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topic: 792Winter 1963
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posted: 18 Apr 2009 00:50

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Martin Wynne
 
West Of The Severn - United Kingdom

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This is a wonderful film, and a reminder of the hardest winter I can remember.

Click the 480p option to watch it in high quality.



Martin.

posted: 18 Apr 2009 10:06

from:

Graham Idle
 
Redhill, Surrey - United Kingdom

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Fantastic! Trains running, must have been the right kind of snow.

Regards, Graham

Martin Wynne wrote:
This is a wonderful film, and a reminder of the hardest winter I can remember.

Click the HQ button to watch it in High Quality (the button then shows red).

Martin.

posted: 18 Apr 2009 10:34

from:

Paul Boyd
 
Loughborough - United Kingdom

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Wonderful!  I missed 1963 by a few years, but what a different world.  I think there was even a glimpse of an open school - unheard of now whenever there's a snowflake in the air :D

posted: 18 Apr 2009 12:53

from:

Martin Wynne
 
West Of The Severn - United Kingdom

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More about the making of this film at:

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1234415/index.html

Martin.

posted: 18 Apr 2009 13:15

from:

its_all_downhill
 
North Yorkshire - United Kingdom

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Great... nice find Martin.

Quite a funky editing cut to it, for the 60's

Paul if you remember the 60's you weren't there so 'they' say..

:D

t.

posted: 18 Apr 2009 13:41

from:

Roger Henry
 
Brisbane - Australia

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   Thanks for that Martin. A wonderful film - on many levels - not least the sound track:-)

    A club in Sydney had a 16 mm copy, which they used to play a lot. On my various trips to the UK I endeavoured to get a copy and trudged around the usual shops. No-one even admitted knowledge of the film. Probably not children of the 60s.

      A copy -slightly inferior, perhaps - resides on You Tube and it has been flicked around some of the Yahoo groups in recent months. I downloaded a copy which satisfied my needs but it was nice to see a superior(?) copy turn up.

      We are not much bothered by snow, here in Oz, but I have spent enough time in the Northern Hemisphere to know what a challenge it is to the transport industry. Indeed, what a challenge it can sometimes be to even survive it.

Roger.

posted: 18 Apr 2009 14:30

from:

Paul Boyd
 
Loughborough - United Kingdom

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its_all_downhill wrote:
Paul if you remember the 60's you weren't there so 'they' say.
I feel I have a good excuse for not remembering much of the 1960s.   I wasn't born until Feb 1966 :D:D
Last edited on 18 Apr 2009 14:30 by Paul Boyd
posted: 18 Apr 2009 15:30

from:

Martin Lloyd
 
Middlesbrough - United Kingdom

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Paul Boyd wrote:
its_all_downhill wrote:
Paul if you remember the 60's you weren't there so 'they' say.
I feel I have a good excuse for not remembering much of the 1960s.   I wasn't born until Feb 1966 :D:D

Oh! I was there and I remember it. I struggled to work on a motorbike with a sidecar chassis for stability. The chassis had a railway sleeper on it to give it some ballast.

Unfortunately I also remember the winter of 1947, struggling to walk to school. This was the "Snowdrift at Bleath Gill" winter.

That gives me an excuse for a plug:- next weekend a few of us will be exhibiting Stainmore Summit at the Epsom and Ewell MR exhibition. The layout (in EM) depicts the sidings etc just a couple of miles from Bleath Gill.

Sorry to hijack this string but I couldn't resist.

posted: 18 Apr 2009 17:10

from:

its_all_downhill
 
North Yorkshire - United Kingdom

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Paul Boyd wrote:
I feel I have a good excuse for not remembering much of the 1960s.   I wasn't born until Feb 1966 :D:D

Yes me too, but not my much more, being Apr '65 :D

My parents said the didn't do the 60's thing but I don't believe them! as they went to Woodstock but I digress.

MartinL, might try and pop down to E&E Show if I get time off work..

t.

posted: 18 Apr 2009 19:33

from:

JFS
 
United Kingdom

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Gents,

Yes a good film, but I wonder if everyone has missed something rather interesting - between about minutes 6.10 and 6.50 there are some intermittent shots of a loco's wheels revolving.  But which loco?  Something rather unique I think!  And NOTHING to do with 1963!

Regards,

Howard

posted: 18 Apr 2009 19:34

from:

Nigel Brown
 
 

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Nice pic. Any thoughts as to the locations? Tyndrum's obviously one, and you'd expect notable snow there most winters anyway. A fair amount seems to be WR, but I can't place the locations. In that winter I'd not long started a degree course in London, and can remember the journey in the new year up to London from Stroud, with the train pursuing an almost silent course across the Cotswold plateau heading for Kemble; the snow seemed to have a deadening effect on the sound. Think the real problems set in after then.

cheers
Nigel

posted: 18 Apr 2009 19:41

from:

Paul Boyd
 
Loughborough - United Kingdom

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JFS wrote:
Yes a good film, but I wonder if everyone has missed something rather interesting - between about minutes 6.10 and 6.50 there are some intermittent shots of a loco's wheels revolving. But which loco? Something rather unique I think! And NOTHING to do with 1963!
Turbomotive, isn't it?  Which wasn't around in that form in 1963...

Edit - it wasn't around in any form in 1963!!
Last edited on 18 Apr 2009 19:44 by Paul Boyd
posted: 18 Apr 2009 20:18

from:

Glen Suckling
 
Oswego - New York USA

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Martin Lloyd wrote:
Unfortunately I also remember the winter of 1947, struggling to walk to school. This was the "Snowdrift at Bleath Gill" winter.

I too remember 1947 - I built an igloo in our garden in Gravesend in that year.

I had left the UK by 1963. That was the year that I arrived in the USA for the first time (via India and Australia). Snow must appeal to me because, many years later, I finally retired to the snow belt along the southern shore of lake Ontario. Interestingly enough there are no snow ploughs in my heterogeneous collection of UK and US rolling stock; an omission that I must correct some time.

Glen

posted: 18 Apr 2009 21:07

from:

John Lewis
 
Croydon - United Kingdom

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Martin Wynne wrote:
This is a wonderful film, and a reminder of the hardest winter I can remember.

You don't remember 1947, then? :)
 
John

posted: 18 Apr 2009 21:21

from:

Martin Wynne
 
West Of The Severn - United Kingdom

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Martin Lloyd wrote:
Unfortunately I also remember the winter of 1947, struggling to walk to school. This was the "Snowdrift at Bleath Gill" winter.

Hi Martin,

It seems "Snowdrift at Bleath Gill" was actually 1955 -- see:

http://nicwhe8.freehostia.com/btf/productions/films/BT0213/BT213.html

As for remembering 1947 John, I claim the Boyd Amendment -- I was born in 1948. :)

Martin.

posted: 18 Apr 2009 22:09

from:

JFS
 
United Kingdom

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Paul Boyd wrote:
JFS wrote:
Yes a good film, but I wonder if everyone has missed something rather interesting - between about minutes 6.10 and 6.50 there are some intermittent shots of a loco's wheels revolving. But which loco? Something rather unique I think! And NOTHING to do with 1963!
Turbomotive, isn't it?  Which wasn't around in that form in 1963...

Edit - it wasn't around in any form in 1963!!

Spot on Paul!:thumb:

I was actually stood on the Platform at Harrow and Wealdstone 30 years to the minute after it (or at least its re-build) met its Waterloo.

I don't think I have seen the original film from which these shots are cut though....

Regards,

Howard


posted: 18 Apr 2009 22:31

from:

Jim Guthrie
 
United Kingdom

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JFS wrote:

Paul Boyd wrote:
JFS wrote:
Yes a good film, but I wonder if everyone has missed something rather interesting - between about minutes 6.10 and 6.50 there are some intermittent shots of a loco's wheels revolving. But which loco? Something rather unique I think! And NOTHING to do with 1963!
Turbomotive, isn't it?  Which wasn't around in that form in 1963...

Edit - it wasn't around in any form in 1963!!

Spot on Paul!:thumb:

I was actually stood on the Platform at Harrow and Wealdstone 30 years to the minute after it (or at least its re-build) met its Waterloo.

I don't think I have seen the original film from which these shots are cut though....
Someone earlier referred to the funky style of editing.  I wouldn't have called it a style of editing - more like padding the film out to a longer length than the footage merited and they obviously chucked in a lot of material which wasn't filmed at the time - cut it quick to music and they won't notice :)

Funky editing usually covers up a problem,  whether it's poor camera work,  poor material,  not enough material,  bad direction, etc .   It would be an interesting exercise to go through this film and work out exactly what material was used. :)

Jim.

posted: 18 Apr 2009 22:56

from:

Martin Lloyd
 
Middlesbrough - United Kingdom

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Martin Wynne wrote:
Martin Lloyd wrote:
Unfortunately I also remember the winter of 1947, struggling to walk to school. This was the "Snowdrift at Bleath Gill" winter.
Hi Martin,

It seems "Snowdrift at Bleath Gill" was actually 1955 -- see:

http://nicwhe8.freehostia.com/btf/productions/films/BT0213/BT213.html

As for remembering 1947 John, I claim the Boyd Amendment -- I was born in 1948. :)

Martin.

Of course!

The standards weren't invented in 1947. (Senior moment). If I'd given the subject more thought, I'd have realised.

A friend of mine is the leading light behind the very slow, painstaking restoration of 78018, at Darlington, the loco that got stuck. (We have a model of it running on Stainmore Summit).

To get back to the first film and as for funky editing, the first impression might be of Barbados being fired. The footplate shot is of a wide firebox loco with a flap firebox door - probably an A4. The fireman is firing from the driver's side, probably to accommodate the cameraman.

Martin L

posted: 19 Apr 2009 03:11

from:

Martin Wynne
 
West Of The Severn - United Kingdom

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Jim Guthrie wrote:
Someone earlier referred to the funky style of editing. I wouldn't have called it a style of editing - more like padding the film out to a longer length than the footage merited and they obviously chucked in a lot of material which wasn't filmed at the time - cut it quick to music and they won't notice :)

Funky editing usually covers up a problem, whether it's poor camera work, poor material, not enough material, bad direction, etc. It would be an interesting exercise to go through this film and work out exactly what material was used. :)
Hi Jim,

One man's meat, etc..., but I think that's being a little unfair. :( It wasn't shot as a documentary about railways, for enthusiasts. Railways don't even get a mention in the title. It was cut to the music because fitting pictures to the music was the whole point of making it, as the BFI bumf below explains.

I think it's a great film. :) I hadn't seen it for years and I was delighted to find a high-quality version on YouTube, put there by the BFI. I'm not the only one. I posted it on another model forum and one response was "Fantastic Martin - good filming, excellent editing and wow, that sound-track!! I really enjoyed it."

Here are the BFI notes from the YouTube page:

Comprising train and track footage quickly shot just before a heavy winter's snowfall was melting, the award-winning classic that emerged from the cutting-room compresses British Rail's dedication to blizzard-battling into a thrilling eight-minute montage cut to music. Tough-as-boots workers struggling to keep the line clear are counterpointed with passengers' buffet-car comforts.

In a mere half-dozen films released between 1959 and 1975, director Geoffrey Jones revealed himself as an outstanding talent, embracing industrial filmmaking as consistent with a personal style, blending movement and sound into a joyous, rhythmic whole. Brilliantly aided by Wolfgang Suschitzky's shimmering camerawork, the Oscar-nominated 'Snow' is Jones' masterpiece. It's crisply invigorating enough to induce brief amnesia about our trains' notorious inability to cope with the white stuff - then and now. (Patrick Russell)

For more information about 'Snow' see Screenonline .

'Snow' is available to buy as part of the BFI DVD: 'Geoffrey Jones: The Rhythm of Film' .

regards,

Martin.

posted: 8 Jan 2010 12:55

from:

Martin Wynne
 
West Of The Severn - United Kingdom

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I wrote:
This is a wonderful film, and a reminder of the hardest winter I can remember.

Click the HQ button to watch it in High Quality (the button then shows red).



Cold enough to bump this topic? Great to watch it again. :)

Martin.

posted: 8 Jan 2010 17:48

from:

Graham Idle
 
Redhill, Surrey - United Kingdom

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Hi, nice movie. Do you think someone could spare a 57 for the Brighton line so my wife could get to work?

Regards, Graham
Martin Wynne wrote:
I wrote:
This is a wonderful film, and a reminder of the hardest winter I can remember.

Click the HQ button to watch it in High Quality (the button then shows red).





Cold enough to bump this topic? Great to watch it again. :)

Martin.




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