Ronald Craigen

Young Robbie, a keen footballer and a railway enthusiast, is persuaded by his big brother to go through a hole in a railway fence on to the track for some reason. His laces become caught on the tracks and he has an accident so serious that he will never play football again. A film for showing to eight to eleven-year old children and their parents, which points out the folly of breaking railway fences and trespassing on the line, and illustrates the immediate dangers. Part of BFI collection "The Age of the Train".

A high speed Inter-City train is the star of this impressionist film in which picture and music are brought together to enhance the mood and rhythm of the subject and hail the arrival of 125mph regular passenger services. With specially composed music by David Gow and no commentary, Overture: One-Two-Five was the last complete production to be shot on 35mm film by British Transport Films. It was produced to mark the introduction of the new Inter-City 125 High Speed Train services between Paddington and Bristol. One of the last big budget productions, it was treated to a coat of Technicolor and a theatrical cinema release. It also marked the beginning of the slow decline of BTF which culminated in its closure. With the abandoning of support features and shorts at cinemas in the late 1970s and early 1980s, most of the unit’s films after 1978 were made primarily for internal use.

Documentary from British Transport Films

Short film about the upgrades and technological improvements on the British railways.

Commercial and technical developments on British Rail: new freight loads, air conditioned carriages, an ultrasonic test-train for checking the permanent way, a lecture train, and a new station for motorists - all part of the railway scene in the 1970's.

Aspects of the precision and drama of locomotive manufacture, composed to form a lively pattern in picture and sound.

Report No. 11 in a series of 13 topical films. Because 1970 was European Conservation Year, this issue of the Rail Report Series was devoted to examples of what railways in Britain are doing to help conserve and improve the national environment.

A poet's eulogy to his beloved mode of transport.

Report No. 10 in a series of 13 topical films, covering: Hovercraft, Princess Ann; the Advanced Passenger Train; Design Centre exhibition, The next train; plasma torch, Derby Technical Centre; analysis of diesel oils, Glasgow science laboratory; bleep radio communications, Paddington; resignalling, Derby area; intercity coaches; evolved suspension, the Brighton Belle; Southern Region grouptravel; computer, Eastern Region; shipment of molten iron.

Building a new harbour at Port Talbot - it’s a man’s world in which the only females are a dredger and two seafaring vessels.

Intended as a sales tool for manufacturers, this short film details the production installation and maintenance for long welded track in use on British Railways.

Britain operates the most experienced diesel and electric railway in tne world. A century and a half ago she invented the steam engine and introduced a new system of transport; and in only nine years British Rail and the British locomotive industry designed, built and tested enough diesel and electric locomotives to replace fifteen thousand steam engines. The transition from steam to new forms of motive power, and its effects on rallwaymen and passengers, is the subject of this film. Produced in association with the Central Office of Information, the British Locomotive Allied Manufacturers' Association and the British Electrical Manufacturers' Association.

Britain operates the most experienced diesel and electric railway in tne world. A century and a half ago she invented the steam engine and introduced a new system of transport; and in only nine years British Rail and the British locomotive industry designed, built and tested enough diesel and electric locomotives to replace fifteen thousand steam engines. The transition from steam to new forms of motive power, and its effects on rallwaymen and passengers, is the subject of this film. Produced in association with the Central Office of Information, the British Locomotive Allied Manufacturers' Association and the British Electrical Manufacturers' Association.

Thirty Million Letters is a 1963 short documentary film directed by James Ritchie and made by British Transport Films. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

A transformer weighing 123 tons has to be moved to a remote site in Blaenau Ffestiniog. This documents its movement by rail and road.

The Yorkshire Dales - 'from which no traveller wishes to return'. Sheltering under the Pennines, the Dales have escaped the human ravages of time. There is magic here; skysweeping hillsides and weirdly weathered rocks; Wensleydale cheese; ruined abbeys and castles and standing drystone walls; fellracing and potholing, photography, traditional songs and a commentary spoken by Robert Shaw.

The flora and fauna of the Scottish highlands, including footage of ospreys, and stags in Argyle.

A 200-ton transformer is moved by road from Hayes, Middlesex, to Iver, Bucks. Behind the story of the journey there is another tale: the problems which had to be solved before the task could be undertaken. This background story is told by the voices of those responsible for the various aspects of the operation, until the transformer is placed within a 'bee's wing' of its intended position.

A 200-ton transformer is moved by road from Hayes, Middlesex, to Iver, Bucks. Behind the story of the journey there is another tale: the problems which had to be solved before the task could be undertaken. This background story is told by the voices of those responsible for the various aspects of the operation, until the transformer is placed within a 'bee's wing' of its intended position.

Between the Tides is a 1958 short documentary directed by Ralph Keene for British Transport Films.It is a study of the animal and plant life of Britain's shores. The film show the fascinating and colourful marine life of shoreline and rock pool, filmed in the inter-tidal zone of a typical and attractive rocky shore of southwest England. The amazing diversity of creatures must be seen to be believed; periwinkles, top-shells, starfish and lump suckers, the self-concealing flatfish, the gaper and razor fish and the commuting and breeding seabirds. Beautifully photographed in glorious Technicolor by resident cameraman Ron Craigen, the film was awarded fifteen international film honours, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

A school journey through the city of London as seen through the eyes of the children and their teacher.

The Cotswolds are the largest areas of Britain, stretching over a hundred miles from Chipping Camden to the city of Bath.

In the cities of Britain we can travel in time as well as space. This film chooses the England of Hogarth, Gainsborough, Robert Adam and Captain Cook. As the camera moves across outstanding monuments of their work and relics of their achievements from Syon House to Greenwich, members of the Old Vic Company speak appropriate passages from the literature of the mid-eighteenth century. The musical score was specially composed by the late Sir Arnold Bax.

Replacing a century-old rail tunnel at Woodhead, co-ordinated road haulage services in Argyllshire, Whitemoor freight marshalling yeard, Bristol bus services and the Calais to Dover cross-channel ferry: these are the subjects of this early BTF production covering a world of transport co-ordination now largely vanished.

An historical account looking at how Britain's canals were used, and declining, in 1951.