I've been busy today watching some great rail related (and one coach related!) documentaries on
BBC» iPlayer.
About this one:
First transmitted in 1963, John Betjeman looks at the Evercreech Junction to Burnham-on-Sea railway line in Somerset.
Betjeman provides a unique profile of a working steam branch line railway as he travels along the original part of the Somerset Central Railway. Examining towns and stations along the way, Betjeman laments the tragic decline of steam railways. The journey culminates with a stroll around Highbridge Wharf, sentimentally narrated with a poem that sums up Betjeman^s despair; ^Highbridge Wharf, your hopes have died^.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01203rd/Lets_Imagine_A_Branch_Line_Railway/This is one of many 'Steam Railways' documentaries from the BBC archives that have been made available on the BBC iPlayer. I've given this one prominence in this topic as it features lost railway scenes from the area that this forum nominally covers. There are many others available to watch, including one or two other documentaries featuring steam in the West Country.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/collections/p01277qd/steam-railwaysAn introduction by Gary Boyd-Hope, editor of
Steam Railways magazine aptly sets the scene for these documentaries:
When it comes to invention, Britain has led the field in coming up with new ways to improve and enhance the way we move and communicate. From John Logie Baird's television and Alexander Graham Bell's telephone, to Frank Whittle's jet engine and Tim Berners-Lee's internet, this tiny nation has - quite literally - changed the way we see the world.
Yet the one invention that stands out above all others, the one that brought about the biggest global changes, is the railway and in particular the steam locomotive. From humble beginnings in the early 19th Century, the railways not only grew to become the principal method of mass transportation for over a century, but also became a source of allure and fascination for generations of enthusiasts.
continues....
Oh, and don't worry about getting your viewing in within 7 days. They are all available until at least 2014, with many available until 2038!!!
