Video 125

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.

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.

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!

Classic Railway Newsreels Steam & Modern, with John Huntley Part 1 and Part 2 on one DVD, a truly wonderful record of the day captured by Movietone. Classic Railway Newsreels Steam & Modern, with John Huntley Part 1 and Part 2 on one DVD, a truly wonderful record of the day captured by Movietone. Short films on a wide variety of railway topics

Arfon spent a week on the Great Central Railway finding out everything a trainee footplate member needs to know. Starting at the bottom, just as a real trainee would have done on BR, Arfon first becomes a cleaner then gradually progresses up the ladder with ex-Fireman Ray Martin teaching him the art of firing. Ex-BR Driver Bill Gwilt then takes over to explain how to oil and prepare the loco followed by how to drive. Arfon then takes the controls of Clun Castle in charge of a seven coach “express” running from Loughborough Central to Rothley. If you have ever wondered how a steam engine works or how they are maintained or driven, this best selling video is for you.

Long before the invention of YouTube and smartphones, Video 125 cameras were out and about filming the London Underground for our Driver’s eye view videos. Although mainly filmed in standard definition, the sound was a different matter. 100% of the time we were using full broadcast television standard microphones and recording equipment. This means that long-since scrapped 1959, 1962 and 1967 tube stock on the Central, Northern and Victoria lines can still be heard in full stereo sound. The long-since scrapped A, C and D sub-surface stock on the Hammersmith & City, Circle, District and Metropolitan, lines also heavily feature in this unique video production filmed between 1988 and 2014.

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.

Originally filmed and released in two parts on video cassette, we can now see virtually the whole of the WCML on the one DVD. Part one covers the leg from Euston to Preston, scheduled to run non-stop at a maximum speed of 110 mph behind a classic class 87 electric loco - now nearly all consigned to the scrap heap. The former LNWR main line takes us via Watford Junction, Milton Keynes, Rugby, Stafford and Crewe. Due to a broken rail the train takes an unscheduled diversion onto the slow line for a few miles north of Watford. Part two covers the second leg of the 401 mile journey to Glasgow Central, running via Lancaster, Carnforth, Oxenholme, Penrith, Carlisle, Lockerbie, and Carstairs. Our class 87 manages to maintain a speed of 90 mph over the legendary 1 in 75 banks up to Shap and Beattock summits - an achievement that would have been unimaginable in steam days. Filmed in 1995/1996

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.

The Metropolitan main line is now the exclusive domain of S8 stock trains introduced between 2010 and 2012. The iconic “A” stock trains plied the route for over 50 years, firstly in unpainted aluminium finish and later in refurbished blue, red and white Underground colours. Filmed in 1995, here you can see both incarnations of the A stock at work – a tastefully refurbished train running on the main line, with unpainted stock (with the inevitable graffiti) running on the branches.

The East London Line was filmed just a couple of years before its closure and total metamorhosis. Nowadays, forming part of the London Overground, here we can see the old Metropolitan stock as many of us remember them running on the East London Line. Services alternated between the two southern termini of New Cross and New Cross Gate. Our journey on board an ‘A’ stock train begins at the former and takes us through the very oldest part of civil engineering on the underground network, Marc Brunel’s 1843 tunnel under the Thames. Peak services continued to Shoreditch, which is where our journey ends.

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.

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.

One of Britain's premier expresses, The Flying Scotsman completed the 393 miles from King's Cross to Edinburgh in just over four hours - an average speed of 94.3 miles an hour! Highlights Part One includes the exit from King's Cross with the various tunnels, the infamous Welwyn bottleneck, which brings the ECML down to just two tracks, the Newark flat crossing, (the last in the UK) the Selby new line, and Stoke bank, where "Mallard" achieved the world speed record for steam traction. We even take a look inside the A4 engine housed within the National Railway Museum at York. Part Two covers the second leg from York to Edinburgh calling only at Newcastle. Highlights include: Darlington Bank Top avoiding line, the approach to Newcastle - crossing the mighty River Tyne, the notorious curve at Morpeth, the Royal Border Bridge at Berwick, the scenic coastal sections and the approach to Edinburgh Waverley itself.

The line follows the coastal contours through Invergordon to Tain and heads inland via Lairg. After Rogart we pass through the long-since closed "Mound" station, still with it's platform for the Dornoch branch derelict but intact. We take a look at the remains of this erstwhile line and discover Dornoch station building still surviving. At Golspie the line became the "Duke of Sutherland's Railway" - one of the longest-ever privately built lines. Dunrobin Castle station is next on route. Here we learn a little about the Third Duke, from his great great grandson Lord Strathnaver. By the time the train reaches Helmsdale, the coast has become more rugged than ever. From there it proved absolutely impossible to drive the railway any furthe ralong the coast, so our "Sprinter" heads inland again, this time through the remote Strath of Kildonan for 25 miles to Forsinard. At least there is a road along the valley but from there to Georgemas the railway is quite alone. Filmed in 1991

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.

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.

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’

This film represents great value for money. It actually begins at Wolverton with a brief look at the class 319 EMUs’ metamorphosis. Then to Brighton for the start of the 50 minute journey, seen virtually in real time. At the time of filming in 1998, Connex Expresses ran between the south coast and the capital with just one intermediate stop at East Croydon. The trains then ran non-stop through Haywards Heath, Gatwick Airport and even Clapham Junction! There is a great deal of history crammed into our journey such as the tragic accident in Clayton Tunnel, the tunnel with a house above the castellated portal. In 1998, Connex held two of the former Southern region franchises but today they have none. Relive the yellow days of Connex here.

Dingwall to Wick and Thurso