Great Western Coffee Shop

A COLLECTION of railway films covering many long lost scenes in Dorset and neighbouring counties from the early 1940s to the mid 1960s has been released on a new 90-minute DVD.

The films, shot on a 16mm camera and in colour, were taken by the late Douglas Seaton of Yeovil and carefully preserved by his son Clive who continues to run the family business in the area.

The DVD, released by Osmington-based Kingfisher Productions, covers a crucial part in railway history with Douglas filming many sequences in the 1940s at Weymouth and the surrounding area at a time when the railways were undergoing change.

Full colour scenes at Weymouth Quay show boat trains from Paddington in London as they progress along the Quay towards the Channel Islands ferries.

They include many scenes around Maiden Newton, even glimpses of the old branch line to Abbotsbury and around Dorchester plus film of the narrow gauge steam railway at Radipole Lake which closed in the early 1980s.

To celebrate the launch of the DVD, Clive Seaton and Roger Hardingham of Kingfisher Productions met at the Yeovil Railway Centre during the visit of the country^s newest steam locomotive, Tornado, built in 2008.

Steaming Through Wessex, priced ^19.95, is available at Imagine Bookshop, Joy^s Newsagents at Overcombe or from Kingfisher at railwayvideo.com

* 1940s at Yeovil Town
* Malachite and BR brunswick green 'King Arthur' Class engines
* Castles and Kings on the West of England line, Kings in BR blue
* Slip coaches at Westbury
* Great Western scenes at Starcross
* Blue liveried Merchant Navy pacifics
* Yeovil Pen Mill activity
* Royal trains in and around Yeovil in 1952/3
* Weymouth Quay line with the Channel Island's Boat Express
* Adams Radial tanks at Axminster
* Many Southern scenes at Yeovil Town and Junction
* Castles to Weymouth including banking at Yetminster
* A Star class at Devizes
* And much, much more!