British Transport Films

Southampton, a deep-water port with four tides a day, is an ocean terminal for the world's largest liners. Their coming and going, and the people who work with them are the subject of this film as they reflect in their personal lives some of the drama and romance of its situation. Among them are a tug skipper and his crew, a stewardess on a Cape ship, an assistant wharfinger in charge of handling baggage and freight, a taxi driver, and a pilot taking a great liner down Southampton water at night.

When a schoolboy's day-dream of a fantasy sports day includes events where acts of vandalism and trespass are required, dire consequences ensue. Originally created as an educational film, this somewhat surrealist short has a serious message at its core. This won't be a lesson you'll forget in a hurry.

The Peak District waits invitingly within a sixty-mile reach of half the population of England. To this green centre of a great industrial area, the first of the National Parks, holidaymakers come throughout the year to enjoy a wide variety of scenery and of pastimes. Some visitors come to glide, others to go ‘caving’ or climbing, boating or fishing. The lovely surroundings vary from the windy flat tops of heath with their rocky outcrops to the lush, sheltered dales of the Manifold, the Derwent and the Dove; from the simple stone cottages of the quiet villages to the historic architecture of Ashbourne, Bakewell and Buxton, and the great houses of the past like Chatsworth and Haddon Hall.

This fly on the wall-style documentary from 1961 won an Oscar for best documentary, and shows the changing patterns of human emotions during 24 hours in the life of Waterloo Station.

Comprising train and track footage quickly shot just before a heavy winter's snowfall was melting, the multi-award-winning classic that emerged from the cutting-room compresses British Rail's dedication to blizzard-battling into a thrilling eight-minute montage cut to music. Tough-as-boots workers struggling to keep the line clear are counterpointed with passengers' buffet-car comforts.

Originally intended as an advertising short, this film follows The Elizabethan, a non-stop British Railways service from London to Edinburgh along the East Coast Main Line. A nostalgic record of the halcyon years of steam on British Railways and the ex-LNER Class A4.

Britain operates the most experienced diesel and electric railway in tne world. A century and a half ago she invented the steam engine and introduced a new system of transport; and in only nine years British Rail and the British locomotive industry designed, built and tested enough diesel and electric locomotives to replace fifteen thousand steam engines. The transition from steam to new forms of motive power, and its effects on rallwaymen and passengers, is the subject of this film. Produced in association with the Central Office of Information, the British Locomotive Allied Manufacturers' Association and the British Electrical Manufacturers' Association.

The Channel Islands have had a varied and exciting history. Jersey and Guernsey are ideal places for holidays. Jersey offers a wide variety of attractive bays for sport and relaxation; Guernsey still preserves something of an eighteenth-century atmosphere, and is a place for quieter enjoyment. It is an ideal centre for exploring the other smaller islands, and the film ends with a journey by boat to Herm.

First transmitted in 1969, this documentary follows the construction of the world’s most advanced underground system. Macdonald Hastings narrates the story of one of the most complex tunnel engineering feats of its time. He reveals the isolation felt by the miners who spent six years burrowing deep beneath the streets of London, shows what they did beneath one of London's most famous department stores and explains why the ground at Tottenham Court Road had to be frozen during the hottest weeks of 1966. The result is a brave new world of transport with automated trains, two way mirrors, automatic fare collection and closed-circuit television, all choreographed by a computer programme played out by an updated version of a pianola located in a control room somewhere near Euston station.

Sussex - A country rich in scenic beauty and history. South Down and Weald - open space and green woodland. This is Sussex, a county rich in scenic beauty, seaside resorts and international events; peaceful downland villages and fertile weald. History shows itself everywhere, right back to the threshold of legend - The Long Man of Wilmington and Chanctonbury Ring. All this the traveller can see and enjoy, together with the present-day delights of, for example, the Petworth Show, Goodwood Races, polo at Cowdray Park, Glyndebourne, and the fun of the Sussex coast.

The British Railways modernisation programme of the 1960s radically changed the rail network, and the British Transport Films unit and the TV news were there to capture it. Compiled here is never before released colour footage of Southern steam at Waterloo (with Nine Elms depot), all the major London stations, The Blue Pullman and early diesels, The Golden Arrow and Night Ferry service, goods and mail, steam on the Metropolitan Railway and building the Victoria Line.

Twenty-four hours in the story of the British Railways Channel ferryboats, the 'link spans' directly joining the roads and railways of Britain with those of France and all the Continent. The Lord Warden laden with an assortment of road vehicles from Dover, and the Night Ferry from Newhaven carrying passengers bound for Paris, Vienna or Rome are two of the ferries illustrated in this film; and freight is not forgotten.

The Nine Road is the busman's name for one of London's oldest and most used bus routes, running between Mortlake and Liverpool Street. The film takes us along the route on a summer's day, and shows the operation and control of the Number Nines from early morning until past midnight. Collected in BFI's "London on the Move."

British Transport film.

Snowploughs are readied to rescue a snowbound train - in one of the most popular of all British Transport Films.

Lively holiday in Blackpool, with jazz accompaniment.

A film looking at the first 100 years of the Underground Railway in London from 1863 to 1963. A range of well known people and senior managers speak alongside some excellent archive film.

An Englishman has just got off the train at St. Enoch Station and is asking a cab driver to show him around Glasgow. Naturally, the cab driver is happy to oblige and the visitor gets to see the City first hand.

Intended for training railway permanent way men, capturing how men working on the track react as a train approaches.

A compilation film about the complex railway systems of Great Britain, demonstrating the work and individual responsibilities of many departments.