Set up in 1977, the North West Film Archive preserves moving images made in or about Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire, Merseyside and Cumbria and offers a variety of access services to users in the public, academic and commercial sectors.
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Railway Scenes - Wilmslow
From diesel to electrification - a miscellany of railway footage in Cheshire.
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Overview
In this compilation of railway footage from Cheshire, we travel in the front seats of a new diesel railcar heading for Manchester Piccadilly. Shots of steam trains, diesel locomotives and goods trains are followed by reconstruction work on the line in the winter months, and the building of the new station at Wilmslow, marking the start of the electrification of the West Coast Main Line.
Sidney and Harold Preston, identical twin brothers from Stockport, were skilled amateur filmmakers and transport enthusiasts, who began filming around the North West in the 1920s. This footage was then edited into topical film newsreels, named after Glengarry - the family house in Bramhall, where they had a small news theatre and screened the films to raise money for local charities.
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