DVD Ivo Peters Volume 10: Private Railways 1961-63

Ivo Peters His Films Revisited Collection. 

The Bluebell Railway in 1961/63, Bath Gasworks and several ‘private’ lines – a fascinating programme first released for Christmas 1992 and now re-mastered for enhanced picture quality.

In this volume of his now legendary film record of the railways of Great Britain in the 1960s, Ivo Peters turned his attention to a number of private railways which had either avoided nationalisation in 1948 or had been created after that momentous event.

The programme starts with the pioneer of the railway preservation movement, the Bluebell Railway, in the period covered it was amassing the locomotives which are the envy of many of the railways to which it gave such a lead.

In addition to the Bluebell itself, the well-remembered through trains to Horsted Keynes, with the LSWR T9, the Caledonian Single and the Great Northern tank 1247, are seen both on the Bluebell and on BR main lines.

A number of favourite industrial lines also appear, with their delightfully varied shunters. A true private railway is the Reverend Teddy Boston’s Cadeby Light Railway and a major feature is the railway at the ironstone works at Kettering.

The Railways featured are:

The Bluebell Railway: This feature records the railway in 1962 and 1963, starting at the temporary halt near Horsted Keynes which was the first northern terminus. A parade of the earliest preserved locomotives is followed by the arrival of the first through train of the year, the Great Northern tank No.1247. This is seen on the main line at Three Bridges and the famous Ouse Viaduct as well as on the Bluebell. Later in the year LSWR T9 headed another through train and is seen at Brighton shed as well as Haywards Heath. The following year saw the T9 again, together with the Caledonian Single, and they are also seen at Brighton shed.

Bath Gas Works: Ivo’s home town had a gas works which boasted two industrial tanks engines, the 1929 built Avonside is featured here.

Port of Bristol Authority Railway: At the mouth of the River Avon, Avonmouth, the Port of Bristol had an extensive system worked by the products of the local builders Avonside and Peckett. This feature illustrates the locomotive shed in 1963.

Wirksworth: This was a private system built to serve the Middle Peak Stone Quarries, near the terminus of a Midland Railway branch. In this sequence we see another Peckett and a Black Hawthorn tank.

Buckminster Ironstone Quarries: This line in Leicestershire was used to transport ironstone to exchange sidings near Melton Mowbray. Ivo filmed a number of interesting locomotives here.

Exton Park: This was one of the largest ironstone quarry systems, with an extensive fleet of modern (post war) Yorkshire Engine Company saddle tanks. Ivo filmed them shunting and running along the three mile line to the BR exchange sidings.

The Cadeby Light Railway: Ivo himself introduces his good friend the Reverend Teddy Boston and the railway he had built in the grounds of his home in the village of Cadeby in Leicestershire. Teddy had a Bagnall saddle tank which he drove at ‘exciting’ speeds around his line!

Kettering Iron & Coal Company: Ivo made two films about this delightful relic of the great days of the industrial steam era, the first of which formed part of the ‘Ironstone Lines’ volume of his film collection (Volume 6). This second, rather more detailed, film takes us back to the railway which owned some fascinating little 3-foot gauge locomotives from Black Hawthorns and Manning Wardles, the most famous of the industrial locomotive manufacturers. We see examples of both types at work in the fields, at the sheds and loco works in 1962, the year that the railway closed.

ISBN: DVD Ivo Peters Volume 10: Private Railways 1961-63