British Railways - Vintage Southern - Description
This programme offers much rare footage made on the railways of the south east of England between the 1930s and the 1960s. The films begin at London Bridge in 1931 with a ‘Schools’ class 4-4-0 in original condition. Rare colour footage taken in 1938 at London Bridge and Sutton follows. A LBSCR 4-6-4 tank is then shown working a train between London Bridge and Norwood Junction. After sequences showing steam in action in 1931 at East Croydon, the scene shifts to Folkestone with both main line expresses and boat trains on the Harbour branch, in black and white from the 1930s and colour from the 1950s.
Coverage of the Golden Arrow and other SR steam hauled Pullmans is followed by extracts from a 1939 cab ride on the electric Brighton Belle. Carrying on the Brighton theme a sequence on Brighton steam survivors features an Atlantic, a Remembrance 4-6-0 and the Brighton works shunter, a Terrier in LBSCR style yellow livery recorded at the works, on the Kemp Town branch and helping the citizens of Caterham to celebrate the centenary of their railway. The last part of the programme deals with some of the delightful branch and secondary lines in the south east. We journey along the now preserved Bluebell Railway from East Grinstead to Lewes, in BR days and see something of that other preserved line the Kent & East Sussex in the 1950s and 60s. The branch lines from Dunton Green to Westerham and from Paddock Wood to Hawkhurst are explored towards the end of the programme.
For anyone interested in the Southern this DVD provides a delightful miscellany covering many aspects of railway activity in the south east of England over a 40 year period. Some of the footage assembled for use in this programme is probably unique and, as far as the publishers can determine, the great bulk of it is published here for the first time. Southern fans will not be disappointed by this enthralling programme.
