British Transport Films

Sets out to persuade businesspeople of the advantages of going from city to city by train. How it gives them time to relax, work or sleep in comfort.

The Channel Islands have had a varied and exciting history. Jersey and Guernsey are ideal places for holidays. Jersey offers a wide variety of attractive bays for sport and relaxation; Guernsey still preserves something of an eighteenth-century atmosphere, and is a place for quieter enjoyment. It is an ideal centre for exploring the other smaller islands, and the film ends with a journey by boat to Herm.

A gastronomic journey from Yorkshire to London on board a special train - made up of vintage restaurant cars, and steam hauled. This was to celebrate a hundred years of train catering. The Chairman of British Rail, Sir Peter Parker, was there to cut the cake! For use as an 'opener' for marketing meetings, presentations, etc. and for staff information.

There have been railways in this country for over three hundred years. In the nineteenth century, railways spread across Britain and changed the geography, history, economy, and the life of a nation, but already there existed primitive railways for moving coal and other minerals from the pits and quarries to navigable water and roads. This film scans the present and the past to show those economic principles governing the early railways have been rediscovered as a basis for modern freight trains.

The electrification of the London Midland Region main line between London, Manchester and Liverpool at 25KV AC, using overhead wires and drawing supply from the National Grid, was a major undertaking involving civil, electrical, mechanical and signal engineering of a complex and advanced nature. This film depicts some aspects of the problems involved and of the unprecedented operations which were carried out.

Kay Mander kept training and social issues to the fore in the 1940s with her innovative documentaries. Mander, now living in Kirkcudbrightshire, recalls her life and work, with clips from many of her films.

Time lapse photography shows the swarm of commuters at London Waterloo station racing about at top speed.

When a schoolboy's day-dream of a fantasy sports day includes events where acts of vandalism and trespass are required, dire consequences ensue. Originally created as an educational film, this somewhat surrealist short has a serious message at its core. This won't be a lesson you'll forget in a hurry.

A random selection of housewives around the UK take a day off from their traditional domestic chores.

Report No. 8 in a series of 13 topical films, produced since the far reaching plan for the modernisation and re-equipment of British Railways in 1955 started to take effect, to log the many developments - new services, equipment, techniques - wherever these have been introduced. They provide a unique pictorial record of the progress of British Railways.

Journey into Spring is a 1958 British short documentary film directed by Ralph Keene, and made by British Transport Films. The film -- partly a tribute to the work of the pioneering naturalist and ornithologist Gilbert White (1720-1793), author of The Natural History of Selborne -- features a commentary by the poet Laurie Lee, and camerawork by the wildlife cinematographer Patrick Carey. The journey suggested by the title is through time rather than space. In fact, two such journeys are made: the first back to the eighteenth century to pay tribute to the work of White, and the second studies the changing natural landscape near White's home town of Selborne in Hampshire between a typical March and May. It was nominated for two Academy Awards -- one for Best Documentary Short, and the other for Best Live Action Short.

Driver Sam Smith is given the privilege of driving one of the new electric trains. But when a problem arises, it takes three very different Sams before the problem is solved.

The holiday attractions of the Lancashire coast, including a beauty contest in Morecambe, Southport flower show and Blackpool Fun Fair.

This is the story of a lorry's solitary journey with a new propeller for a trawler laid up in a port on the rugged sea-coast of Wales. For the lorry-driver and his mate it is all in a day's work; minor mishaps are overcome on the journey from Preston through the beautiful Welsh countryside. The story ends with the trawler on its way to sea.

A study of the development of British Rail's hovercraft services in the Solent and across the Channel, using SRN6, HM2 and SRN4 air-cushion vehicles.

A cautionary tale of a typical holiday suitcase. Crammed beyond its capacity, imperfectly fastened, inadequately and confusedly labelled, the railways transport it from station to station, seeking its true abode. Finally, one of its owners comes to the nightmare tribunal where those who maltreat their luggage are dealt with. Did it happen? Was it a dream? Be warned. See this film. Avoid making yours 'a desperate case'.

Young Robbie, a keen footballer and a railway enthusiast, is persuaded by his big brother to go through a hole in a railway fence on to the track for some reason. His laces become caught on the tracks and he has an accident so serious that he will never play football again. A film for showing to eight to eleven-year old children and their parents, which points out the folly of breaking railway fences and trespassing on the line, and illustrates the immediate dangers. Part of BFI collection "The Age of the Train".

The conflict between the running of an efficient bus service and the increasing motor car traffic in Britain's towns. Describes the traffic problem and some of the measures taken to help overcome it from the point of view of different members of the community; the ways in which the planning of new towns and the rebuilding of town centres can take into account the needs of all road users, and the particular contribution the bus can make as the best user of road space per passenger carried.

The Peak District waits invitingly within a sixty-mile reach of half the population of England. To this green centre of a great industrial area, the first of the National Parks, holidaymakers come throughout the year to enjoy a wide variety of scenery and of pastimes. Some visitors come to glide, others to go ‘caving’ or climbing, boating or fishing. The lovely surroundings vary from the windy flat tops of heath with their rocky outcrops to the lush, sheltered dales of the Manifold, the Derwent and the Dove; from the simple stone cottages of the quiet villages to the historic architecture of Ashbourne, Bakewell and Buxton, and the great houses of the past like Chatsworth and Haddon Hall.

The achievements of BREL - British Rail Engineering Limited - are celebrated in this promotional film looking at two of the company's 13 workshops, at Horwich in Lancashire and Crewe, in which locomotives and carriages are built for British Rail and companies overseas.