour,20 mins)./ The Coasts Of Clyde (1959,colour,20 mins).

* Volume Three: RUNNING A RAILWAY - Operation London Bridge (1975,colour,18 mins)./ Wires Over The Border (1974,colour,18 mins)./ Groundwork For Progress (1959,B/W,30 mins)./ Making Tracks (1956,B/W,17 mins)./ E For Experimental (1975,colour,20 mins)./ Modelling For The Future (1961,colour,8 mins)./ Britannia - A Bridge (1973,colour,19 mins)./ Terminus (1975,B/W,20 mins)./ Fully Fitted Freight (1957,B/W,21 mins)./ Farmer Moving South (1952,B/W,17 mins)./ I Am A Litter Basket (1959,B/W,7 mins)./ The Third Sam (1962,B/W,10 mins)./ People Like Us (1962,B/W,9 mins)./ A Future On Rail (1957,B/W,10 mins).

* Volume Four: RESHAPING BRITISH RAILWAYS - Work In Progress (1951,B/W,25 mins)./ Wash And Brush Up (1953,B/W,26 mins)./ A Place In The Team (1953,B/W,23 mins)./ Service For Southend (1957,B/W,10 mins)./ Diesel Trainride (1959,colour,11 mins)./ Lets Go To Birmingham (1962,colour,5 mins)./ Reshaping British Railways (1963,B/W,23 mins)./ Forward To First Principals (1966,colour,30 mins)./ Freight And A City (1966,colour,21 mins)./ Second Nature (1967,colour,23 mins)./ The New Tradition (1968,colour,13 mins)./ Plumb-Loco (1971,colour,10 mins)./ This Year By Rail (1972,B/W,18 mins)./ Overture: One-Two-Five (1978,colour,7 mins).

* Volume Five: OFF THE BEATEN TRACK - Ocean Terminal (1952,B/W,30 mins)./ Dodging The Column (1952,B/W,10 mins)./ Link Span (1956,B/W,25 mins)./ Every Valley (1957,B/W,20 mins)./ Journey Into Spring (1957,colour,30 mins)./ Between The Tides (1958,colour,22 mins)./ Giant Load (1958,B/W,10 mins)./ They Take The High Road (1960,colour,25 mins)./ Wild Highlands (1961,colour,21 mins)./ Wild Wings (1965,colour,35 mins)./ An Artist Looks At Churches (1959,colour,13 mins)./ Railways For ever! (1970,colour,7 mins). (/ The Scene From Melbury House (1972,colour,15 mins)./ Age Of Invention (1975,colour,25 mins)./ Seaspeed Express (1980,colour,16 mins).

* Volume Six: THE ART OF TRAVEL - North To The Dales (1962,colour,18 mins)./ Yorkshire Sands (1955,colour,15 mins)./ Down To Sussex (1964,colour,17 mins)./ The Land Of Robert Burns (1956,colour,21 mins)./ Journey Into History (1952,colour,11 mins)./ Midland Country (1974,colour,19 mins)./ The Travolators (1961,B/W,9 mins)./ Journey To The Sea (1952,B/W,16 mins)./ London For A Day (1962,colour,14 mins)./ The Beacons And Beyond (1979,colour,26 mins)./ A Desperate Case (1958,B/W,10 mins)./ Lancashire Coast (1957,colour,15 mins)./ Golfers In A Scottish Landscape (1971,colour,21 mins).

* Volume Seven: THE AGE OF THE TRAIN - The North Eastern Goes Forward (1962,colour,20 mins)./ Right Time Means Right Time aka The Pain Train (1969,B/W,23 mins)./ Motorsport Tries Motorail (1969,colour,6 mins)./ Discovering Railways (1977,colour,12 mins)./ Current Affairs On The Midland (1980,colour,17 mins)./ Railways Conserve The Enviroment - Rail Report 11 (1970,colour,17 mins)./ Discover Britain By Train (1978,colour,6 mins)./ Old Sam The Signalman (1982,colour,7 mins)./ Journey Inter-City (1972,colour,10 mins)./ Power To Stop (1979,colour,11 mins)./ Inter-City 125 (1976,colour,23 mins)./ A New Age For Railways (1979,colour,25 mins)./ The Stone Carriers (1982,colour,17 mins)./ The Finishing Line (1976,colour,20 mins)./ Robbie (1979,colour,13 mins)./ Centenary Express (1980,colour,6 mins)./ Sir Peter Parker Talks To Jimmy Savile (1982,colour,6 mins).

* Volume Eight: POINTS AND ASPECTS - Single Line Working (1958,colour,30 mins)./ Day To Day Track Maintenance: Part One: Plain Line (1952,B/W,32 mins)./ Day To Day Track Maintenance: Part Two: Switches And Crossings (1952,B/W,20 mins)./ The Signal Engineers (1962,colour,26 mins)./ Mishap (1958,B/W,20 mins)./ Spick And Span (1962,B/W,18 mins)./ The Long Night Haul (1957,B/W,19 mins)./ Care Of St Christophers (1959,B/W,13 mins)./ Measured For Transport (1962,colour,13 mins)./ Channel Islands (1952,colour,15 mins)./ Under The Wires (1965,colour,28 mins)./ Points And Aspects (1974,colour,30 mins)./ Scotland For Sport (1958,colour,25 mins).

* Volume Nine: JUST THE TICKET - Berth 24 (1950,B/W,40 mins)./ Peak District (1954,colour,20 mins)./ Train Driver (1966,colour,10 mins)./ Give Your Car A Holiday (1967,colour,18 mins)./ Just The Ticket (1967,colour,8 mins)./ England's North Country (1978,colour,23 mins)./ Away For The Day (1952,colour,19 mins)./ They Had An Idea (1953,B/W,14 mins)./ Manhandling (1962,B/W,10 mins)./ Lost, Stolen, Damaged (1964,B/W,30 mins)./ Go As You Please In Britain (1975,colour,18 mins)./ It Takes All Sorts (1978,colour,20 mins)./ Just Like The Rest Of Us (1983,colour,24 mins).

All 125 films give a total of 38 hours of viewing, with great picture and sound quality, no subtitles.
Each of the nine volumes are stored in an extra slim case, and are stored alongside a highly informative 84-page booklet, which gives full details of each film and its running time.
The thin card outer case is rather flimsy, I had the sticky tape to my copy a couple of weeks after purchase.

Another great release by the BFI, your reputation is further enhanced by this great collection.

The BFI have excelled themselves with this issue which offers great value over the single dvd issues. This set spans from 1950 to 1983 of rail films made in the days when steam was still in use right to Diesel. The music and the high production values set the mini movies apart and though dated give a warm feeling. It's a side of British life that is now long gone but has been captured here to the best effect. The films vary from Rail information films for staff to general Transport films. To a selection of publicity films for various rail regions some in colour and black & white. Two that stand out for me are 'Wires over the Border' which deals with overhead power being installed in Scotland. And then 'The new age of Rail' which looks at the way rail travel has changed over thirty years. The sets comprise of 2 Discs each and the whole set has a comprehensive booklet detailing the films included. All in all a great addition to any collection and a must have for the transport enthusiast.
The films on this set are-

Vol- 1 Point's and Aspects.
Vol- 2 See Britain by Train.
Vol- 3 Running a Railway.
Vol- 4 Reshaping British Railways.
Vol- 5 Off the Beaten Track.
Vol- 6 Famous Friends.
Vol- 7 Age of the Train.
Vol- 8 Points & Aspects.
Vol -9 Just the Ticket.

Between 1949 and 1986, the British Transport Films Commission produced over seven hundred films. This set comprises over a hundred of them. There are far too many to comment upon, so here's some facts and figures to help you decide whether this is a good purchase.

About half of the films are devoted to purely railway interests; about twenty-five films are all about visiting places in Britain; eleven films are about transport in general; and six are about road transport in particular - buses and lorries. There are four nature films, three on history, three on social issues, and two exclusively on shipping.

About half the films are in colour. The longest film is forty minutes, the shortest five; the earliest dates to 1950, the latest 1983; there are fifty-five films from the fifties, thirty-four from the sixties, twenty-eight from the seventies, and eight from the eighties. (The writing on the wall for the film unit in the early years of Thatcherism is made in the commentary for a 1982 film called `The Stone Carriers': we "must reconcile social needs with good business sense". Obviously it was soon thought that the film unit did not make `good business sense' and it was disbanded.)

It would be invidious to pick out famous names, but here's a rough list: presenters - Richard Beeching, Jack Simmons, Peter Purves, and Jimmy Savile; narrators - Michael Aspel, Deryk Guyler, John Betjeman, Robert Shaw, Donald Houston, Peter Scott, Stanley Holloway, John Piper, and Raymond Baxter; writers - Montagu Slater, Laurie Lee, and Brian Redhead; and composers - David Fanshawe, Elizabeth Lutyens, Grace Williams, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Ron Grainer, Arnold Bax, and Malcolm Arnold.

What did I learn from this set? Well, a great deal. I now realise that Britain really did lead the world in many aspects of train technology right up to the Thatcher era. I learned that stationmasters often wore top hats. I learned that some station announcers did knitting in between their announcements. And I learned that Richard Beeching must have come across as quite a decent chap. And that John Betjeman is right when he says, "The railway disease is caught early: it's quite harmless."