B&R .60 Dvd: Engine on Shed, Part 1

Description

A programme about engines on sheds, one of two films portraying the work of the Motive Power Depots in the days of steam on BR.

Film from when an engine comes on shed through disposal to when it returns to the main line.

The atmosphere of smoky and ill lit depots, where there was a kind of romance of light and steam not always accessible to the public.

Fire cleaning and dropping, the dirty job of smokebox cleaning and tube sweeping.

Replenishing the coal from tubs, mechanical plants and by hand.

Taking water from various types of columns and tanks and sometimes its attendant difficulties.

Water softening, shed work and oiling up and engine on sheds as diverse as Ferryhill, Newton Heath, Dundee, Crewe, Willesden, Bournemouth and Warrington, just a few.

From pacifics to tank engines and above all, to the men who did the work under poor conditions of a Victorian railway with only little modernisation.

This is not a story about trains on the main lines, but something entirely different, what really went on behind the scenes.

Filmed by enthusiast cameramen and some from actual railway workers, all complete archive, not a preserved loco in sight.

A full explanatory commentary accompanies the sound track of engines at rest and at work, on the shed.

Watch out for Volume 61 (B&R No.61) for the completeness of the story.

With the demise of steam on Britain’s railways the work of the engine sheds also disappeared. To keep a steam locomotive in traffic entailed much manual labour.

Throughout our long association with enthusiast railway films we have amassed enough material to cover the subject in detail, albeit using some film already seen in some of our programmes.

By collating this film with new material obtained, we have put together the most comprehensive documentary on this subject ever.

This programme contains pure archive film on locomotive depots.

There are no scenes of the shed’s locomotives out on the main line.

This is how it really was for the many thousands of men involved in the maintenance and repair of the steam locomotive.

Part 1 shows at the atmosphere of an engine shed from roundhouse to straight sheds.

Smoke and steam abound on all five regions.

On arrival on shed, the fires were cleaned or dropped providing many volcanic scenes.

Then to the ash pits to be cleaned.

Smokebox emptying and tube cleaning were the dirtiest jobs on the railway.

Replenishing the engines with coal and water took many forms and with sometimes hilarious results.

Speed of turnaround was sometimes important with some breaking of the rules.

Approx. 60 minutes.

This dvd is being sold on behalf of and with full permission of the copyright owner – B&R Video Productions.