Round Britain film night
Wednesday 8th Feb 2023
As our original speaker was unable to travel due to the rail strike our own member Will Gibson offered us a different approach, a series of his own produced videos from a wide area of UK.
A small but select audience enjoyed our journey commencing at Rudyard Lake near Leek, which has been beset with problems in the recent past. Our next video was at Swanwick on the Midland railway near Butterley. Then on to Ecclesbourne near Matlock where we saw the local Henry Ellison hauling coach stock, but bellowing thick black smoke.
We then went on to near Eggborough Power Station with adjacent East Coast mainline junction, showing a wide array of electric and diesel power and freight going into Drax.
Moving north visiting the Threlkeld mine railway near Keswick, on a beautiful sunny day clearly showed the dedication of the volunteers at this former mine railway.
Travelling into Scotland gave us the highest adhesion minor gauge railway in the UK, the Leadhills and Wanlockhead, a 2 feet gauge running over 0.6 miles.
Again in Scotland Will spent some time illustrating the 15 inner and outer circle stops of the Glasgow Subway, where they have island stations serving both directions.
Finally for the 1st session we had a on train sequence from the Forth railway bridge and some from the bridge top itself, to give us a taste of how the new visitor attraction will operate.
Our audience were so delighted with the 1st session that we dispensed with our normal interval to carry straight through.
Will’s next set of videos was entitled “Drop the Window” which was as it sounds, moving pictures from the train window in the days when windows opened!!
It was broken into 5 sections, Chester to Bangor, Bangor to Holyhead, Carlisle to Whitehaven and return finishing with a run over the Tay Bridge and night shots of the Forth Bridge. Of pleasure was the sound of the Growler class 37 on the picturesque Cumbria coast.
Consequently, we had a high-quality film night showing many excellent railways of the UK.
Alan Sattenstall
9th Feb 2023