Ronald Craigen

Young Robbie, a keen footballer and a railway enthusiast, is persuaded by his big brother to go through a hole in a railway fence on to the track for some reason. His laces become caught on the tracks and he has an accident so serious that he will never play football again. A film for showing to eight to eleven-year old children and their parents, which points out the folly of breaking railway fences and trespassing on the line, and illustrates the immediate dangers. Part of BFI collection "The Age of the Train".

From Glasgow or Edinburgh, Scotland may be explored by train or long-distance coach, and this film includes a coach tour from Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye. The route taken meets the Highlands at Killin, and then goes over Rannoch Moor and through Glencoe to Ben Nevis, the entrance to the Great Glen. Here we meet the West Highland railway line, and follow it on its journey through the Bonnie Prince Charlie country to Mallaig. Returning to the Great Glen we rejoin the coach route out through the Glen Foyne and Glen Shiel to the Kyle of Lochalsh, and take the ferry over to Skye.

In the Hull Docks, the steamer S.S. Bravo arrives from Gothenburg with cargo.

Collage film about the history of trains set to music.

Intended as a sales tool for manufacturers, this short film details the production installation and maintenance for long welded track in use on British Railways.

Intended for training railway permanent way men, capturing how men working on the track react as a train approaches.

Documentary from British Transport Films

British Rail's wagon control system and how it works, concentrating on the information most useful to the specific wagon operating staff.

A poet's eulogy to his beloved mode of transport.

Originally intended as an advertising short, this film follows The Elizabethan, a non-stop British Railways service from London to Edinburgh along the East Coast Main Line. A nostalgic record of the halcyon years of steam on British Railways and the ex-LNER Class A4.

A technical documentary on the development of improved railway brake materials to increase performance and durability.

Short film about the upgrades and technological improvements on the British railways.

Between the Tides is a 1958 short documentary directed by Ralph Keene for British Transport Films.It is a study of the animal and plant life of Britain's shores. The film show the fascinating and colourful marine life of shoreline and rock pool, filmed in the inter-tidal zone of a typical and attractive rocky shore of southwest England. The amazing diversity of creatures must be seen to be believed; periwinkles, top-shells, starfish and lump suckers, the self-concealing flatfish, the gaper and razor fish and the commuting and breeding seabirds. Beautifully photographed in glorious Technicolor by resident cameraman Ron Craigen, the film was awarded fifteen international film honours, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

A step-by-step description of how power from the national grid is supplied to British Railways.

Britain operates the most experienced diesel and electric railway in tne world. A century and a half ago she invented the steam engine and introduced a new system of transport; and in only nine years British Rail and the British locomotive industry designed, built and tested enough diesel and electric locomotives to replace fifteen thousand steam engines. The transition from steam to new forms of motive power, and its effects on rallwaymen and passengers, is the subject of this film. Produced in association with the Central Office of Information, the British Locomotive Allied Manufacturers' Association and the British Electrical Manufacturers' Association.

The final episode of five reports on the construction of the Victoria Line in London. This one is edited highlights from the first four with very little new information.

Building a new harbour at Port Talbot - it’s a man’s world in which the only females are a dredger and two seafaring vessels.

Report No. 10 in a series of 13 topical films, covering: Hovercraft, Princess Ann; the Advanced Passenger Train; Design Centre exhibition, The next train; plasma torch, Derby Technical Centre; analysis of diesel oils, Glasgow science laboratory; bleep radio communications, Paddington; resignalling, Derby area; intercity coaches; evolved suspension, the Brighton Belle; Southern Region grouptravel; computer, Eastern Region; shipment of molten iron.

Thirty Million Letters is a 1963 short documentary film directed by James Ritchie and made by British Transport Films. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

A high speed Inter-City train is the star of this impressionist film in which picture and music are brought together to enhance the mood and rhythm of the subject and hail the arrival of 125mph regular passenger services. With specially composed music by David Gow and no commentary, Overture: One-Two-Five was the last complete production to be shot on 35mm film by British Transport Films. It was produced to mark the introduction of the new Inter-City 125 High Speed Train services between Paddington and Bristol. One of the last big budget productions, it was treated to a coat of Technicolor and a theatrical cinema release. It also marked the beginning of the slow decline of BTF which culminated in its closure. With the abandoning of support features and shorts at cinemas in the late 1970s and early 1980s, most of the unit’s films after 1978 were made primarily for internal use.

The story of a journey from the Yorkshire Dales to Switzerland via Dover and France, made by a party of schoolgirls showing how British rail contributes to a smooth, comfortable journey.