Marsden Rail 24 Dvd: Over Somerset & Dorset

Description

Beginning at Bristol, with steam traction still in charge of most workings in and around the city, the programme then heads southeast to Bath, the northern terminus of  the seventy-two mile long former Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway.

The City of Bath boasted two stations, the former GWR Spa Station and the S&D’s Green Park Station, from where the S&D’s tortuous route southwards through the Mendip Hills to Bournemouth is traced.

After views of Bath’s S&D loco depot, the city is left behind and the first major station is reached at Evercreech, where the main line is left behind as the route to Glastonbury and Highbridge is followed, together with views at Wells and Witham.

Re-joining the main line, Templecombe Junction follows, where the S&D passed under the former LSWR London to Exeter route.

Complex shunting movements between Upper and Lower stations were a feature of the junction, with high speed action of the London main line contrasting starkly with the more sedate S&D operations through the  single-line Lower Station.

Scenes at Poole, Parkstone and Branksome precede arrival at the southern terminus of the route, Bournemouth.

Film of the towns’ West and Central Stations, together with the former L & SWR locomotive depot, is complimented by street views of the resort featuring its once-extensive trolleybus system.

Closed in 1966, the Somerset and Dorset Railway retained the unique legacy of its Midland Railway and London & South Western Railway parentage throughout its 104 year existence, an appeal reflected in this fascinating programme.

Between 1959 and 1968, railway enthusiast and cine-cameraman, Michael Marsden, recorded views and sounds of the rapidly changing face of Britain’s rail network.

For over twenty-five years after steam ended, he captivated audiences throughout the country with his unique film collection that captured steams’ last decade and the full emergence of the diesel locomotive.

The blending of this film and that of other cameramen with true sounds of the era, plus an informative narrative, has resulted in the creation of a superb range of railway programmes detailing the last decade of British mainline steam operations.

Approx. 60 mins.

Region 0/Region free. NTSC versions are available on request.

This dvd is being sold on behalf and with full permission of the copyright holder – Marsden Rail 2004.