Take a look at his superb film of the Wisbech and Upwell tramway. This line survived until 1966 (although passenger traffic finished in 1927 - the passenger coaches appeared The Titfield Thunderbolt so there's a sort of S&D link!) and saw long freight trains almost to the end.
The Wisbech and Upwell was an experimental line built by the Great Eastern Railway. In reality it was probably a century ahead of its time. It should of course have been a target for preservationists as the line remained in situ until 1970 - how did we let this one get away?
There was a revival attempt a few years ago and I'm sure the line will be revived sooner rather than later. Why? Watch the film!
Of course this sort of line will become commonplace over the next fifty years as the oil runs out. It's a cheap way to provide modern transport to strings of villages, with direct connections to businesses, markets, industries, factory estates and farms. In many cases these new routes will be narrow gauge, to keep the costs down even more.
Expect to see at least a few of these connnecting to the S&D in the future!
3 comments:
Brilliant piece of film, Illustrates well the whole concept of local services. Not only did the system work well, but the people involved seem to be happy and content! Mankind has always had a hankering after more and more speed. In this age of more and more speed and efficiency, I wonder sometimes if we have as many happy and contented people? Efficiency is a job well done,and speed may well be a separate issue. Bring back local services- and lets have more happy and contented people!
It may be a film from the past but I suspect it's also a vision for the future. Certainly most people in 'jobs' tend to feel pretty unconnected from the natural world, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of fun involved either. But this film shows that that life wasn't that far away in time. The Wisbech and Upwell reminds me of the S&D in so many ways, even though it was totally different!
I agree it does remind of the S&D. The reason i think is the local connection...serving everybody along the whole length of the line, run as though everyone is in a big family, pride in the job....it also evokes that...feeling....i cant really describe what the feeling is, maybe its just nostalgia, but i dont think so... it just makes me feel a bit more optimistic for our future...everything seemed to tick along like clockwork then.
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