The Roger Siviter Collection

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Relegated to a single track secondary route by the short term economy-driven culture of the 60s,the Waterloo-Salisbury-Exeter route has experienced gradual increases in passenger numbers as the boom years of the 1990s made long distance commuting popular, demanding plenty of reliable, fast trains to London.

Class 50s displaced by HSTS from the Great Western main line should have been tailor made for the rival Southern Railway route to the west. 100mph capability, plenty of horsepower and long range fuel tanks. But sadly reliability issues dogged the class for most of their lives, and we witness them at work over the entire length of the line in their final years, inevitably bolstered by class 47s and 33s. We see other interesting trains that happen to be passing as well, but the show definitely belongs to Class 50s!

This programme includes Diesels in Wessex. It’s May 1990, and the Mendip Stone Boom is in full cry. The majority of trains of aggregates to feed the burgeoning Home Counties construction industry still have class 56s in charge, but the General Motors revolution is just beginning in the shape of Foster Yeoman’s class 59s. Roger &Christina spent some time in the Westbury area, filming not only these workings but intercity and local trains as well. After that, we spend a few minutes looking at class 47s on passenger and mail trains in the Taunton area, followed by a look at comings and goings around the magnificent trainshed of Bristol Temple Meads. On screen location captions and detailed service information with dates are provided on the reverse of DVD sleeve.

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Ref: RF152D

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In this programme we see loco-haulage combined mainly, but not entirely, to cross-country passenger services, with most London services in the hands of HSTs. BR’s Intercity Sector is giving way to First Great Western and Virgin trains, and class 47s rule the railway. Railway traditions like holiday extras to Paignton and the West are alive and well, bringing in class 31s as well as the occasional Freight sector Class 47 pressed into service on busy summer weekends.

Freight to the west is largely in the hands of class 37s, often in pairs, and Network South East’s class 50s work the occasional service west of Exeter to Paignton and to Plymouth. Dawlish sea wall and the rolling countryside of Dainton and Rattery banks provide the main backdrop for Roger’s cameras in this feast of Devonian Diesel action. Brunel’s Royal Albert Bridge stands as proud as ever, seemingly impervious to the changing fleet of classes 37, 47 and 50 on freight, passenger , parcels and mail trains heading to and from West of the Tamar.

BR’s Intercity Sector is metamorphosing into Virgin Cross Country and First Great Western, while Cornwall’s famous China Clay freights centred on St Blazey transfer from Railfreight Distribution through the short-lived Transrail to American-owned EWS. We see some of the final class 50 turns on local passenger trains, 37s on China Clay freights, 47s on passengers and mails, and a good collection of HSTs. Oh, and we see a few DMUs and railtours, as well! And all set against Cornwall’s unique railway landscape.

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The end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s was a period of great change on Scotland’s railways. The traditional loco plus coaches formations which attracted so many enthusiasts north of the border were on the way out, and the Sprinter revolution, which had already started on shorter distance trains in the Glasgow and Edinburgh areas, was gathering momentum to oust locomotive haulage completely within a few short years. Well-known photographer Roger Siviter made several trips to Scotland to document the changing scene, attracted not only by the scenery but also by the amount of surviving traditional infrastructure and signalling.

Like many still photographers do today with digital camcorders, Roger would often also take moving pictures, using then state of the art Super-8 sound cameras. This collection of Rogers work, covering a variety of passenger and freight workings in the early years of the 1990s, on some of Scotland’s main scenic rail routes starts with a journey from Edinburgh to Dundee and Aberdeen, via the Forth Bridge and also via Stirling. This is followed by action on the Highland Line, Perth to Inverness and then from Inverness to the far north and Kyle of Lochalsh.

Also, Fort William to Mallaig on the West Highland Extension Railway. Class 47s,and 37s feature throughout with glimpses of class 20, 26 and 56. An operational railway scene that has changed for ever and yet recorded here for posterity.

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Number of discs: 1 DVD-R


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