Night Mail - (1936) - Part 1

[LNER4771]

The engine in this film is still around on a heritage railway somewhere.

[eatmypies]

brilliant what would we do without people like you cheers mate

[mimosa17]

I was born in Crewe, where I lived until 1968. I was a booming town even then...but it's a sad shadow of its former self now. We used to spot trains from Rope Lane bridge. 'What about the Alex?' is a reference to the local soccer team Crewe Alexandra.

[campainr]

4:16. Doesn't sound like a Stanier hooter to me!

[peregrinusnoctis]

No one documented (using moving pictures, anyway) everyday life during the first half of the 20th-Century quite like the Brits. This is most artful, in its artlessness! No pretentions--just documentation. That was when cinematographers were artistes, and were technical adepts. Look at the contrast between skies and clouds--such filtering!

I'd like to know just how much of this was shot MOS (with sounds added during the production process), and how much was shot with sound.

[480spartan]

i was on the sw tpo from 1978 to 1986,many years after the 1936 nightmail.the professionalism of the travellers,as we knew ourselves,was still the same as the 1936 men.the spirit of adventure and teamwork was magnificent .its a period i am proud to have been involved in

[480spartan]

i was on the swtpo from 1978 to 1986.even tho this was years after the nightmail vidio i can say that the spirit of the men on our tpo was the same as the men in 1936 .a wonderful way of life and such good natured workmates with amazing professionalism rock onall the tpo men

[baird9962]

This is the Britain i wish i was born into, in stead of this shot hole we live in today, the country as it was then had to better than today, people are unhappy nowadays because society has become detached and nobody feels like they belong, political classes are to blame, respect for each other has gone together with a caring attitude to our neighbours and family, dog eat dog is no way to live.

[mohammadhananshah]

thanks for sharing this video

[TheSteamdriver]

one of two things that LMS did right the other thing is I thing the Black 5 and theres's actually two engines in this there is scots guardsman and a black 5 in this I think the black 5 takes it to crewe and and scot guardsman does the second the leg of the journey

[cvrmaniac]

great vid if you didn't disable the ratings i would of given 5 stars.

COOL.

[macguffincanada]

This film is listed in Liz-Anne Bawdens 1975 Oxford Companion of Film.

[blackrabbit212]

A wonderful piece of nostalgia. Thanks for sharing! Wonder if steam trains will make a comeback when we all run out of oil.

[heartbeat1965]

But we're running out of coal too!

[GRAHAMAUS]

Afraid not. Steam trains are terribly inefficient and run on fossil fuel - coal. The future is electric (or stone-age!) - at least we can get that from solar/wind, etc.

[paisleygerry]

If only Britain could be as efficient now !!

[Steam1989]

For those who didn't know, the locomotive that starred in this film, 6115 (46115) Scots Guardsman is preserved and is currently running on the Mainline in the 21st Century.

[richardyingren]

Fascinating.

[kawasaki5187]

Still a great film, thanks for sharing

[fordlandau]

great vid ..thanks..Amusing to note the old despatcher at the beginning with the ancient phone says "OK" to the capped person..very modern !

[marmadukesymesparker]

It's not as modern as might be thought...

[AcridPeter]

Brilliant! I was trying to track this down for my PhD about Auden. You wouldn't have 'Coal Face' or 'The Mine,' would you?

[st3v3nd0wd]

Sorry, I don't have them.

Steven

[kingkandy]

"Coal Face" has just been remastered and released on a double DVD set called "Addressing The Nation" and it includes a number of other GPO Film Unit shorts. I saw it recently in a showing at the British Postal Museum. It's a classic!

"Night Mail" has also been remastered and given a DVD release too.

[kingkandy]

"Coal Face" has just been remastered and given a release on a DVD set called "Addressing The Nation" which includes a number of other GPO Film Unit shorts. I saw it recently when it was shown at the British Postal Museum Archive. It's a classic!

"Night Mail" has also been remastered and released on DVD. Well worth picking up.

[aeolus925]

This is such a fine movie, both for the railway enthusiast, and the history-buff. I love the behind-the-scenes look, e.g., operating the block instruments and interlocking levers; as well as the mailbag pick-up and drop-off later in the movie. It's surprisingly hard (for me anyway) to find footage of what was once such every-day stuff. I wonder if there's any similar informational movie featuring the Great Western?

[Rizomantico]

Great brit documental school...

[cleckheatoncentral]

great scenes! I so proud to be a member of a Midland railway line society.I really hope we restore some more line, so joe public can experience this!I sure on several trips this train was diverted onto our line!

[fatcontroller70]

its lovely to see the old tpo again shame they evr stopped the service and yes i am a railway worker

[teafather5]

Fantastic! Many Thanks,:st3v3nd0wd

[CatLovesMCR]

love this its so interesting