Railwatch 1989

[Furryanimal]

This has popped up on you tube.
As it was broadcast in the afternoon I’m not sure I ever knew about it.
Don’t think anymore are on but if anyone knows if they are available somewhere that would be handy.

 

[driver9000]

Day 2.

Day 3.

Day 4.

Day 5.

 

[MarkWi72]

I saw this and thought about posting it up. It was quite informative of railway workings, instead of being a sledgehammer against rail.

 

[nlogax]

I remember when this originally went out, was studying for my GCSEs at the time. Recall being quite thrilled that railway-centric stuff was getting so much prime time exposure and presumably a hefty chunk of BBC OB budget. Full-sized studio cameras on the platforms at York!

It popped up on my YT feed too so I rewatched them. The past really is a foreign country isn't it?

 

[Trackman]

I spooted them too. These seem to better quality from the ones I've watched on YouTube before.

 

[Bishopstone]

I recall popping home from school during the lunch break to catch some of the programming live, with the rest watched from video as a priority following my afternoon school session.

 

[GusB]

My folks had purchased their first ever video recorder not long before Railwatch was aired and I diligently programmed the thing to record each episode.

Unfortunately, we had a fairly bad spell of weather and lost the telly signal for a while; it was rather frustrating to replay the day's recording, only to find that there was nothing to watch.

Until recently, I had wrongly assumed that it was the same week that the Ness Viaduct in Inverness collapsed; however, thanks to the wonders of the internet, I've since realised that that particular event happened the week before.

It was probably the last time that I recall having a prolonged power cut, too.

 

[yorksrob]

I remember this being broadcast during the summer holidays back in the day.

I had been looking forward to watching it, but ended up out with friends most of the days (only saw the last episode at the time).

Having watched it since, it really is an excellent piece of television. My only criticism is that they should have permanently named the loco "Railwatch" with a proper name plate. It would have been well justified.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I saw this and thought about posting it up. It was quite informative of railway workings, instead of being a sledgehammer against rail.

Which is definitely what the railways need more of.

 

[Royston Vasey]

I saw this and thought about posting it up. It was quite informative of railway workings, instead of being a sledgehammer against rail.

Without pandering and oversimplifying.

By Day 4 live from Leeds Station, Mike Smith is thoroughly fed up and freezing cold and decides to absolutely journalistically destroy the poor station manager with some not unreasonable points about reliability and dirtiness of trains on a snowy morning.

On Day 5 they roll out a Class 91 from BN with much fanfare and a futuristic electronic soundtrack declaring it the Train of the Future and lining it up alongside other sector-liveried locos, lovely stuff! Very much a positive view of BR. But then he grills a couple of rather unimpressed BR/Intercity senior managers for the entire last ten minutes of the last episode. This was before journalism died of course

The star of the whole show was Malcolm McCaig on the night shifts. Stoic and deeply witty Northern Irish journalist with a wonderful flair for wordsmithing and weaving a perfectly evocative turn of phrase. "Fill er up Roy"! I wonder what happened to him.

 

[Darandio]

Without pandering and oversimplifying.

By Day 4 live from Leeds Station, Mike Smith is thoroughly fed up and freezing cold and decides to absolutely journalistically destroy the poor station manager with some not unreasonable points about reliability and dirtiness of trains on a snowy morning.

On Day 5 they roll out a Class 91 from BN with much fanfare and a futuristic electronic soundtrack declaring it the Train of the Future and lining it up alongside other sector-liveried locos, lovely stuff! Very much a positive view of BR. But then he grills a couple of rather unimpressed for the last ten minutes of the last episode. This was before journalism died of course

The star of the whole show was Malcolm McCaig on the night shifts. Stoic and deeply witty Scottish journalist with a wonderful flair for wordsmithing and weaving a perfectly evocative turn of phrase. "Fill er up Roy"! I wonder what happened to him.

Penny Buston didn't pull her punches either at times. It certainly wasn't a week of broadcasting minus the sledgehammer.