B&R VIDEO VOL 231
GREAT WESTERN STEAM MISCELLANY NO 6

The sixth volume in our popular “Miscellany” series to cover Great Western steam compiled from mostly unseen footage from a variety of different cameramen and in the order the film runs off the original cine reels.

We begin at Shrewsbury station and visits are made to Coton Hill Yards, Shrewsbury Shed, Sutton Bridge Junction, and Hookagate. We include a weed killing train at Llangollen Junction, Ruabon and we call in at Brymbo, Wellington (Salop) and Whitchurch.

Next we take trips to Worcester, the nearby Norton Junction and the Gloucester area in addition to Ross-on¬Wye, Stroud, Bromyard, and Hereford. Then to Birmingham Snow Hill, Bordesley and Hatton followed by visits to the shed at Wolverhampton Oxley and The Lickey Incline. Plus film at Oxford, Didcot, Langley (Bucks), and Paddington.

Travelling down to the South-West, time is spent at Tiverton Junction before enjoying the rural delights of the Culm Valley branch to Hemyock and the Exe Valley branch to Exeter. In North Devon we visit the steeply graded line to Ilfracombe via Braunton along with visits to Barnstaple Junction and Dulverton on the Taunton line. We then take a trip along the Cheddar Valley line and call in at Glastonbury & Street on the S&DJR.

Both South and West Wales are covered and include Cardiff General, Cardiff Queen Street, Abercynon, Merthyr, Woodham's Scrap Yard, Letterston Junction, Tenby, Carmarthen, Duffryn Yard Shed, Newport, Pontypool Road, Aberdare High Level, Crumlin, Quakers Yard, Dowlais Cae Harris, Nelson & Llancaiach, and Hengoed High Level. We even manage to see Great Western steam at Portsmouth & Southsea!

The time period for the majority of the film is between about 1961 and 1966. Motive power includes many ex-GWR classes such as King, Castle, County, Hall, Modified Hall, Grange, Manor, 14xx, 15xx, 16xx, 2251, 28xx, 41xx, 42xx, 43xx, 45xx, 47xx, 56xx, 57xx, 64x, 72xx, 94xx plus the occasional ex-LMS engines and BR Standards.

The archive film used is mostly in colour. An authentic sound track has been added along with an informative commentary to complement this nostalgic look at the last years of Great Western steam.