 Return to East Grinstead
The UK’s first preserved standard gauge railway celebrates 50 years in 2010 and is about to realise a dream first thought of all those years ago in 1960. The return of the branch line into East Grinstead is now a definite proposition - this programme looks at the way in which the Bluebell is approaching this extension, given the fact that nearly 400 meters of the old track bed close to East Grinstead was in-filled by the local authority who used it as a waste tip in the 1960s and 70s.
We take an in-depth look at the methods the Bluebell Railway are using to remove the waste which has begun by loads going out by lorry and rail from the southern end of Imberhorne, site of the in-filled area. We were present at the inauguration of this process in November 2008 in the company of Bluebell Railway officials, the local mayor and other personalities. In October 2009, the railway held an open day to show the public and members the great progress being made on the viaduct and track bed clearance at East Grinstead and the new station being constructed. We interview Chris White director responsible for the extension and Bluebell Railway Preservation Society chairman, Roy Watts.
Many sequences show how the use of Electro-diesel No. 73136 which was brought in for a term of four months to help speed up the waste removal to Horstead Keynes.
Finally, a cab ride along the whole railway from Sheffield Park to Kingscote. This forms a unique view of the line from the very front of a locomotive.
Includes archive film of last train in 1958. |
| DVD Approximately 52 minutes duration £12.95 |
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 'Railway Round-up' The new DVD covering the whole steam and heritage diesel world in the UK. Number one is 2-hours long and full of action, all for just £9.95!
Contents
* Llangollen Railway Gala
* Tornado in the South West
* Royal Scot’s first trains
* Tangmere to Swanage
* Swanage Galas - S&D 7F and a Deltic and launch of Manston
* Lord Nelson at Folkestone
* Scots Guardsman’s test run and Carnforth open days
* 70013 on 15 guinea special and Sir Lamiel out and about
* Eastleigh Works open days
* 92203 and USA No. 5197 at Cranmore Quarry
* Gloucester Warwickshire Railway
* West Somerset Railway
* Bluebell Railway - Brighton Atlantic progress
* T9 No. 120 under overhaul
* 6880 Betton Grange and GWR Steam railmotor progress
* Bodmin & Wenford Railway
* Class 37s in the Highlands and in Devon
* Narrow gauge on the Exe Valley Railway
* North Norfolk Railway
* Blackmoor Vale in Dorset! |
| 2-hours long and full of action, all for just £9.95! |
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 ‘Eastleigh 100’
A special programme celebrating 100 years of Eastleigh Works. Rare archive film from 1963 presented by John Arlott
and other TV films about Eastleigh in the 1980s. Footage of Open Days in the 1980s and 90s and an appraisal of the
new lease of life at the works today with Knights Rail Services. A full review, with stunning footage, of the May
2009 Open Days. |
| 75 minutes duration £12.95 |
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 ‘Main line return to Swanage’
The full story behind the return of passenger trains to the Swanage branch in April and May. Includes
aerial footage of Tangmere as it arrives and departs from the branch. Many lineside locations and interviews with the
key people on the day and footage of the trains as they departed from London and on the journey to Dorset.
Altogether, a fitting tribute to the final connection with the main line at Wareham. |
| 2 hours in duration £16.95 |
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 850 Lord Nelson
The launch of Lord Nelson at Eastleigh in May 2006 was the culmination of ten years overhaul by the members of the Eastleigh Railway Preservation Society. It was one of the most extensive overhauls ever taken on in railway preservation which tested the engineers to the limit. What was thought to be a usual overhaul, turned out to be far bigger due to the condition of the boiler on No. 850.
This programme tells the story of Lord Nelson from its design and construction in 1926 through to its operational years in BR service and eventual withdrawal in 1962.
Footage of its first preservation period in service in the 1980s is accompanied by recollections of firing a Nelson by Eastleigh fireman and driver Rodney Tizzard. We hear from the team overhauling No. 850 at Eastleigh in the more recent overhaul and see how the problems with the firebox and boiler were tackled at Roger Pridham’s engineering in Devon. Unique footage of the boiler and chassis overhaul is included which lead up to the final assembly inside Eastleigh Works in 2006. The re-dedication of Lord Nelson by HRH The Princess Royal on 6th May 2006 is fully covered when the locomotive emerged from the Works into the yard in steam.
The remaining section of the programme is devoted to the main line tours it undertook in 2007 and its brief spells at the Gloucester Warwickshire Railway and Great Central Railway before departing for the Mid-Hants line. Altogether a complete story of this ‘pride of the Southern Railway’ |
| DVD - Approximately 75 minutes duration £12.95 |
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 'The Summer of 2007 - Swanage Railway Galas'
An indepth look at the
two main galas held on the Swanage Railway during 2007. In May the
Railway was host to the biggest diesel gala yet which witnessed the
inclusion of four main line diesels and electro-diesels and a VEP set
coming in off the main network - D1015, 73 136, 73 208 and 47 635.
This first movement over the whole branch since the 1960s from Worgret
Junction to Swanage was a spectacle itself and is fully covered in this
programme. As well as the guest locomotives, the Railway’s Class 33,
No. 6515 Stan Symes and Class 20 D8188 entered the event which was
hailed as a great success. We have footage of the arrival and departure
of the main line ensemble and action of the locomotives over the May
weekend. Some fascinating sequences from the cab as we ride the cab of
Class 52 diesel Western Champion! |
90 minutes duration £12.95 |
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 'The Story of the Swanage Railway'
The full story of one of the UK’s
premier steam branch lines. From the first attempts to purchase the
line after closure by British Railways in 1973 to the successful
purchase of the track bed and initial services out of Swanage, we look
at the growth of the line through the highly motivated preservation
society, The Southern Steam Trust, who has led the rebuilding of the
branch line back to Corfe and Norden with a final link back to the
national network again through to Furzebrook and Wareham.
Through archive films, stills, and interviews, we look at the
Purbeck line from its British Rail days through to the eventual closure
period of the early 1970s. Happily today we still have a Swanage
branch. Our programme follows the great milestones in the preservation
project right up to date with the relaying of track through to Motala,
the reconstruction works at Harmans Cross and Corfe and the many
locomotives and operational high points since the start of steam
operations in the early 1980s. |
100 minutes duration £16.95
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 'The Summer of '67' Commemorating the 40th anniversary of the end of Southern Steam By
Jeffery Grayer
Full colour book tracing the last locomotives to work on the Southern
Region during 1966 and 1967. Includes free DVD with archive films of
the last weeks and months and interviews with the last enginemen to
operate the Bulleids in those last final months of steam on the
southern. The DVD includes footage of steam specials in early July
2007, giving the full story of the commemorations 40 years on. Colour
photographs of the last trains and all classes covered in locations
from London to Weymouth. |
Paperback and
DVD for just £14.95 |
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 'The
Moretonhampstead Branch - A Railway From Shore To
Moor' By John Owen.
A detailed history of the 12-mile branch from Newton
Abbot in Devon across the Teign estuary and up the
steeply graded section of 1 in 49 to the terminus
at Moretonhampstead. The first section of the line
was on relatively level track, but the last six
miles had to climb some 450 feet in just six miles.
Very much a branch line from 'shore to moor'. This
extensive history from John Owen, follows other
well researched and detailed accounts of branch
lines in the West Country.
His 'Exe Valley Railway' has been a classic in railway
publishing. The line sadly closed on 28th February
1959, an early loss in the general decline of lines
in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This book has
nearly 200 photographs within its 17 chapters and
has several colour photographs from the unique Peter
Gray collection. Plans of the line and of its stations
are incorporated into this fascinating history. |
Hardback
176 pages, 275mm x 215mm £18.95 |
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 'The
Exe Valley Railway The Anatomy of a West Country
Branch Line' by John
Owen.
Reprinted due to demand, this excellent fully
illustrated history details the Exe Valley line
from Dulverton to Exeter and the Tiverton Branch
to Tiverton Junction. This edition has a 16-page
colour section with 12 full colour photographs of
the branches from the Peter Gray collection. Over
200 photographs and detailed timetables, plans and
diagrams bring together this 'anatomy of a West
Country branch line'. |
Hardback
208 pages 275mm x 215mm £25.00 |
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