Vintage railway footage - Decades of steam - 1960s

The footage in this film, filmed in the 1960s, shows the end of main line steam locomotion on the public railway network in Great Britain. The cruel blows of the Beeching axe were to see many branch lines destroyed forever, and the scrapping of their trains. Main line electrification and dieselisation would make even the famous Duchesses, Kings, A4s, and Bulleid Pacifics redundant. However, a small gleam of light appeared on the horizon as railway preservation got underway, but after 11 August 1968 only one steam locomotive, Flying Scotsman, was allowed to see out the decade working on the main lines. From the Standard classes built by BR itself through to one-offs, there were many steam classes still at work in the 1960s, and this programme includes 9Fs, Britannias, West Countries, Jubilees, Castles, Gresley-designed Pacifics and many goods and tank engines as they pass into history.