British Railways - Steam in the Midlands - Description
This programme sets out to offer a real feel of what it was like to observe the busy railway network of the Midlands in the last decade of steam operations. Not surprisingly, in an era renowned for its heavy industry, freight workings and the locomotives designed for heavy goods duties, play a prominent role in the proceedings. There is much coverage of the LNWR designed G2 class 0-8-0 tender engines, the last LNWR class to survive in any numbers. These engines are contrasted with their LMS built successors, the 8F 2-8-0s. Other types which feature in the films are Black 5s, Horwich Moguls, Fowler tanks, Jinties, Ivatt 2-6-0s and several of the British Railways Standard designs ranging from Britannia Pacifics to the Class 4 Moguls. These machines, often work stained and unkempt, are seen on a succession of coal and steel trains and long mixed freights, traffic flows which have either been shut down or nowadays go by road. Passenger traffic is not forgotten. LMS Pacifics are seen at work on the main lines and in one poignant sequence several of these magnificent machines are seen making their last journey to the scrap yard. The role of the Great Western in the Midlands is not overlooked.
Branch lines such as that which once served Alton Towers are explored and in once lovely sequence the venerable LNWR saddletanks which shunted at Wolverton works parade for the camera. Centred on Staffordshire, but with much of the footage drawn from the surrounding counties, this programme will bring back many happy memories to those who watched the trains go by in the 1950s and 60s and will be a revelation of a lost age to those too young to recall those halcyon days.
