Film Clips

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The following film clips are courtesy of the BBC and feature on their web site in the 'Nation on Film' section. The BBC takes you on a journey through the heritage of railways on the east coast of Britain through rarely seen film footage in the Yorkshire Film Archive. Yorkshire Film Archive - 01904 716 550.

The Royal Scot - Engines Must Not Enter the Potato Siding (1920s/b&w/silent) Relive the golden age of steam with the Royal Scot in this BBC documentary film. (1 minute 17 seconds ©YFA)

Steam Trains - Everybody's Doin' It (1930s/b&w/sound) Old locomotives steam across the countryside. (52 seconds ©BBC)

Cholera - Engines Must Not Enter the Potato Siding (1969/b&w/sound) Twenty eight railway workers were killed by a cholera epidemic in the 1840s after working in the wild countryside above Penistone. (3 minutes 14 seconds ©BBC)

Great Central Line - Engines Must Not Enter the Potato Siding (1969/b&w/sound) An extract from a BBC documentary film about the Great Central and Midlands lines. (1 minute 9 seconds ©BBC)

A Driver Remembers - Engines Must Not Enter the Potato Siding (1969/b&w/sound) A train driver reminiscing about how he started working in the railways as a junior cleaner before moving his way up to driving a steam train. (1 minute 37 seconds ©BBC)

Wonders of Steam - Engines Must Not Enter the Potato Siding (1969/b&w/sound) Relive the wonders of steam and hear engine cleaners reminiscing about the smell of the steam locomotives. Watch the rail workers arguing about the merits of steam in relation to diesel (1 minute 56 seconds ©BBC)

York Station - York Travelogue (1920s/b&w/silent)Crowds of rail passengers at York Station in the golden years of steam travel. (29 seconds ©YFA)

Signal Workers - The Signal Works (b&w/silent) Signal workers hammering and welding at the signals factory in York. (47 seconds ©YFA)

Inside the Signal Factory - The Signal Works (b&w/silent)Go inside the signal works and watch the workers assembling the signal levers at the York signal factory. (2 minutes ©YFA)

Putting on Anti-Gas Suits - Mustard Gas Attacks (1939/b&w/silent) Wartime safety on the railways and see workers dressing in anti-gas suits designed to deal with a mustard gas attack. (3 minutes 27 seconds ©YFA)

Repairing Rails - Mustard Gas Attacks (1939/b&w/silent) Rail workers trying out different anti-gas suits. (3 minutes 36 seconds ©YFA)

Buffer Tests - Railway Workers (1939/b&w/silent) Railway workers running safety tests on rail carriages to check the risk of derailment. (1 minute 4 seconds ©YFA)

The Depot - The Layout of Locomotive Depot Facilities (b&w/silent) Visit York Station and watch routine maintenance work being carried out. See engines being turned around and watch the rail workers labouring in the coal depot. (1 minute 43 seconds ©YFA)

Cleaning out the Slut and the Slag - The Layout of Locomotive Depot Facilities (b&w/silent) Locomotive maintenance workers clean out the slut and slag from engines at York Station. (2 minutes 45 seconds ©YFA)

Greasing the Engine - The Layout of Locomotive Depot Facilities (b&w/silent) Behind the scenes at York Station, watch the railway workers greasing a steam engine." (2 minutes 26 ©YFA)

Steam and Water - The Layout of Locomotive Depot Facilities (b&w/silent) A short film about railway workers at York Station filling up a steam engine with water. (1 minute 47 seconds ©YFA)

Steaming Ahead - The Layout of Locomotive Depot Facilities (b&w/silent) Railway workers turn around an engine, couple it and prepare the train for a journey. Join the engine as it steams off on its journey from York. (3 minutes 38 seconds ©YFA)

Packing Sleepers - Railway Workers (1948/b&w/silent) Railway workers lay sleepers on the tracks. The film compares this old style of putting down sleepers with new machine-based technology in the shape of the Marisa Automatic Tester. (3 minutes 33 seconds ©YFA)

Laying the Troughs - Water Troughs (1950/b&w/silent) Railwaymen lay water troughs in the middle of railway tracks so steam engines can take water from them. (2 minutes 2 seconds ©YFA)

Laying the Lines - York Station (1928/b&w/silent) Gangs of railway workers laying tracks at York Station in spectacular footage of major rebuilding works at the station. (3 minutes 20 seconds ©YFA)

Timetabling - Transport 1950 (1950/b&w/sound) Railway company staff draw up new timetables for the trains. (4 minutes 38 seconds ©BBC/British Transport)

Just On Time - Transport 1950 (1950/b&w/sound) Rail workers deal with train delays and the knock-on effects of late trains on other services. (2 minutes 51 seconds ©BBC/British Transport)

Heavy Snow - Snow On the Tracks (1947/b&w/silent) Relive the harsh winter of 1947 with railway workers toiling on the tracks to clear heavy snow falls to enable trains to run. (2 minutes 40 seconds ©YFA)

Snow Blasting - Snow On the Tracks (1947/b&w/silent) During the severe winter of 1947 railway lines were blocked with heavy snow and railway workers had to blast the snow away so rail services could run smoothly. (1 minute 58 seconds ©YFA)

Repairing the Damage - Snow On the Tracks (1947/b&w/silent) Gangs of railway workers as they repair the damage to the track caused by heavy snow and flooding. (1 minute 24 seconds ©YFA)

Aftermath of Heavy Snow Falls - Snow On the Tracks (1947/b&w/silent) Heavy snow falls in 1947 wrecked havoc on the railway lines - railwaymen worked to restore the lines and ensure that services were up and running after snow and flood damage. (2 minutes 38 seconds ©YFA)

Derailments - Safety Testing (1942/b&w/silent) Railwaymen laying track to make accidents happen in this derailment testing film from the Second World War. (1 minute 42 seconds ©BBC)

Track Layers at Work - Laying the Tracks (1942/b&w/silent) Railwaymen working on the tracks using new machines during the Second World War. (2 minutes 3 seconds ©BBC)

Rails Put in Place - Laying the Tracks (1942/b&w/silent) Railwaymen laying curved sections of track during the Second World War. (1 minute 20 seconds ©BBC)

Huland's Quarry - Stone Blasting (b&w/silent) Visit Huland's Quarry in Barnard Castle where stone was blasted for ballast for LNER railways. Watch the workers digging and filling wagons. (1 minute 53 seconds ©YFA)

Blasting - Stone Blasting (b&w/silent) Men blasting stone for ballast at a quarry in Barnard Castle in County Durham. Take cover as the explosives are set in place, the fuse is lit and the workers shelter from the massive blast." (3 minutes 25 seconds ©YFA)

From Quarry Face to Crusher - Stone Blasting (b&w/silent) Visit Huland's Quarry in Barnard Castle and watch the progress of the blasting stone as it makes its way from the rock face to the stone crusher. (2 minutes 6 seconds ©YFA)

Loading - Market Weighton Station (1960s/colour/sound) A farming company loads railway trucks at Market Weighton Station. (1 minute 10 seconds ©Marsden Collection)

After Closure - Market Weighton Station (1960s/colour/sound) The bulldozers move into to demolish Market Weighton station. (1 minute 15 seconds ©Marsden Collection)

Steam Engines - Marsden Collection (1960s/colour/sound) Classic rail engines steam through the countryside including the Darlington K1 engine and the Flying Scotsman. (3 minutes 51 seconds ©Marsden Collection)

Engine Scrap Yard - Marsden Collection (1960s/b&w/sound) Remnants of old trains lie around an engine scrap yard. (2 minutes 39 seconds ©Marsden Collection)

Steam Engines - Marsden Collection (1960s/colour/sound) Steam engines relive the golden age of steam. (2 minutes 30 seconds ©Marsden Collection)

Scrap Yard - Marsden Collection (1960s/colour/sound) The railway engine scrap yard near Barnsley was the last resting place for a wide variety of old cut-up locos. (3 minutes 39 seconds ©Marsden Collection)

Old Locos - Marsden Collection (1960s/colour/sound) Old steam trains are scrapped and shunted around a Yorkshire rail yards. (3 minutes 13 seconds ©Marsden Collection)

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