The Train Now Departing - Part One (1988) UK - 3 episodes

Railway Archives have enhanced the original quality of this video to improve both picture and sound.

The Train Now Departing (Twenty Years After The End of Steam) - Part One

When the steam locomotive was abandoned in the 1960s an era of history was shut down, but nothing could dampen the fire of the steam enthusiast. By 1988 around a thousand steam locomotives in the UK survived being scrapped forever; some are now in museums, many others have been back on the lines restored to pristine condition. The steam age lives on.

This video contains THREE separate episodes:

00:00 - THE LONG DRAG - The most dramatic steam route is over the Pennines on the Settle-Carlisle railway. Complete with magnificent viaducts and awesome tunnels hacked through solid rock, it was the last railway to be built by pick and shovel. But in 1988 the historic line faced an uncertain future...
(First shown on BBC TV on Tuesday, November 15, 1988)

29:47 - THE WEST HIGHLANDER - Driver Callum MacRaild is back on the locomotive he loves, on Scotland's West Highland railway, steam-hauling a crowded holiday train thorough breath-taking scenery.
(First shown on BBC TV on Tuesday, November 22, 1988)

58:47 - THE HOLIDAY LINE - Steam enthusiast Barry Smith delights in his childhood memories of the 'Atlantic Coast Express'. But retracing the route from Waterloo to Exmouth leaves him in no doubt that the journey is no longer the best of the Summer holidays.
(First shown on BBC TV on Tuesday, November 29, 1988)


Running time: Approx. 88 minutes
Written and Narrated by Anthony Smith
Additional photography by Nick Lera and archive film by Ivo Peters
Produced by Andrew Johnston and Brian Hawkins
Original video release by BBC Enterprises Ltd in 1989