Plymouth to Launceston
On 29th December 1962, the old Plymouth to Launceston steam train service ceased in very dramatic style during one of the worst blizzards to hit the West Country in years. Amateur cinematographer Reg Blackett was there with his 16mm camera to record the journey.
Description
PLYMOUTH TO LAUNCESTON VIA TAVISTOCK SOUTH
Colour/B&W – 57 minutes
On 29th December 1962, the old Plymouth to Launceston steam train service ceased in very dramatic style during one of the worst blizzards to hit the West Country in years. Amateur cinematographer Reg Blackett was there with his 16mm camera to record the journey.
He also filmed many of the old stations on the active line complete with their familiar engines, mainly Pannier & Prairie tanks in the 1960s. The images have a great nostalgic content and coupled with the beautiful camera work of best selling cameraman Roger Underwood, this film gives the viewer a now and then view of the old line that used to run on the fringes of the great national park of Dartmoor and through some of the most beautiful countryside in Devon.
Featured too is the Launceston Steam Railway and some unique footage of the Plym Valley Railway with their No.3 engine in full steam.
Enjoy the first 10 minutes of the documentary for free from our YouTube Channel.
Specifications
Produced and Directed by Roger Lilley
Camera and editing by Roger Underwood
Titles and Sound by Phil Lilley
Archive footage by Reginald J Blackett
With thanks to: Bryan Gibson, Bernard Mills, Colin Bastin, Paul Fox, Nigel Bowman, Tony Kingdom, Lens of Sutton, David & Charles Publishers, King Street Curios, R C Riley, Hugh Ballantyne, The Great Western Society (Didcot), Gerald Lilley and Roy Taylor
All the DVDs are produced, packed and sent directly from Aarchvie Films.
The original documentaries were made on S-VHS, in a 4:3 ratio, so on a standard TV/computer screen, will show black bars on both sides.
There is some very brief areas of ‘dropout’ when they were converted from S-VHS video to digital. We have done the best we can to reduce this, but it is still there.
All of the documentaries were produced by Roger Lilley of Aarchive Films, who passed away 20 years ago. Some of the ‘modern’ footage is from between 1995 – 2000, so some of the newer footage may look different now.
