Britain's Railway Heritage - Driving And Firing In The North West - Vol. 1 DVD

Advantages: Educational, entertaining, charming
Disadvantages: With Fred? Don't be so soft! (IE None)

...Railway Museum, York and various locations all over the country. And tells us things we might not have known (it was Trevithick, not Stephenson who built the first railway locomotives!) Fred also shows the pre-steam railways. We see a working recreation of Trevithick's locomotive, and Stephenson's Rocket and more modern steam locomotives, and Fred, the lucky chap!) gets to drive them! He also has a look at how some preservation groups have started to build new locomotives to original plans, building steam locomotives that did not survive the cutting torches of the scrapmen. He also visits preserved railway lines and centres of rail engineering excellence like the Birmingham Railway Centre, and saw the great work they are undertaking there. The last programme on the DVD is Ships and Ship Building. Fred retells the story of how the crafts... Read review

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Advantages: Wonderful
Disadvantages: None

...worked with them previously There are six programmes on this excellent DVD: Programme 1: The Early Pioneers Programme 2: The Transport Revolution Programme 3: Driving the Wheels of Industry Programme 4: Steaming Down the Road Programme 5: Steam on the Water Programme 6: Steam in the Modern Age The superbly executed draughtsman's drawings that illustrate the programmes throughout were all drawn by Fred Dibnah himself. If you like Fred Dibnah, you will want to buy this DVD. If you have an interest in engineering (historical or modern) industrial history or industrial archaeology, or in social history, or transport, then you will also want to buy this DVD. It is produced by The View From the North and is released by the Contender Entertainment Group and was originally broadcast by the BBC. It is certificate E and should be available at any... Read review

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Advantages: Another great steam train video
Disadvantages: None

...The Story of steam produced by Tele Rail (another great Green Umbrella release) is expertly narrated by Nigel Harris the general manager of EMAP Active Railway Titles (not the same person who does the slightly warmer narration on the other Green Umbrella programmes) and also features a fine introduction by the famed wildlife and steam train artist David Shepherd. Nigel spoke of the fact that the last British Rail scheduled steam powered service ran in August of 1968. But, as he pointed out, the railway steam locomotive refused to die. "It ha character," he points out. "It is the nearest thing to a living machine that was ever invented. He gave praise to the drivers and firemen, making the following point: "drivers and firemen used brains as well as brawn to generate power from fire and water. It's still a machine that excites... Read review

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