The LNER Encyclopedia

Last week BBC4 started a season of railway programmes on a Thursday evening.

One of the items last night was relating to railways in literature & on the big screen. I thought that it was quite good. There were some tantalisingly short archive clips, mostly without a reference, some of which were repeated. Several of pre-war A1/A3's and a nice one of a condensing N2.

The programme was presented by Andrew Martin. He is an author featuring a railway detective based in York in Edwardian days. I recently read one of his books & he is remarkably well informed. I quite enjoyed the book.

Just thought I would draw attention to the series.

I found it quite interesting last night, but over on ITV yorkshire was Grersley on the mainline, a 2 parter, with it ending as Gresley gets mainline certification!

Some good stuff, right enough - really enjoyed the prog on the W Highland extension last night with the Ft William drive saying that the K2s were the boys for working to Mallaig!

Here's what's coming to a t.v. screen near you soon:

Thursday 16 October 2008

19:30 -20:00

Steam Days
Going Great Western

Miles Kington takes a GWR steam hauled double header from Bristol to the West Country.

20:00 -20:30

Absolutely Chuffed: The Men Who Built a Steam Engine

How a group of enthusiasts tried to build a brand new mainline steam engine from scratch. [this is about the construction of the A1 Pacific, I believe]

20:30 -21:00

Railway Walks
The Birth of Steam

Julia Bradbury crosses Cornwall, following a railway that hasn't operated for 140 years.

21:00 -22:00

Time Shift
Series 8, The Last Days of Steam

How Britain entered a new age of steam railways after World War II and why it soon ended.

22:00 -23:20

Oh, Mr Porter!

Comedy. A bungling worker is put in charge of a rundown station in rural Ireland.

silver fox wrote:I found it quite interesting last night, but over on ITV yorkshire was Grersley on the mainline, a 2 parter, with it ending as Gresley gets mainline certification!

The programmes about gresley (and the ones on yorkshire steam) Are only avalible on ITV Yorkshire but you can get them on this link http://www.itvlocal.com/yorkshire/progr ... void=89748

The Gresley on the Mainline isn't on yet though

I know at lest we can see some of it

No, but you will find 2509 Silver Link in all her glory, complete with a train of teak stock, at a 'naming ceremony' in the opening scenes of Oh Mr Porter, filmed at Hertford North.

For those of us in the Yorkshire reigion looking forward to the Second part of Gresley on the mainline tonight, and blind panic when it can't be found on any tv that it was on last week, it is on on Monday at 11:10 instead!

I was out tonight, but I videoed my AV cannel so I could watch the building of Tornado, and what ever it was tha t followed it.
So getting home, I decided it had finished by 9:59, and switched the tv on to find, that instead of BBC4, I had videoed the BBC1 I had left it on!
Thank god the BBCs week of catch up is far superior than ITV and Channel 4's months that I am still waiting programs from last week to get on, when I watched tornado on the BBc 2 hours after it started on the TV!|

Next Thursday's (23rd) offerings:


20:30 -21:00

Railway Walks
The Whisky Train

In Scotland Julia walks the Speyside Way , the route that once served the whisky industry.

21:00 -21:40

Nation on Film
The British Transport Films

A look at some of the work produced by the post-war British Transport Film unit.

21:40 -22:00

Elizabethan Express

Made in 1954, this documentary follows a train from Kings Cross to Edinburgh .

22:00 -23:00

Great Railway Journeys
Series 1, Confessions of a Train Spotter

Railway enthusiast Michael Palin travels from Euston in London to the Kyle of Lochalsh.

23:00 -23:50

Metroland

1973 documentary. John Betjeman takes a nostalgic view around the Metropolitan Line. (repeat)


00:50 -01:30 (Fri)

Nation on Film
The British Transport Films

A look at some of the work produced by the post-war British Transport Film unit. (repeat)

01:30 -01:50 (Fri)

Elizabethan Express

Made in 1954, this documentary follows a train from Kings Cross to Edinburgh . (repeat)

01:50 -02:20 (Fri)

Railway Walks
The Whisky Train

In Scotland Julia walks the Speyside Way , the route that once served the whisky industry. (repeat)

02:20 -02:50 (Fri)

Absolutely Chuffed: The Men Who Built a Steam Engine

How a group of enthusiasts tried to build a brand new mainline steam engine from scratch. (repeat)

02:50 -03:30 (Fri)

Nation on Film
The British Transport Films

A look at some of the work produced by the post-war British Transport Film unit. (repeat)

03:30 -05:30 (Fri)

Elizabethan Express

Made in 1954, this documentary follows a train from Kings Cross to Edinburgh . (repeat)

I picked up on a point in Thursday's "Last Days of Steam" when someone said that diesels were "cleaner & quieter"; the clip showing at that moment was the Deltic prototype DP1. I can't dispute the "cleaner" remark but anyone who had heard DP1, even just ticking over, will take issue with the "quieter" comment. DP1 was horrendously noisy, much more so than the production locos, and they were hardly peaceful. The same goes for many other diesels, for instance, a passenger in a motor coach of a Cravens DMU, which seemed popular in the East Riding in the 60s & 70s, would suffer an awful racket and vibration.

Jon1651996 wrote:

silver fox wrote:I found it quite interesting last night, but over on ITV yorkshire was Grersley on the mainline, a 2 parter, with it ending as Gresley gets mainline certification!

The programmes about gresley (and the ones on yorkshire steam) Are only avalible on ITV Yorkshire but you can get them on this link http://www.itvlocal.com/yorkshire/progr ... void=89748

To buy the Dvd of Yorkshire Steam, and wait for Gresley on the mainline (out next month) go to http://www.qleap.co.uk/categories.asp?cID=18