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Romance of Rail
The passionate affair between film and the train has given us some of the most moving moving images ever shot.
There's something inherently romantic about rail travel. Lovers parting and reuniting; long journeys to exotic places; the rush past beautiful scenery; chance encounters (brief or otherwise) in station cafes, dining cars or private compartments - and that's before we get to the Freudian symbolism of trains and tunnels... No wonder filmmakers of all kinds have embraced trains so passionately. And of course the trains themselves, especially in steam's golden age, have a romance all their own, now preserved in celluloid forever.
The Kiss in the TunnelThe Kiss in the Tunnel
Comedy 1899 2 minsSilent
A snatched kiss in a railway tunnel, played by real-life married couple GA Smith and Laura Bayley
Railways for Ever!Railways for Ever!
Documentary 1970 7 mins
Sir John Betjeman reminisces about the phasing out of the mainline steam operation.
The Great BarrierThe Great Barrier
Western 1937 81 mins
Ambitious, stirring British Western that pits man against the elements in the battle to drive a railway through the Canadian Rockies
The Liverpool Railway CentenaryThe Liverpool Railway Centenary
Non-Fiction 1930 1 minsSilent Location: Liverpool
Transports of delight as the Liverpool and Manchester Railway celebrates its centenary
Journey on the Coronation ScotJourney on the Coronation Scot
Amateur film 1937 12 minsSilent Location: Euston Sta
Princess Alice' hauls her passengers to Scotland aboard the streamlined Coronation Scot in this dazzling film from the late 1930s
The Ghost TrainThe Ghost Train
Comedy 1931 39 mins
Surviving footage of the first sound version of Arnold Ridley's famous railway station comedy thriller
Pathways of PerfectionPathways of Perfection
Travelogue 1937 17 minsSilent
The Royal Scot, the Flying Scotsman, the Cornish Riviera and the Golden Arrow: famous trains considered to be upholders of a great British tradition
ResurrectionResurrection
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1966 9 mins Location: Barry/Barri
Impressionistic homage to the sound and fury of the steam engine, creating an illusion – a dream – of a locomotive rising again from the Barry scrapyard.
Old Steam RailwaysOld Steam Railways
Amateur film 1938 17 minsSilent
Enjoy this nostalgic steam-hauled jaunt through the West Sussex countryside as we travel on rural lines soon to suffer the Beeching axe.
Petworth, Midhurst & Petersfield LinePetworth, Midhurst & Petersfield Line
Amateur film 1955 21 minsSilent Location: West Sussex
The twenty miles of rural railway that once lay between Pulborough and Petersfield is wonderfully immortalised in this film from the mid-fifties
Worth Valley RailwayWorth Valley Railway
Non-Fiction 1982 2 minsSilent Location: Keighley
Be transported back in time through Brontë country, looking out from the footplate as passengers hang their heads out of the windows with the steam blowing through their hair.
A4s at HaymarketA4s at Haymarket
Amateur film 1963 17 minsSilent Location: Haymarket Sta
Watch these once mighty streamliners still hard at work in steam's twilight years
Elizabethan ExpressElizabethan Express
Travelogue 1954 20 mins
Relive the summertime express between Kings Cross and Waverley, which covered 393 miles in just 6 hours non-stop.
Heywood, Lancs. and Chesterfield CelebrationsHeywood, Lancs. and Chesterfield Celebrations
Non-Fiction 1948 1 mins Location: Heywood
A centenary commemoration of George Stephenson - the father of the railway.
Night MailNight Mail
Documentary 1936 24 mins Location: Euston Sta
The flagship of the GPO Film Unit's output and a cornerstone of British documentary, featuring music by Benjamin Britten and the verse of W.H. Auden.
Song of ToledoSong of Toledo
Musical 1953 31 mins
This merrily musical short film takes a jovial trip across picturesque 1950s Spain aboard the Talgo Express
NYMR News No. 1NYMR News No. 1
Non-Fiction 1973 4 mins Location: Pickering
No money incentives required for the dedicated volunteers bringing the defunct Whitby to Pickering up to speed for re-opening, and for the arrival of the iconic Flying Scotsman.
Kate Plus TenKate Plus Ten
Comedy 1938 80 mins
Laughs and thrills come thick and fast in this Edgar Wallace comedy-thriller with a hair-raising car versus train chase.
The Gold ExpressThe Gold Express
Crime 1955 58 mins
Claustrophobic train-set comedy-thriller with a gang of crooks intent on stealing a gold shipment on a Scotland to London express.
Playground ExpressPlayground Express
1955 17 mins Location: Brighton
Kids face the closure of their Brighton playground but fight back to reclaim it, with a little help from the iconic Volks Railway
Death Was a PassengerDeath Was a Passenger
War 1958 18 mins
A chance meeting on a train brings back memories of a wartime escape.
The Mail Goes ThroughThe Mail Goes Through
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1947 10 mins
Witness the no-so-great train robbery in this post-war cartoon, produced "in glorious monochrome"