Peter Middleton

Ramsgate has been on the railway map since 1846. Eventually two rival companies served the town for over fifty years until the Southern Railway built a connecting line between the two. At the time of filming there were two main routes into the town, one via Ashford from Charing Cross and the route we are taking via Chatham into London Victoria. This Driver's eye view was filmed before the introduction of SouthEastern's high speed Javellin services into St Pancras. It therefore shows our 4 coach class 375 Electrostar starting off as the hourly fast service calling at selected stations to Faversham. Here we join up with a similar 4 car set from Dover. We then call at Sittingbourne and the Medway Towns of Rainham, Gillingham, Chatham and Rochester. Once over the Medway itself, our 8 coach train runs fast to Victoria calling only at Bromley South.

Our 1973 stock train, takes you right through the centre of the capital and out into the North London suburbs. Emerging from tunnel at Arnos Grove our train continues to Cockfosters in Hertfordshire. The section between Acton Town and Hammersmith is unique in being the only 'tube' line to feature express running - leaving the parallel District line to provide the stopping service. We then return to Acton Town and board another 1973 stock train for a drivers's eye view of the Heathrow Airport branch, running via Terminal 4 to end at Terminals 1, 2 & 3. This line, much of which was built by the District Railway, has another unique feature for a tube line, a quadruple track section from Acton Town to Northfields. As well as seeing four closed stations from the driver's cab we also pay a visit to Aldwych, the terminus of the short branch which ran from Holborn but closed in 1994.

The Victoria Line is London’s busiest underground line. 15 out of the 16 stations provide interchange with other underground lines or Network Rail. The 1967 stock trains were filmed in their last few years of service in 2009. These were the first fully automatic trains in London running on the Victoria line which was opened in stages from Walthamstow in East London. The whole line is seen in virtually real time from the operator’s cab with the aid of additional lighting. This is more than a Driver’s eye view, for we also follow the progress of our southbound train on the track diagrams of the service control centre, we see inside all the stations with their famous tiled murals, the exteriors of many and of course the operator himself.

This video begins at Stanmore, having been opened by the Metropolitan Railway but subsequently taken over by the Bakerloo. After four stations, we join the multiple tracks of the Metropolitan and Chiltern Lines. At Finchley Road the old cast iron Bakerloo tunnel section begins and with additional lighting you will see the tunnels in the best possible light. At Baker Street, the Jubilee proper starts, with the original opening to Charing Cross as recently as 1979. As this is a Video 125 production we couldn't avoid the temptation of seeing what has become of the old Jubilee terminus, now abandoned but still retained in the event of an emergency. Our train then diverges at Green Park and takes the new Jubilee line extension through Waterloo and Docklands.

The original Gotthard railway tunnel through the Swiss Alps, took ten years to build and cost 147 lives. It was a mammoth undertaking and required the construction of long ramps on either side totalling 85 miles. Dozens of tunnels, viaducts and bridges were necessary. The ruling gradient of 1 in 37 was deemed to be just about the maximum that the original steam locomotives could handle, even then, trains were usually double-headed and even had banking engines attached at the rear! In order even to keep to this severe gradient, the engineers had to construct a number of additional spiral tunnels to gain height, hewn out of solid rock…

Unprecedented cooperation from Eurostar enabled Video 125 cameras to film a high speed journey from the Capital of Belgium to the Capital of England via the Channel Tunnel. Riding with the driver at speeds of up to 300 kilometres an hour, or 186 miles an hour, is an exhilarating experience. Just click on the preview to see what we mean. The entire route is shown in virtual real time.* As well as calling at Lille Europe and Ebbsfleet International, we follow our class 373's progress from the five control centres which are responsible for our train as it passes through Belgium, France, the Channel Tunnel and England. There are two bonus features: Temple Mills Depot, opened in time for the start of services into St Pancras. Comings and goings at Brussels Midi. While our cameras were set up on the platform we filmed a dozen or more trains to show the diversity of traction and rolling stock.

With a top speed of 100 mph, the hourly InterCity trains normally cover the 115 miles between the capital of East Anglia and London's Liverpool Street Station in well under 2 hours. One feature of note is the single line swing bridge built at the time of electrification to Norwich in 1987. It is one of only a handful of operational swing bridges in the world provided with overhead line equipment. Our InterCity express calls at Diss, Stowmarket and Ipswich. South of Ipswich, Anglia trains are joined by those of GER, and at Colchester by Clacton services - all squeezed onto just two tracks signalled for bi-directional working. Relief comes at Shenfield where the Southend lines provide an additional pair of tracks. With freight traffic to Felixstowe and Harwich a wide variety of trains rush past.

Driver's eye view of the GWR from Exeter St Davids to London Paddington from the cab of a brand new class 802 Intercity Express Train.

This starts at the Royal Albert Bridge. The 75 miles from Saltash to Penzance contains the greatest number of viaducts per mile on any British Railway and such exaggerated curvature that there is only one dead straight mile of track throughout. Once again, virtually the whole route is shown including the many single line sections. There are dozens of aerial views taken from a helicopter on both of the above productions. Features include the Atmospheric Railway pump house at Starcross, Dobwalls miniature railroad and the Bodmin Steam Railway.

The Newcastle & Carlisle dates right back to 1825, one of the earliest railway schemes in Britain. It opened in stages from 1834 initially to carry minerals. The railway roughly follows the course of Hadrian's Wall, marking the northernmost border of the Roman Empire in 122 AD. The railway has become an important link between the East and West Coast main lines.

Manchester Airport to Liverpool Lime Street We travel aboard a Northern Rail class 156 Sprinter for an exceptionally smooth ride. This limited-stop service shows us the whole Airport Branch, the Stockport-avoiding line built as recently as 1909 and the approach and through platforms at Manchester Piccadilly followed by the elevated section through Oxford Road. We then join the very original route surveyed and built by none other than George Stephenson. The stone block permanent way has long since gone but the history is still there to be told by former Calendar anchor Alan Hardwick.

Filmed from the Driver's cab of a class 385 EMU we travel on a ScotRail express from Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh Waverley via Falkirk High, then from Edinburgh to Glasgow Central via Shotts.

The term Welsh Marches refers to the border area between Wales and England. The railway diverging from the South Wales Main Line at Newport closely follows the border through Abergavenny, Hereford, Shrewsbury and Nantwich. We join a 3-car class 175 Coradia DMU en route from Milford Haven to Manchester Piccadilly on the approach to Newport, the area having only recently been re-signalled to the South Wales Control Centre. From the SWCC, signalling passes to a 1960’s panel signal box at Little Mill and then to traditional mechanical signalling at Abergavenny. Cameras inside all three signal boxes vividly show this technological progression. Dozens of former and existing junctions coupled with some magnificent scenery make this a fascinating route, filmed in mid-summer sunshine all the way to Crewe. Dozens of mechanical signal boxes control our progress, including Europe’s largest at Shrewsbury.

Experience the thrill of riding in the cab of an iconic Pendolino tilting train, travelling over the West Coast Main Line, the UK’s busiest. We travel on board the 1220 Virgin Trains’ London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly service running via Stoke on Trent. It’s quite amazing to see the degree of tilt from the driver’s viewpoint and how easily the class 390 takes the curves at speeds of up to 125 mph!

BBC Bargain Hunt's Charlie Ross takes a detailed look around the Late Sir William McAlpine's full-size railway and museum, built in his own back yard. Having been acquired over five decades, Sir William's collection is truly massive. The film starts at the beginning of the year when the ex-BR class 03 diesel shunter is started up. There's a lot of steam action too, with the resident 0-6-0 saddle tank engine, seen charging up and down the incredible 1 in 14 gradient of the hill line on training and public open days. Charlie takes a look around the extensive museum, containing a myriad of railway artefacts. He's shown inside the two royal coaches, the signal boxes, the O gauge model railways and the main station building, re-erected here from Somersham in Cambridgeshire. Sir William's widow, Lady Judy McAlpine tells us about her late husband's insatiable enthusiasm. There's so much to see and appreciate in this unique private railway.

This Driver's eye view begins with a brief look at the unique street-running Weymouth quay "tramway" from a class 73 Electro-Diesel Locomotive. It is unlikely that this line will ever see a train again so it is also included on the DVD as a menu driven bonus. Our main line train is a class 442 Wessex electric still in Network SouthEast colours. We head out of Weymouth and climb up towards Dorchester South, the 5 coach train taking all the power available from the third rail. Turning east the train calls at the intermediate stations as far as Poole and Bournemouth, with their classic causeway approaches. Speeding up, we call at Brockenhurst (for connection with the Lymington branch) and pass through the delightful stretch of unspoilt New Forest to Southampton. We then run non-stop at up to 100 mph along the former LSWR quadruple track main line via Basingstoke, Woking and Clapham Junction into Waterloo. Filmed in 1994

The railway between Aberdeen and Inverness was built by the Great North of Scotland Railway, the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction and the Inverness and Nairn, the former two companies meeting end on at Keith. Of the 50 stations that have come and gone over the years, ten remain open. In little over a hundred miles we encounter 16 existing, or former, rail junctions - on average one every seven miles - a remarkable testament to the commercial rivalry and duplicity of lines between the Highland and GNSR companies in the latter half of the 19th Century. Today the route is operated by First Scotrail class 158 "Express Sprinters". The route is mostly of single line and features tokenless block and electric key token sections controlled from manual signal boxes with semaphore signals. This scenic route was filmed in sunny or good weather from the cab, from the trackside and from the air. Much of the fascinating history is to be found in the narration, expertly delivered by Sally Magnusson.

Filmed from the cab of a High Speed Train, St Pancras station was filmed just before the major rebuilding of the terminus to handle Eurostar international trains in 2007. This is St Pancras as we remember it, complete with the famous gasometers which have since been removed.

These unique trains have long been called Thumpers due to the distinctive sound of their single on board diesel engines. Now, after the units' well earned retirement, this record of their unmistakeable sound (from trackside and on board) lives on in stereo. Surprisingly, the Uckfield branch is fascinating in itself. It is the stub of a former through route from Tunbridge Wells to Lewes. Nowadays the route features both single and double track sections. Following the fatal head on collision at Cowden in 1994, strict new operating procedures were put into place including the provision of SPAD signals at strategic points.

The Dublin to Belfast route is 113½ miles long. Our journey begins at Dublin’s Connolly Station. For the first few miles we proceed through the rapidly re-generating suburbs under the wires of the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit). This is a route of great interest with double line throughout. Our 90 mile an hour express was filmed mostly in sunshine. Much of the history of this interesting and scenic route is related by TV personality Henry Kelly.

Diesel loco-hauled expresses have made a comeback… For this Driver’s eye view we travel in the cab of a class 68 hauling a rake of refurbished Mk 111 carriages marketed by Chiltern Railways as ‘Silver Trains’

Completed in June 2001, the LGV Méditerranée joined up with the LGV Rhône Alpes and the original Paris/Lyon TGV line completing the link between Marseille and Paris. Now is your chance to see this truly amazing feat of engineering from the cab of a Duplex (double deck) TGV. The Ligne a Grande Vitesse (LGV) features dozens of massive viaducts, tunnels and earthworks cutting a swathe through the French countryside (with no expense spared) to allow for very high speed running.

Each year, thousands of holidaymakers experience the thrill of riding through the picturesque Purbeck Hills on one of the Swanage Railway’s classic steam trains. The line runs for 5½ miles from a new Park and Ride station at Norden through the unique Corfe Castle station and Harman’s Cross into the small seaside town of Swanage. Today’s railway is thriving and this film takes you on a guided tour of the line by steam train, looks behind the scenes and talks with some of the staff and volunteers who work on the line. To look at the railway today, it’s hard to believe that in 1972, under British Rail, the line was run down and closed, the track taken up and the buildings left to decay. With the aid of old photographs and archive film, we recall the mammoth struggle to rebuild the line - from scratch! Includes a full DMU cab ride from Swanage to Norden.

We see virtually the whole of Brunel’s route from Exeter St David’s to Newton Abbot including the notorious seaside section at Dawlish. From there we head inland to Totnes, over the infamous banks at Dainton and Rattery, through Ivybridge on the very edge of Dartmoor and into Plymouth itself. We finish with a driver’s eye view of the Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash. Filmed in 1986 just weeks before the semaphore signals were abolished for ever.

John Berger's Ways of Seeing changed the way people think about painting and art criticism. This watershed work shows, through word and image, how what we see is always influenced by a whole host of assumptions concerning the nature of beauty, truth, civilization, form, taste, class and gender. Exploring the layers of meaning within oil paintings, photographs and graphic art, Berger argues that when we see, we are not just looking - we are reading the language of images.