British Transport Films: Elizabethan Express

summer is singing in streets again and summer times travels have now begun the cuckoo sings of the burnished grain and long journeys gilded by the Sun soon has a holiday passenger traveling with us number between us I think we could be with all there the superintendent of operating speaks in the ears of his timetable brains who sit in their offices calculating how to fit in fast summertime trains cudgel your brains for summertime trains join a train for the passengers waiting to hear cuckoos singing a Highland Fling drawing a line for a non-stop to Edinburgh over the time and so the new service comes into its are the morning is June the weather is fine at Kings Cross depo of motivepower the drivers come in to sign on the line of Marable toplink train driver who's always a punctual arriver wears boots foot plate size has color light eyes and engine oil in his saliva Welli Russell is matin the team often sprays out his tonsils with steam and treats gravel rashes by damping down caches and using the paste like go cream at Kings Cross the coaches are filling with passengers Porter's are willing to carry their cases and find them their places for the Tanner or even a chilly night of general gathering forces the chef's checking up his resources all the pains in your belt mr. wheeler can melt and roll your eyes around with his sauces though the guard may look calm laconic his obsession with time is quite chronic but a punctual start binds the Train to his heart the relationships purely platonic at platform 5 the Elizabethan a special Express of the holiday season summons its strength and the time to departs marks an ending for some but for many a start as the engine goes for the swing and to shine past the engine sheds there's a man on the line and gave her that shine he's the fitter his was the skill is the hands that uncoupled her rods stripped her gear packed her glands with his firm's skillful hands and the boy was one of that servicing crew who gave care and crafts to each thread on each screw and made it fit true they're the fitters the nen were the cunning to bring through each big end and piston valve spindle and spring all that power and swing the briefie is Archdeacon of elegance serves coffee with impartial sentiments cigars for the swells path patents for blonde bells and flags for the legend arrangements the passengers sitting at buffet tables the Howards the Bert's the Cynthia's the navels enjoying the comfort and ease in their seats careless of crumbs in turnips or pleats admire the gleam on the chromium plate the polish on tables the unfaded state of curtains and fabrics but rarely give thought to the long years of training the practice the torch men in large workshops the best way to take a carriage to pieces and how to remake it better than you the seats that are sat on had to be made to welcome all shapes first the material that mustn't fade or wilt under pressure was cut with a blade skillfully guided then skillfully sewn while windows were painted then carefully scraped and taps were fitted in shining chrome then the seats were upholstered material boasted and won a man was writing a sign and others were putting that last mirror shine on metal and paint the seat was finished and those who ride in it's regal embrace can truthfully claim to sit in the pride and work of a king as time gets on so people get thinner unless they take lunch or midday dinner so the kitchen car prepares to fill the waistcoat of Jack and the waistline of Jill face me much them consistently filling the gaps in their faces with food without fitting their laps they wouldn't be eating as smooth in most cars or ocean steamers or even some bars get more at night as I'm disturbed as robinson crusoe by the trains motion they swallow their meets what in the railways allows them to do so one of the factors enabling these feats of filling stomachs without filling laps is the state of the track which depends on these chaps of the maintenance games the chaps who see that the rails are tight in their several chairs who see that they're straight and on the level unlike crooks or stairs who see that the chairs are firmly fixed that no evil disturbs the sleepers who see that the gaps not been stretched in the night by clandestine creepers who see that this very important small gap will not cause any damage by wrapping some diners first class Adam's apple in chicken or cabbage who see that the passengers riding in clover can take meals on velvet and ninety or over while the side sipping countryside changes to town ed oh sweet speed well charter and Gong dream light in boxes unseen watchful eyes part sitting panel tell us no lies watch the trains passing guide her with care Junction and crossing points in a pair with a turn of the wrist the click of a switch track circuit matching font of the wish out of York City and on to the north past Dunham New Castle over tweed to the force now beyond York the Scots crew prepare to relieve the strain on the English pair no driver of trains is more proud of his Scottish descent than MacLeod he insists every engine has pipes to each piston and buttons in its box from McLeod his mate Mungo Scott's cursed with Bristol that's as tough as a John Knox epistle when he kissed a young lass in the dark for a log she asked was that for official so Nigel Gresley designed his a four with a speed of a gray arm the strength of a ball but when he put fire in her stomach he taught her to burn with a furious thirst for water so when she approaches a water trough watch farmer Mungo doing his stuff driver and Farman relieved of the strain rest now while the pounding refrain that beat itself into the cells of your brain murmurs along in the voice of the train God keep your watch on this world of corridors coaches while passengers code in safeguarded wrists are rapidly swerved past the vision of dawn swiftly unfurl the Elizabethan goes driving onwards quad buffet attendants or restaurant stewards performing their corridor service dance try to anticipate passengers once waltzing through coaches to certain compartments while signals are serving the train with clear distance but sometimes breaking this smooth onward flow though the home signals clear the distance is slow the regulator slams shut and mclarge camps on the breaks the loud hiss of steam as the train seems to slow to the pace of a cloud breaks the afternoon task and disperses the dream at the end of these wires sent men in control rooms I prompters assisting the course of a play breeding outwards like Arabian perfumes to bear there's no record of just what they say they watch every train that moves in their region of thousands of miles of railway distance and try to forestall any slightest suspicion of slack that might make its unholy appearance but while every passenger knows the importance of his own special train arriving on time the Ninian control rooms must weigh in the balance the claims of 1100 the Elizabethans a particular special never more smiled upon non-stop trade nothing with stopper the orders official and lateness would cause operational pain and at last the ultimate cause of the slack over the hills far away of the line is clear and the train picks up speed on the track through Newcastle City and over time but now the Express has lost time she'll be late unless drive attorney and his mate can make up four minutes and nearly a quarter on the difficult stretch running over the border yes driver McLeod mighty old hunter chasing each minute of time silent thunder riding down seconds over the straight track chasing the seconds lost rounding the curve track Cooke Singh each delicate petal of power out of steam suddenly blossoming flower yes muscular Mungo hard-headed toilet who keeps water flowing on the tubes of the boiler keeps up the pressure heaves tons of : make sure his drivers got enough steam to roll on then still his backache shifts as his feet work rhythmically swinging to make boiler heat work as they come down from grant us the peak of the climb they're over the worst and she's running on time you mr. Arnot of Waverly station has a very high sense of occasion if it rains our non stop her his topper is proper his humbugs for trains of low station the Elizabethan that's now arriving at platform ten in Waverly station left London at 9:30 shop this morning with mothers with sons in high expectation with fathers with daughters of pounding the path nonstop from Kings Cross in six hours and a half here Edinburgh stands on its rock by the forth singing it's welcome to those who come north where the cans and the Heather have fashioned a reason to mingle their blooms in a festival season Oh you

Channel: mikeknell

Views: 132,008

Rating: 4.9433961 out of 5

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Id: ghkqGfUy4xs

Length: 19min 33sec (1173 seconds)

Published: Tue May 06 2014