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Nick Lera's World Steam Classics

Shop | Railways | Nick Lera's World Steam Classics

The Cape to Cairo Railway (Africa)

Ref: NL455D

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50 years of steam on Cecil Rhodes' historic route through Africal

"The Civilisation of Africa" (1930) B/W 20-mins:- Vintage 1930s travelogue from the days of the British Empire with period commentary and music. The Union Express from cape Town is piloted up the Hex River Pass by a Mallett. In Rhodesia a 12th.Class is on the traverser in Bulowayo Works while an 11th.Class steams over the famous Victoria Falls. Plus early Garrattts in Angola and a supershine loco parade at Atbara in the Sudan. With full supporting cast of double-deck trams, vintage road motors, rickshaws and Nile river steamers.

"Birth of a Giant" (1946) B/W 9-mins :- Construction of Class GEA Beyer-Garratt articulated locomotives for the South African Railways at Beyer-Peacock's Gorton Works in Manchester, plus an East African 2-8-2 being hauled from the North British Works to Glasgow Docks by a steam traction engine.

"African Steam in Action" (1980) Colour 27-mins:- Steam in Cape Town, Class 24 on the classic Ladysmith branch, the mighty Class 25s double heading freight across the Karoo Plains, the Garrratt's last stronghold in Rhodesia and steam on Hwange coal.

Availability: AVAILABLE

Cover photo: Ralph Montagu
Filmed by/when: Nick Lera, 1979/1980
Narrated by: Paul Vaughan
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R
Origination: 16mm Film

Running Time: 56-mins (0hr 56min) , Colour (27 mins) and B & W (29mins)
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Eastleigh and the Southern

Ref: NL450D

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A special documentary by Nick Lera to celebrate Eastleigh Works Centenary in 2009.

THE AGE OF STEAM

Just as the LSWR was handing over to the newly formed Southem Railway, we see the pride of Eastleigh Works, Robert Urie's H15 class 4-6-0 No 335 steaming out of Southampton Docks with an express freight while a Nine Elms built B4 0-4-0T shunts nearby. Greeting the post-war world in 1947, brand new Bulleid Pacifics line up at Waterloo and coal up at Nine Elms depot. While experimental double deck emu sets are tried out on London commuter services, and 'Thumper' demu sets take over the Hastings service, steam reigns supreme on the SW. Division until 1967. Includes film short: 'Twilight of Southern Steam'.

EASTLEIGH WORKS UNDER BREL 1983

In 1983 we video'd inside Eastleigh Works when the workforce was over 2000 strong. We rode with the overhead crane driver as he lifted the Sulzer 1550hp power unit out of a Class 33 diesel loco to make way for fitters overhauling the Crompton Parkinson switch gear. Serried ranks of painters applied coats of BR blue to Mk 1 stock with 4-inch brushes while the Trim Shop men were busy stuffing horsehair into the seats. A newly outshopped Class

33 diesel roars out of No 1 Shop to re-enter service, while inside a re-fitted 4TC unit is craned down the shop to be wheeled. A Class 08 shunter then hauls it out into the yard to keep company with waiting Colchester emu units and Hastings 'Thumpers'.

PRESERVED STEAM

The B.R. steam ban after 1968 confined working steam to heritage lines. Eastleigh products on view include Battle of Britain '257 Squadron' on the Swanage Railway and S15 No 847 on the Bluebell. The first easing of the ban only applied in the North of England. 'City of Wells', 'Sir Lamiel' and 'Lord Nelson' all beat a path from the Sunny South to try their hand on the Pennine gradients, with 850's steady 4-cylinder beat echoing across the fells as she

stormed over Ribblehead. After the ban was relaxed in the South rebuilt Merchant Navy 'Clan Line' became a regular on the VSOE Pull mans, and we also see 'Taw Valley' on a sunny day parading past Arundel Castle while taking the picturesque route to Salisbury.

CLAPHAM JUNCTION & THE FAMOUS 'A' BOX

A video diary of an afternoon spent at Britain's busiest railway junction in May 1990. 75% of the trains are still Mk 1s, and loco hauled trains have Class 73 on Gatwick Express and Class 50 on Salisbury/Exeters. Privileged access to the overhead 'A' signalbox shows us the 55 yr old Westinghouse 93 miniature lever frame in use just days before its decommissioning.

EASTLEIGH WORKS REVIVAL

After the works closed in 2006 its scheduled demolition for redevelopment was cancelled and Knights Rail leased the access tracks for rolling stock storage. When some of the buildings became available Knights sublet them to various operators for repair work. M.D. Bruce Knights tells us the story and takes us on a personal tour of the works where we see repairs to a Swanage Rly Class 33, some 4-wheel railcars, and an MPV clean-up train, ending in the roll-out of a newly outshopped 1000hp US-built Harsco DR792 rail-grinding train.

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Cover photo: Front: Colin Boocock Rear: Ralph Montagu
Filmed by/when: Nick Lera & others
First published on DVD: 2009
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R

Running Time: 58-mins (0hr 58min)

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Eritrea - Rebirth of a Railway

Ref: NL471D

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Out of Retirement

Africa's most scenic railway is brought back to life after 30 years of devastating war. Vintage Italian narrow gauge locomotives, single- and double-headed, storm the 1 in 28 gradients of the Rift Escarpment to a height of 7,000ft in this beautiful but forgotten corner of N.E. Africa.

Join us on the footplate of a vintage 0-4-4-0T Mallet as we steam around hairpin bends, plunging in and out of endless tunnels and ravines, often clinging to the mountain side with a sheer 1000ft drop below. The trip from Massawa on the Red Sea takes us up the rift vallet escarpment to 7500ft in just over 70 miles, ending in the cool elegant capital of Asmara in this former Italian colony.

Also featured is the classic 1930s Littorina railcar. Meet the retired railwaymen in their 70s and 80s who have come back to work to make this miracle possible. Pattern maker Negash is 94! Plus exclusive access to the heroic reconstruction efforts in the mountains where the Army had to clear minefields and reclaim rails that had been torn up to make bunkers. This programme captures to perfection the unforgettable experience of a journey over the rebuilt line, joining the loco crew as they steam across spectacular viaducts through the breathtaking scenery of the Horn of Africa.

Availability: AVAILABLE
Filmed by/when: Filmed in 2002 and 2003 by ex-BBC award winning cameraman Nick Lera
Narrated by: Tyne-Tees TV's Andy Kluz
First published on DVD: 2004
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R

Running Time: 62mins (1hr 2min)

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From Burma to the River Kwai

Ref: NL452D

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Summary:

A journey by steam through Myanmar and Thailand in search of the WW2 Burma-Siam Railway, riding vintage British Pacifics on genuine local trains in Burma and preserved steam on the famous Wampo wood trestles of the Death Railway in Thailand, Exotic local colour and previously unexplored WW2 relics en route plus a surprise ending.

In Detail:

THAILAND :- The Burma-Siam railway was built for the Japanese by Asian forced labour and Allied prisoners of war. Of the latter a staggering 12,500 died in the brutal and inhuman conditions imposed in the Speedo regime in 1943. We ride a tourist train over the creaking wooden trestle bridges built by prisoners and visit the infamous Hellfire Pass hacked out of bare rock by Britons and Australians. With an original World War Two locomotive the Thais provide a spectacular sound and light memorial show at the famous Bridge On the River Kwai at Kanchanaburi.

BURMA (Myanmar) :- To explore the Western end of the Death Railway we travel from Rangoon on local trains hauled by old British steam locomotives from the days of the Raj. Passing through exotic scenery we visit the famous WN2 Sittang Bridge battle site, cross the Salween river to Moulmein, visit Thanbyuzayat with its Death Railway memorial and Allied cemetery, and return to Thailand to visit the border at the remote Three Pagodas Pass.

Availability: AVAILABLE
Published by: Nick Lera
Filmed by/when: Nick Lera
Narrated by: Andy Kluz
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R

Running Time: 58-mins (0hr 58min)

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Garratt Country - South Africa

Ref: NL449D

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A portrait of six classic Beyer-Garratt locomotives in South Africa, the world's biggest user of the type. The highly scenic mountains of Natal and the Cape form the setting for stunning action secquens with these articulated giants, while the 2ft gauge versions take us down to the shores of the Indian Ocean in Alfred Country. With special archive feature of GEA class being delivered to Utenhage in 1946.

GF Class 4-6-2+2-6-4 No.2380 on the 1-in-33 gradients of the Greytown line and running to Riverside past the aloe slopes of the Ingangwana Gorge.
GMA/M Class 4-8-2+2-8-4 No.4709 storming the reverse curves of the Cape Natal line between Deepdale and Donnybrook.
GO Class 4-8-2+2-8-4 No.2575 winds through the Outeniqua Range northern approaches in stunning ealy morning light.
GEA Class 4-8-2+2-8-4 No.4023 literally shakes the mountain as it storms out of Tunnel 5 on the Montagu Pass, South African Railway's most spectacular location.
On the famous 2ft gauge lines of Natal, we see South Africa's oldest working Garratt, Class NGG11 2-6-0+0-6-2 No.55 on the Paton's Country Railway. Finally, we see the "Toy Train By The Ocean", the beautiful Alfred County Railway with its Class NGG16 Garratts on the Hibiscus Coast.

The commentary gives full technical and topgraphical information. There is also some old Black and White film of the arrival and testing of the Class GEA Garratts in 1946.

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Published by: Nick Lera
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R

Running Time: 81mins (1hr 21min)

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New Zealand Steam Cavalcade Part 2 - South Island

Ref: NL448D

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A tour of all the steam attractions of South Island with main line steam in the spectacular scenery of the Kaikoura Coast, Arthur's Pass, the Main South Line, Plains, Weka Pass, Pleasant Place, McLeans, Ferrymead and the Taieri Gorge. Plus the country's oldest working engines, the Kingston Flyer and the steamship 'Earnslaw'.

1. Main Line Steam Picton to Dunedin with 'J' Streamliner 1211 & Ab 663. 10/2000.

2. Weka Pass Railway with Class 'A' 4-6-2 #428 steaming past the Frog Rock.

3. McLean's Island Railway with Heisler geared locomotive.

4. Class Ab Pacific #663 on the famous Arthur's Pass in the Southern Alps.

- Shanty Town, West Coast: Sharp Stewart 0-6-0T 1896, U.S.A. 'Climax' loco.

5. Vintage trams on the Christchurch city loop.

6. Ferrymead Museum's Baldwin tank engine #357 in Easter Festival, 2001.

7. Vintage Dubs 1873 'A' class tank on the Plains Railway, Tinwald.

8. The Pleasant Point Railway: '0' class 2-4-0T and Model 'T' railcar.

9. Oamaru Harbour Railway with 0-4-0T B10. Old locos buried in sea wall.

10. Ocean Beach Railway, Dunedin. Kerr Stuart 0-6-0T #4185/29

11. The Taieri Gorge Railway: Ab #663 on special to Middlemarch, Easter 2001.

12. Abandoned trace of Otago Central Rly. Archive slides of Ab at CromwelL

13. The Goldfields in Kawarau Gorge; abandoned 1870 Garret! stationary engine.

14. T.S.S. 'Earnslaw' steams across Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown.

15. The 'Kingston Flyer' scheduled operations with Ab #778 and #795, April 2001.

16. Lumsden station and the Oreti River loco dump.

17. Colin Smith's Rogers 'K' class 2-4-2 on special from Kingston to Fairlight Glen.

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Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R

Running Time: 112-mins (1hr 52min)

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The Woodburners of Paraguay & The Patagonia Express

Ref: NL451D

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Last call for steam in a South American time warp. Brew mate tea with the locals on the world's most southerly steam trains, ride the pilot loco on the Andean mountain section and catch a rare triple-header whereas in sleepy Paraguay British woodburning locos still haul the mails across the pampa to the waiting steam ferry.

A SPECTACULAR SOUTH AMERICAN DOUBLE BILL! Two films by Nick Lera now combined into one historic DVD of South America's last traditional steam railroads.

PATAGONIA EXPRESS

The Railway to Nowhere

The 75cm gauge Esquel Railway in Southern Argentina is the sole remnant of the grandiose and never completed railway network of Patagonia. What should have been a trunk route to the Magellan Strait petered out after two hundred miles in a remote sheep station in the Andes foothills. Even that took over twenty years to build, but what a railway.

The Weekly Train

This programme is a portrait of the weekly train on this highly scenic route down the edge of the pampa weaving in and out of the foothills of the Andes with frequent majestic views of South America's famous mountain range. The train with its complement of farmers, livestock, and a handful of tourists derails in a remote spot and is eventually rescued by two locomotives. Now with three engines, the train struggles on through a dramatic mountain sunset to the end of its journey.

The narrow gauge steam locomotives are virtual museum pieces, dating from 1922 and still maintained in good order in locomotive workshops installed in the middle of nowhere for the main line that never was.

Locomotive details:

2-8-2 Henschel, Germany, 1922

2-8-2 Baldwin, USA, 1922

0-6-0T Henschel, Germany, 1922

THE WOODBURNERS OF PARAGUAY

By the 1990s Paraguay possessed the oldest main line steam locomotives in the world, elegant standard gauge wood burners most of them built in Glasgow in 1910. They hauled the weekly mail train from the capital Asuncion to the Argentine border bridge. involving a trip down the main street of Encarnacion causing traffic chaos. Most of the original equipment was still in use including USstyle wooden baggage cars carrying the mails. Local freights shuffle at walking pace on overgrown tracks through the grasslands in this incredible time-warp. PLUS archive film of the old border train ferry.

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Cover photo: Courtesy of Richard & Gina Pelham
Filmed by/when: Nick Lera
Narrated by: Paul Vaughan
Edited by: Nick Lera
First published on DVD: 2007
Screen aspect ratio: 4:3 SD
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R
Origination: Betacam SP

Running Time: 81mins (1hr 21min) , Colour
.

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Poland - The Last Stronghold of Steam in Europe

Ref: NL459D

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A Moment Frozen in Time

As the Iron Curtain was lifted a fascinating time-warp of Europe in the forties was revealed especially on the railways. Local steam trains and horse-drawn road traffic were the norm everywhere, and we rushed in with our cameras to capture these unique scenes before modern economics swept them all away. All genuine scheduled steam, no specials, no Plandampfs!

Two of the lines featured were closed a month after we filmed them. We ride on the Sroda narrow gauge lines, still providing passenger service with steam. One coach trains chuff along picturesque branch lines, commuters go to work by narrow gauge steam train and groups of locomotives simmer in the country's steam depots. We are invited for a ride in the cab of one of Ploands last steam expess locos.

Relics of World War II abounded, including German wartime ‘Kriegsloks' as left by the retreating German army in 1945, and the closing feature of the programme shows one of these steaming past Hitler's "Wolf's Lair", his abandoned Eastern Bunker in the Polish forests.An archive section filmed privately in 1979 at risk of imminent arrest by the secret police shows many locomotive types long since vanished, including USA Liberations.

Features locomotives in service from the following classes:

1989 sequences: Ol49, Ty2, OK1, TKt48, Px48, Ty42

1975 sequences: Pt31, Pt47, Oki

Most of this film was recorded in 1989 but we also show rare locos filmed by specialist cameraman Stephen Morris in 1975 in defiiance of a strict Communist ban on photography.

Availability: AVAILABLE
Filmed by/when: Mostly during 1989
Narrated by: Peter Snow
Written by: Nick Lera
Edited by: Nick Lera
First published on DVD: 2005
Screen aspect ratio: 4:3 SD
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R
Origination: 1989: Video BetaCamSP 1975: Film

Running Time: 58-mins (0hr 58min) , Colour
.

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Rails to the Arabian Desert (Syria & Jordan)

Ref: NL463D

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Lawrence's Trail

Nick Lera embarks on a steam-hauled adventure following the trail of Lawrence of Arabia's famous exploits on the legendary Hedjaz Railway. The trip takes us on the unusual track gauge of 1050cm through Jordan and Syria to the Lebanese border, with authentic locomotives, some dating back to the Ottoman Empire.

Highlights of the Route

Our train from Petra, 'Rose Red City Of The East', crosses the great two-tiered stone viaduct at Amman, stops at Bosra's unique Crusader Fort incorporating a Roman amphitheatre, and takes us to the semi-derelict repair shops in Damascus, where over a dozen rusting and damaged locomotives still await repairs after

Lawrence's raids in 1918. The trip ends with a run up the scenic Shejara Gorge to the Lebanese border, hauled by Damascus' oldest engine, a Swiss 2-6-0T built in 1894.

Exclusive Archive

The line onwards to Beirut through the cedars of Lebanon was closed permanently by civil war in 1972, but Nick Lera was there with his film camera in 1968 and produced a unique record of the Swiss rack-and-pinion (cog) engines hard at work. More rare film shows a special steam train in the upper part of the Yarmuk Gorge in 1982, on the old route to Haifa past the Golan Heights, cut by Zionist guerillas in 1946.

Availability: AVAILABLE
Filmed by/when: Nick Lera
Narrated by: Paul Vaughan
Edited by: Nick Lera
First published on DVD: 2007
Screen aspect ratio: 4:3 SD
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R
Origination: BetaSP/PAL

Running Time: 55mins , Colour
.

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Rails to the North West Frontier (Pakistan)

Ref: NL465D

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The Bolan Pass:- Vintage Alco diesels from the 1950s growl their way up 1 in 25 gradients on Asia's steepest and most dramatic main line. Over the great Elgin Viaduct, through the baronial portals of 'Cascade' and 'Mary Jane' tunnels, our camera is specially mounted on the front of the locomotive to give us a unique view of these engineering marvels of the old British Raj.

Edwardian Classics:- Stars of the broad gauge steam roster are the elegant Edwardian inside cylinder 4-4-0s of the SPS Class, seen on local passenger service at Malakwal, along with their 0-6-0 stablemates of the SGS type. In the desert regions near the Indian border we see Pakistan's newest steam engines, Canadian War Department locos of 1946, in their last months of service at Samasata, and meter gauge British 4-6-0s dating from 1914 at Mirpur Khas on an isolated stretch of the old Jodhpur Railway.

The Khyber Pass:- Closed for many years, the railway through the famous Khyber Pass has now been re-opened using its original 1925-built 2-8-0s from Kitson of Leeds. These doughty veterans storm up the switchbacks through the rugged scenery of this tribal territory to the summit at Landi Kotal, with its breathtaking views of the great Afghan Plain beyond.

Professionally videoed in 1993/1994/1997, this is a unique record of historic locomotives in their last years of service. The Khyper Pass Railway was closed in 2006 due to landslide and flood damage. The railways of the North West Frontier are now alas no longer accessible to overseas visitors for reasons of internal security.

Availability: AVAILABLE
Filmed by/when: Nick Lera, 1993/1997
Narrated by: Paul Vaughan
Edited by: Nick Lera
Screen aspect ratio: 4:3 SD
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R

Running Time: 48-mins (0hr 48min) , Colour
.

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Relics of the Raj (India)

Ref: NL456D

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The Gaekwar of Baroda's State Railway, 1988

The 13th century fortress town of Dabhoi forms the hub of a former native state railway, a network of over 300 miles of 2'6" gauge lines in western India,filmed when still 100% steam. The depot was the largest on the Indian narrow gauge, with 34 engines allocated of four different types, including the classic William Bagnall 'W' Class 0-6-2s built in 1912 and doing sterling work on the picturesque Waghai branch.

Broad Gauge Classics, 1970

In West Bengal modernisation completely swept away the former steam stronghold of Calcutta. Before the damage was done, our cameras captured the scene back in 1970, with WP Pacifies hauling the Delhi Mail out of Howrah Terminus while Glasgow-built 0-6-0s dating from 1915 shunted alongside,with CWD and WG types also appearing.

Top of the bill were the HPS Class 4-6-0s, originally used for the Frontier Mail in the twenties.

Bengal Narrow Gauge,1970

The 2'6" gauge line from Santipur to Nabadwip used to be worked by some charming little 2-4-Os built by the Yorkshire Engine Co. in Sheffield, and captured by our cameras rattling across the green flatlands of the Ganges delta.

Patiala State Monorail, 1980

After laying derelict for fifty years, this unique hybrid, half traction engine and half railway locomotive, was taken to Delhi Railway Museum for restoration and now runs with one of its original coaches on a specially laid track.

Metre Guage at Goa, 1988

British-built 2-8-2s steam past a backdrop of tropical palms through the former Portuguese colony of Goa on India's west coast. Featuring a cab ride on the ghat, or hill section, and unique archive film of the shipment of the last batch of engines from Newton-le-Wiilows in 1949.

Rack and Pinion to Ooty, 1988

The Nilgiri Express with an average speed of six and a quarter miles per hour has the distinction of being India's slowest train. The line up to the former colonial hill-station of Ootacamund is also one of India's most scenic with breathtaking vistas of the Blue Mountains opening up to the traveller as his coach is propelled through the tea plantations by the 'Nilgiri Queen', a steam rack locomotive designed in 1914.

Availability: AVAILABLE

Cover photo: Anthony Lambert; Spine photo: Lawrence Marshall
Filmed by/when: Nick Lera
Screen aspect ratio: 4:3 SD
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R
Origination: 1" master from 16mm film

Running Time: 52-mins (0hr 52min) , Colour
.

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RENFE Steam - Past and Present (Spain)

Ref: NL466D

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MAIN LINE STEAM ON SPAIN'S MOST SCENIC RAILWAYS, PLUS PROFESSIONAL COLOUR ARCHIVE FILM OF STEAM IN THE 1960s

Steam Returns to the Main Line.

The glorious years of sun, steam and wine can now be relived in Spain, where two recently overhauled locomotives are back in excursion service. Leon's 141F No 2346 was filmed on a railfans' special in the seldom visited North West of the country around Vigo and Santiago.

Star of the preserved roster is Lerida's Beyer-Garratt 2-8-2+ 2-8-2 which is filmed on an ADL charter steaming up the scenic Noguera Pallaressa Gorge to the Pyrenean terminus of Pobla de Segur. Detailed cab ride sequences were obtained on both locos.

Spectacular Colour Sound Archive Film, 1967 Veteran movie professionals Peter Handford and

John Aldred produced this twenty minute cameo of vintage Spanish steam in action in its heyday, showing

an afternoon at the country station of La Parrilla, at the foot of the incline to La Encina, with station staff, pointsman and loco crews of visiting ex-MZA 240s and Garratts.

The loco sheds at La Encina are visited, and then at Castejon de Ebro we see streamlined 4-8-2s and a big 4-8-4 on passenger trains. The Pacific Garratt's chime whistle echoing across the Sierra makes a stirring finale to a memorable souvenir of Iberian steam.

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Cover photo: Lawrence Marshall
Filmed by/when: 16mm by Peter Hanford/John Aldred
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R

Running Time: 48-mins (0hr 48min)

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Steam's Indian Summer (India

Ref: NL467D

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End of an Era

Mark Tully visits the Delhi Railway Museum and

using Nick Lera's archive takes us through steam's final years, with 85 year old narrow-gauge locos in Bengal, the last bullet-nosed WP express locos in Delhi, Pacifics in the Punjab and a flashback to Edwardian veterans in Calcutta in the 70s.

In Search of Survivors

On the metre gauge provincial railways of Western India, Mark finds steam still hard at work and he

rides the locomotive up the famous Mhow Ghat,

on the milk train to Indore - the last long distance steam passenger train in India. By contrast, Tully

rides on the diesel 'Shatabdi' express to Gujerat state, where we meet the 92-year old Maharajah of Wankaner in his lofty and ornate palace with architecture from around the world. The Maharajah tells us of the rivalry

between the former Indian princely state railways.

The Historic Salt Train

It was in Gujerat that Mahatma Gandhi held his famous protest march to abolish the tax on salt. This humble commodity acquired historic significance in the campaign for Independence so it seems fitting that India's very last steam freight train should be used to carry it. With a closing image of the salt train reflected in the waters of the Little Rann, Mark Tully rounds off his personal farewell to the trains he loved.

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Cover photo: Nick Lera
Filmed by/when: Nick Lera
Narrated by: Mark Tully
First published on DVD: 1999
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R
Origination: DVCam, Beta SP, 16mm film

Running Time: 50mins

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Steam in the West - GWR 150

Ref: NL473D

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CELEBRATING THE G.W.R. 150th. ANNIVERSARY - A Colour Film By Nick Lera

The 150th birthday of the Great Western Railway was celebrated in 1985 with the most elaborate programme of special steam tours ever staged on the railways in Britain. In this unique GW150 souvenir dvd from the NICK LERA VIDEO COLLECTION we study the events of the summer and autumn of 1985, when restored ex-Great Western locomotives took to the main line once more, taking us back to the age of steam on much of the old G.W.R. network, reaching out as far as Truro in Cornwall.

PROGRAMME DETAILS:

EXCLUSIVE FOOTPLATE FILMING ON BOARD "CLUN CASTLE" AT 60 MPH.
STEAM ON THE CORNISH MAIN LINE
"CASTLE" ON SHED AT ST. BLAZEY
DOUBLE HEADED "CASTLES" ON THE DEVON BANKS AND ALONG THE COAST AT DAWLISH
HISTORIC LOCO "CITY OF TRURO" BACK IN ACTION AFTER 24 YEARS, ON THE MAIN LINE TO NEWPORT.
STEAM ON SHED AT BRISTOL BATH ROAD DEPOT
SWINDON TO GLOUCESTER SPECIALS CLIMBING SAPPERTON BANK
GREAT WESTERN 2-8-0 HAULS FREIGHT ON THE MAIN LINE -,
"SHAKESPEARE EXPRESS" STEAM STRATFORD TO BIRMINGHAM

PLUS "EASTER PARADE"

BROAD GAUGE "IRON DUKE" LONDON DEBUT IN STEAM
DUKEDOG 4-4-0 AND GW 2-8·0T IN ACTION. BLUEBELL RlY & GCR
DOUBLE-HEADED DEPARTURE FROM BRISTOL TEMPLE MEADS
TWIN MANORS CLIMB DAINTON BANK
GW 2-8-0 ON FREIGHT AT MONMOUTH
PADDINGTON STEAM WITH 'EVENING STAR'

2022-03-16: NO LONGER AVAILABLE DUE TO A CORRUPTED MASTER.

Availability: AVAILABLE
Published by: Nick Lera Steam Classics
Filmed by/when: Nick Lera, 1985
First published on DVD: 1985 (VHS), 2003 on DVD
Screen aspect ratio: 4:3 SD
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R
Origination: 16mm film

Running Time: 58-mins (0hr 58min) , Colour
.

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Steam To Mombasa (Kenya)

Ref: NL470D

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After twenty years in Nairobi's Railway Museum, the former East African Railways Beyer-Garratt No. 5918 ‘Mount Gelai' steams once more on the Mombasa run, following months of restoration in Kenya Railways' Nairobi workshops.

The Man in the Cab:- The loco's former regular driver, Kirpal Singh Sandhu, takes charge again to recreate the line's glory days of the nineteen sixties and seventies, steaming past the wildlife of the African bush. Kirpal's perfect recall of every undulation along the 330 mile route enables him to `drive blind' through the night with total confidence.

Through the African Bush:- The Athi Plains, green sisal plantations, the famous Tsavo River and Voi's Taita Hills form just some of the classic backgrounds in this scenic journey, ending with the classic spiral descent into Mombasa. When the line was built, the construction gangs had to brave man-eating lions. Those pioneer days are captured in wonderful archive photographs - one of which shows a newly captured beast.

Raw Vintage Power:- The articulated Class 59 was the largest and most powerful steam locomotive design in the whole of Africa, with a massive tractive effort exceeding 80,000 pounds. A flashback to the seventies brings us a 16mm film portrait of a ‘Governor' Class Garratt on the Taveta branch. There are also rare and exceptionally high quality archive photographs of early Baldwin locos from the USA, Indian "F" Class 0-6-0s and a man-eating lion that killed over 50 construction workers!

Extended edition with a new sequence of 5918 on a special trip to Kibwezi.

Availability: AVAILABLE

Cover photo: Ad Van Sten
Narrated by: Andy Kluz
First published on DVD: 2003
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R
Origination: HQ Broadcast Quality Analogue (comparable to BBC)

Running Time: 65-mins (1hr 5min)

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Steam to the Gobi Desert (China)

Ref: NL464D

Price:£21.95

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China's railways were the last great bastion of steam. For decades the rapid increase in the size of the network meant

that the old locomotives were always in demand right up to the mid 1990s. This programme takes us on a unique rail journey from the last standard gauge steam locomotive factory in the world, past the Great Wall of China and though the wilds of Inner Mongolia right to the edge of the Gobi Desert.

We enjoy a cab ride in our express train hauled by one of the powerful QJ, or 'Advance Forward', Chinese locomotives, symbol of Chairrnan Mao's 'Great Leap Forward' in the 1960s when thousands of miles of newly built railways played a key role in the expansion of the New China.

The QJs are also seen on their main task, heavy freight haulage, filmed here in stunning mountain scenery near Baotou. The programme also includes visits to coal mines and steel works where many older types of engine were in use.

Rare archive clips show ex-USSR FD Class locos filmed inside the great Yangstse Bridge and in a grand finale we see pairs of QJs storming the horseshoe curves beyond Zhongwei en route to China's Far West.

Locomotives featured:

QJ 'Advance Forward' 2-10-2

JS 'Construction' 2-8-2

JF 'Liberation' 2-8-2

SY 'Aiming High' 2-8-2

FD 'Felix Dzerzinsky' 2-10-2

YJ Industrial 2-6-2

Availability: AVAILABLE
Filmed by/when: Nick Lera
Narrated by: Paul Vaughan
Region: 1 & 2
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R
Origination: Betacam SP

Running Time: 54-mins (0hr 54min)

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Toy Train To The Clouds - Collector's Edition(India)

Ref: NL468D

Price:£21.95

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A Unique Railway

The Darjeeling Himalayan, Asia's best-known steam railway, was founded in the 19th century and now steams into the 21st with its original locomotives. It is frequently blocked by landslips and has been threatened by withdrawal of subsidies, but its future is assured now that UNESCO has declared it a World Heritage Site.

With a special introduction by Mark Tulley (a member of the Darjeeling Himilayan Railway and a former BBC Delhi correspondent), this varied and affectionate portrait of the line starts on the edge of the hot dusty Bengal Plains. The picturesque 'toy trains' toil up through the lowland forest, around three dramatic spirals, up and down numerous switchbacks and ploughing through village markets before reaching the cool climate of Darjeeling, dubbed 'Queen of The Hill Stations' in the days of the British Raj.

Stars of the show are the charming little Sharp Stewart Class "B" locomotives designed in the 1880s and still going strong.

Also incuded is the debut of the line's smallest loco "Baby Sivok", newly restored after decades on a plinth, in honour of visiting of the DHRS group. Nick Lera's rare 16mm film taken in 1990 shows the last of the freights and a unique sequence of the VIP saloon conveying the special guest, the late Sir Robert Reid, Chairman of British Rail.

Availability: AVAILABLE
Filmed by/when: Nick Lera
Narrated by: Andy Luz
First published on DVD: 2000
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R
Origination: DVCAM digital production

Running Time: 74mins

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Wheels of Fire - Tropical Steam in Java & Sumatra (Indonesia)

Ref: NL462D

Price:£21.95

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The 3'6" gauge state railways of Indonesia, the PJKA, once had the most exotic collection of antique steam locomotives in the world. The islands of Java and Sumatra form the exotic backdrop for this outstanding assortment of rare locomotives featuring lumbering eight-coupled Mallet articulateds in the mountains, tiny steam trams in the streets of Surabaya, the last of their kind in the world, rack-and-pinion (cog) railways in the jungle, and a special treat for the British enthusiast, a former 2-4-0 express tender engine built by Sharp Stewart in Manchester in 1880. With the exception of 'Slamet' in the sugar plantations and the B25 rack engine at Ambarawa Museum, all these engines succumbed to the scrapper's torch in the 1970s, even the few modern ones. This detailed study was made on professional 16mm film with natural sound, the only such record in existence.

Locomotives filmed in service:

B12 0-4-0T tram 1903 Beyer-Peacock
B25 0-4-2T rack 1903 Esslingen
B50 2-4-0 1880 Sharp-Stewart
B53 4-4-0 1912 Hartmann
C27 4-6-4T 1916 SLM/Werkspoor
C32 2-6-2T 1940 Nippon
E10 0-10-0T rack 1967 Nippon
CC10 2-6-6-0T 1905 Werkspoor
CC50 2-6-6-0 1926 Werkspoor/SLM
DD52 2-8-8-0 1924 Werkspoor/SLM
D14 2-8-2T 1921 Hanomag
D52 2-8-2 1950 Krupp
C51 4-6-0 1912 Beyer-Peacock
----- 0-8-0T 1930 Orenstein & Koppel

Availability: AVAILABLE
Filmed by/when: Nick Lera
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R
Origination: 16mm shot in 1972/4, 5mins of location updates. Ambarawa Rail Museum & PJKA diesels videoed in 1992.

Running Time: 46mins

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When The Wall Came Down (East Germany)

Ref: NL472D

Price:£21.95

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The end of an era on East Germany's narrow gauge railways,filmed in 1990 just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In this broadcast quality portrayal of a railway scene unchanged for 70 years, small town streets fill with the thick sulphorous smoke of Saxon-Meyer locomotives built in 1912 and fired with brown coal, as the trains thread their way through rural Saxony.

We see the steam worked Zittau lines in the south east, the fascinating Oschatz railway and some industrial lines amid the grim pollution of the Leipzig area, with its opencast mines and belching smokestacks.

Saxony.

Repeat visits in 1991-1993 show a rapid change with job cuts, orange safety suits and new diesels doing little to stem a sharp drop in freight traffic. But the growth of tourism saves these unique steam railways, culminatiing in a steam festival on the newly "liberated" Brocken Mountain where the first trains in 30 years bring visitors back to the famous Witches' Altar, for many years the Soviet Union's major Western listening post.

Saxony.

Locomotives: 75cm gauge: 2-10-2T & 0-4-4-0T steam, 0-6-0 diesel. 90cm gauge: Bo-Bo electric. Metre gauge: 2-10-2T, 2-6-2T, 0-4-4-0T steam. 1435mm gauge : fireless 0-6-0F.

Availability: AVAILABLE

Cover photo: top: Peter Lemmey, remainder DVD freeze frames.
Published by: Nick Lera
Narrated by: Paul Vaughan
First published on DVD: 2004 © Nick Lera
Screen aspect ratio: 4:3 or 14:9 SD (Not 16:9)
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R

Running Time: 48mins (0hr 48min)

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Winter Steam on Two Gauges (Austria)

Ref: NL435D

Price:£21.95

Quantity:

The provincial railways of Austria provide the enthusiast wiith an outstanding selection of working steam locomotives on standard and narrow gauge. This programme takes us on a steam-hauled tour of the scenic province of Steiermark, organised by the German company IGE BAHNTOURISTlK, with the participation of the Locomotive Club of Great Britain and the Warwickshire Railway Society.

Highlights featured:

WEIZ TO BIRKFELD-- The Feistritztalbahn. 76cm gauge

This line has had no passenger trains since 1960 but survives for freight and is home to three steam locomotives retained for tourist service. Our double-heoded special is hauled by StLB 0·10-OT No Kh 101 and ex-Yugoslav 0-8-2 No 83-180 across impressive viaducts, the largest of which is 276m long. terminating at the restored wooden station of Birkfeld.

THE GRAZ KOFLACHER BAHN - Standard gauge.

Founded in 1854 the GKB still provides freight and passenger service. Two steam specials are seen leaving Graz and heading past Deutschlandsberg mountain to the terminus at Wies. An ex-OBB 52 class 'Kriegslok' recalls the end of the steam era. while ex-Sudbahn No 671 built in 1860 represents the early years. 671 's ancient Stephenson link motion is seen in close-up as we join the footplate crew for a cab ride through snow-clad forests.

UNZMARKT TO TAMSWEG - The Murtalbahn. 76cm gauge

Sun steam and snow for 65 kilometers of stunning double-headed action on Styria's longest narrow gauge railway. Krauss 0-6-2Ts U11 (1894) and Bh1 (1905) put up a fine performance passing rivers and mountains in the scenic Murtal, terminating at picturesque Tamsweg.

Availability: AVAILABLE

Cover photo: top: Peter Lemmey, remainder DVD freeze frames.
Published by: Nick Lera
First published on DVD: 2006
Classification: Exempt
Number of discs: 1 DVD-R

Running Time: 60mins (1hr 0min)

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Shop | Railways | Nick Lera's World Steam Classics

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