Timeshift - BBC4 - The Trains That Time Forgot: Britain's Lost Railway Journeys

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

On BBC4 Wednesday 2100

imeshift journeys back to a lost era of rail travel, when trains had names, character and style. Once the pride of the railway companies that ran them, the named train is now largely consigned to railway history.

Writer and presenter Andrew Martin asks why we once named trains and why we don't do so anymore. He embarks on three railway journeys around Britain, following the routes of three of the most famous named trains - the Flying Scotsman, the Cornish Riviera Express and the Brighton Belle. We reflect on travel during the golden age of railways - when the journey itself was as important as reaching your destination - and compare those same journeys with the passenger experience today.

repeated Thurs 03/09 at 0300.....

There's a London-Cornwall preview clip here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p030z2l9

[broadgage]

I watched it, very interesting.

The FGW^▸ (First Great Western) service was the only one that IMO^▸ (in my opinion) at least somewhat resembled the trains from the good old days.

[JayMac]

An interesting, if somewhat rose-tinted, documentary.

Nice to see the presenter partaking of Pullman brunch with the only TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) still to offer a full restaurant service, FGW^▸ (First Great Western)/GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).

Forum admin bobm will no doubt concur that the kedgeree is rather good!

[patch38]

Good to hear also that one of the 5-BEL units is being restored for a heritage service; the Brighton Belle is much missed. My dad took me on it as a birthday treat in 1972 just weeks before the service was withdrawn. It certainly was a bit of a rough old dog mechanically in its final days but the carriage interiors were pure nostalgia, even with the black Inter-City seats!

[grahame]

Good to hear also that one of the 5-BEL units is being restored for a heritage service ...

Video of progress on the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-sussex-43728868/famous-train-makes-comeback-after-46-years

[SandTEngineer]

My mother once took us on Holiday from London to Brighton way back in the early 1960s.  I will never forget the experience.  Look forward to travelling on it again some 60 years later.