On 16 October 1965, the ‘Midland Loco Requiem’ railtour, headed by 43953, one of the last Midland Railway Class 4F 0-6-0s in active British Railways service, left Nuneaton at the start of a tour visiting a large number of East Midlands routes and stations that had not seen a passenger train for many years. After leaving the Warwickshire town, the tour followed the ex-MR line through Shackerstone and Gresley to Burton-on-Trent, from where it took the freight-only route to Trent Junction on the former Midland Railway main line. Leaving northwards from Trent Junction the tour headed for Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Mansfield and Staveley, after which it journeyed down the Bolsover and Glapwell Colliery branch. From here it ran via Chesterfield to the Erewash Valley en route to Pye Bridge and Ambergate, where filming of the tour came to an end due to failing light. In addition to the branches and stations visited on the ‘4F’ tour, this fascinating programme also features many scenes at Derby and Nottingham, where trolley buses were still an everyday sight on the roads of both cities.

 Although ‘Blue Pullmans’ and green-liveried diesels were an increasing presence, the programme’s focus is on the wide variety of steam classes that still operated as the 1960s unfolded. From diminutive tank locomotives operating on the rail network that served the breweries of Burton-on-Trent, to BR-built ‘9F’ 2-10-0s heading lengthy coal trains through the Trent Valley. ‘Black 5s’, ‘4Fs’, ‘8Fs’ and ‘Scots’ also feature in a programme which is a vivid reminder of the once immense rail traffic that characterised the East Midlands.