Steam Days
Thursday 16 October
7:30pm - 8:00pm
BBC4
Going Great Western
Miles Kington presents a series on history of steam trains in Britain. He takes a GWR steam hauled double header from Bristol to the West Country, as well as the work of Brunel and old fashioned British holidays.
Absolutely Chuffed: The Men Who Built a Steam Engine
Thursday 16 October
8:00pm - 8:30pm
BBC4
We Brits have found it hard to give up our love affair with steam trains. But why? Two films tonight explore this passion: one follows some chaps who built their own engine from scratch; while The Last Days of Steam at 9pm finds out why we didn't switch to diesel trains when everyone else did.
Railway Walks
Thursday 16 October
8:30pm - 9:00pm
BBC4
The Birth of Steam
Julia Bradbury takes a series of walks following the old tracks, overgrown cuttings and ancient viaducts of Britain's lost rail empire. Tin and copper once made the area around Redruth the richest patch of land in the country. They inspired great engineering feats and pioneering tramways, the forebears of the rail empire. Julia has her work cut out as she crosses an entire country, winding past Cornwall's crumbling engine houses and following a railway that hasn't operated for 140 years.
The Last Days of Steam: Time Shift
Thursday 16 October
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC4
Documentary which tells the surprising story of how Britain entered a new age of steam railways after World War II and why it quickly came to an end. After the war, the largely destroyed railways of Europe were rebuilt to carry more modern diesel and electric trains. Britain, however, chose to build thousands of brand new steam locomotives. When Dr Richard Beeching took over British Railways in the 1960s the writing was on the wall, and in 1968 the last steam passenger train blew its whistle.
Oh, Mr Porter!
Thursday 16 October
10:00pm - 11:20pm
BBC4
With a plot pilfered from The Ghost Train, this is easily the funniest film Will Hay made with his willing stooges Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt. As the incompetent master of a tumbledown Irish railway station, Hay is at his blustering best, whether trying to bring the facilities into the 20th century or curtailing the scrounging schemes of his staff. In addition to the endlessly inventive comic quips, there is also plenty of action, as the trio takes on a gang of gunrunners, with the confrontation in the windmill and the final chase (starring Gladstone the steam engine) particularly entertaining.
Railway Walks
Thursday 23 October
8:30pm - 9:00pm
BBC4
The Whisky Train
Julia Bradbury takes a series of walks following the old tracks, overgrown cuttings and ancient viaducts of Britain's lost rail empire. Her first walking foray into Scotland has a very distinct flavour to it: whisky! The Speyside Way is one of Scotland's great walking routes, and between the villages of Craigellachie and Ballindaloch it follows the route of the railway that once served a remote area and a world famous drinks industry.
The British Transport Films: A Nation on Film Special
Thursday 23 October
9:00pm - 9:40pm
BBC4
A look at the work of the British Transport Film unit, a group of film-makers paid by the government to persuade people to use public transport after World War II. Some of their critics called their work expensive propaganda, but the unit produced some of our finest post-war documentaries and captured a golden era on the railways, before the Beeching cuts.
Elizabethan Express
Thursday 23 October
9:40pm - 10:00pm
BBC4
A classic from the British Transport Films collection. Made in 1954, this documentary follows the summertime express from Kings Cross, London to Waverley Station, Edinburgh. The steam train covered 393 miles in six and a half hours. The film celebrates the glamour of steam.
Great Railway Journeys
Thursday 23 October
10:00pm - 11:00pm
BBC4
Confessions of a Train Spotter
Former Monty Python star and self-confessed railway enthusiast Michael Palin travels from Euston in London to the Kyle of Lochalsh, along routes steeped in history.
Metroland
Thursday 23 October
11:00pm - 11:50pm
BBC4
In this classic 1973 documentary, sometimes in verse, Poet Laureate John Betjeman takes a nostalgic view of the suburban lands that branched off the Metropolitan Line through North West London, Middlesex ('Gaily into Rusilip Gardens/Runs the red electric train'), Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
Thursday 16 October
7:30pm - 8:00pm
BBC4
Going Great Western
Miles Kington presents a series on history of steam trains in Britain. He takes a GWR steam hauled double header from Bristol to the West Country, as well as the work of Brunel and old fashioned British holidays.
Absolutely Chuffed: The Men Who Built a Steam Engine
Thursday 16 October
8:00pm - 8:30pm
BBC4
We Brits have found it hard to give up our love affair with steam trains. But why? Two films tonight explore this passion: one follows some chaps who built their own engine from scratch; while The Last Days of Steam at 9pm finds out why we didn't switch to diesel trains when everyone else did.
Railway Walks
Thursday 16 October
8:30pm - 9:00pm
BBC4
The Birth of Steam
Julia Bradbury takes a series of walks following the old tracks, overgrown cuttings and ancient viaducts of Britain's lost rail empire. Tin and copper once made the area around Redruth the richest patch of land in the country. They inspired great engineering feats and pioneering tramways, the forebears of the rail empire. Julia has her work cut out as she crosses an entire country, winding past Cornwall's crumbling engine houses and following a railway that hasn't operated for 140 years.
The Last Days of Steam: Time Shift
Thursday 16 October
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC4
Documentary which tells the surprising story of how Britain entered a new age of steam railways after World War II and why it quickly came to an end. After the war, the largely destroyed railways of Europe were rebuilt to carry more modern diesel and electric trains. Britain, however, chose to build thousands of brand new steam locomotives. When Dr Richard Beeching took over British Railways in the 1960s the writing was on the wall, and in 1968 the last steam passenger train blew its whistle.
Oh, Mr Porter!
Thursday 16 October
10:00pm - 11:20pm
BBC4
With a plot pilfered from The Ghost Train, this is easily the funniest film Will Hay made with his willing stooges Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt. As the incompetent master of a tumbledown Irish railway station, Hay is at his blustering best, whether trying to bring the facilities into the 20th century or curtailing the scrounging schemes of his staff. In addition to the endlessly inventive comic quips, there is also plenty of action, as the trio takes on a gang of gunrunners, with the confrontation in the windmill and the final chase (starring Gladstone the steam engine) particularly entertaining.
Railway Walks
Thursday 23 October
8:30pm - 9:00pm
BBC4
The Whisky Train
Julia Bradbury takes a series of walks following the old tracks, overgrown cuttings and ancient viaducts of Britain's lost rail empire. Her first walking foray into Scotland has a very distinct flavour to it: whisky! The Speyside Way is one of Scotland's great walking routes, and between the villages of Craigellachie and Ballindaloch it follows the route of the railway that once served a remote area and a world famous drinks industry.
The British Transport Films: A Nation on Film Special
Thursday 23 October
9:00pm - 9:40pm
BBC4
A look at the work of the British Transport Film unit, a group of film-makers paid by the government to persuade people to use public transport after World War II. Some of their critics called their work expensive propaganda, but the unit produced some of our finest post-war documentaries and captured a golden era on the railways, before the Beeching cuts.
Elizabethan Express
Thursday 23 October
9:40pm - 10:00pm
BBC4
A classic from the British Transport Films collection. Made in 1954, this documentary follows the summertime express from Kings Cross, London to Waverley Station, Edinburgh. The steam train covered 393 miles in six and a half hours. The film celebrates the glamour of steam.
Great Railway Journeys
Thursday 23 October
10:00pm - 11:00pm
BBC4
Confessions of a Train Spotter
Former Monty Python star and self-confessed railway enthusiast Michael Palin travels from Euston in London to the Kyle of Lochalsh, along routes steeped in history.
Metroland
Thursday 23 October
11:00pm - 11:50pm
BBC4
In this classic 1973 documentary, sometimes in verse, Poet Laureate John Betjeman takes a nostalgic view of the suburban lands that branched off the Metropolitan Line through North West London, Middlesex ('Gaily into Rusilip Gardens/Runs the red electric train'), Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
