What an excellent sequence. All that freight that's been lost to the roads. Also the guy on the signal gantry photographing the Deltic being piped away. Everything in this video almost without exception is now consigned to history. Good to see thar whoever was behind the camera had the foresight to record the then new diesels which are all themselves now part of railway history. A wonderful time to be a railway enthusiast with so much variety.
Just come across this wonderful film now..... absolutely superb ! Being from Aberdeen, I recognize a lot of those places and it's just magical to see this great colour film... beautifully filmed with many other fascinating historical captures too. Thanks for posting Anthony !
Really nice! Shame there's no sound but the video quality more than makes up for it. I'm so used to seeing footage from later in the 60s when they stopped upkeeping the appearance of steam engines. It's so nice to see so many clean ones here.
Thank you for posting this. For the sixties this is superb footage. The colour rendition is excellent. The upkeep of the railway at this time seems in advance of that South of the border.
Fabulous footage a real time piece esp 60502 Earl Marischal that is sublime..and the little boys by the lineside..i remember messing about waiting for the trains.. and also visiting Ferryhill to see some A4's..wonderful memories..
Excelent shot of the East Coast Postal picking mail at Stonehaven.The Royal Train on the Royal Deeside Line. l spent many a summer in the sixties at the station and recognise much of the traffic especially top link engines on the Fast Fish.
This is brilliant footage and very atmospheric, especially the winter scenes. I did not know A3s were so frequent at Aberdeen or that there was so much variety there, including old favourites like Golden Plover, I guess finishing its life working between there and Glasgow; the scene with the young lad on the platform beside 60042 before departure is excellent.
Not seen this before. Absolutely fantastic. Got to love all those small boys - you don't see them now do you? Also love the maroon colour on the coaches, now that's a proper railway colour. Why are all Scotrail trains painted like ice cream vans?!
Absolutely brilliant! I lived further south but familiar locos and places..The L N E R liveried locos4472 and 4498 were 1960s specials .60502 was about 1949 i would guess
The articulated pair behind the engine is still in LNER livery (note the "LNER" on the side) so it will be the blue and cream livery of the "Coronation" set, from which it will have come. All other coaches seen are Gresley teaks, except the Thompson behind the artics, which is nevertheless in teak livery. I have never seen one of the A2/2 rebuilds of the P2s like this. Presumably it was shot very soon after nationalisation, though bearing in mind the LNER apple green livery and tender still labelled "LNER", I would have expected the A2 to be numbered "502". Dispelling this thought, there is, however, a poorly reproduced black and white photo of this engine in the reprinted Ian Allan ABC combined volume of 1949, stated to be number 502 but annotated "new number 60502", so presumably it was filmed in 1948. Another added bonus is the rimless chimney, way before the lipped chimney was fitted in the 1950s. An amazingly rare bit of co;our film indeed perfectly capturing a clean, almost ex-works, engine in colour and in a state in which it must have existed for a very short time, perhaps only a few months.
Good film, sound or no sound. I do hope you're not going to re-release this with some horrible jangly background music. It stands well as it is. I managed to recognise a couple of bits ... 13:30 - 1335 ... setting off westwards from Cullen 13:55 - 14:13 ... reaching old Elgin station, presumably bound for Inverness? Then back to filming from Aberdeen 21:50 (Craigellachie) - 22:43 (Boat of Garten) on the Speyside Line. And back to Craigellachie (24:00)
The absolute best bit of high quality early BR film I have ever seen, and I have a huge collection. 60502 in early BR apple green - the whole departure scene - magnificent. Where did it come from? Do you have any more? Must be something to do with the gentleman in the carriage window waving goodbye. Who was he? Tony, what can you tell us about the background to this film ?
Colin James Actually, I have been proved right. Steam engines are expensive to run and very polluting. The lines closed were either duplicates from pre-grouping or very uneconomic with only a few passengers a day. Burning many tonnes of fossil fuel for a handful of passengers is polluting. Lifting the track, demolishing the buildings and cutting the locos for scrap was the way forward.
@Dominick's Trains & Movies They were not mean. It was just part of business. Have you ever run a business? Come back to me when you have. Till then, you can still donate all your pocket money to preserving the few remaining locos. Are you doing that?
That pair of B1s...I know that's not the right headcode, but isn't that part of the Royal Train formation? And if not, what was it used for? I've never seen coaches like those in the BR era except for the Royal Train Also, why was Earl Marishal painted in LNER green?
This 16mm Kodachrome footage is clearly worthy of a full (digital) restoration. Much detail may be brought out of the shadows and a bit of colour correction would enormously enhance the overall already spectacular effect. A simple period late 1940's through 1950's to early '60's lesser known, popular music of the era would contribute much without the costly sound sync of steam exhaust. Don't just sit there ---DO SOMETHING!
I'd like to ask the very same thing. Note the articulated set right behind.... Early Blue/Grey livery, so post 1964, or actually a lot earlier? Must be earlier... Was scrapped 1961!
Most pf this footage features trains originating in Aberdeen, out on the mainline south to Stonehaven, the branches to Peterhead & Fraserburgh, Deeside to Ballater. The Speyside route is a seperate adventure. I'm also curious as the footage looks post war (1960s?) but the locos in LNER livery look like they're hauling specials. I assumed they were turned out in LNER livery in readiness for possible preservation or to celebrate the last days of steam?
This must be the on the cusp of nationalization 1948/49. The Royal train double headed with locos in early BR lettering. The quality is excellent I presume from 16mm footage.
The Blue and pale blue articulated twin was from one of the Coronation Streamlined sets,which were used mainly in Scotland,mixed in with normal coaches,the date would be 1949/50.
Hi, Marvin. I really do wish there was a soundtrack to this footage also. I had a long think about posting it because of that. In the end I decided to post but yes, I fully agree with you. Tony.
I can't find any record of this but you have me interested. I will do some further research and, if there is any mention of it, I'll certainly let you know.
